MUS 209 - Advanced Music Theory and Practice (4 units)

Improvisation: An Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Investigation

Fall 2003
University of California, San Diego
Fridays, 2-4:50pm, Mandeville 125
Instructor: David Borgo, Ph.D. (dborgo@ucsd.edu)
Office: H&SS 1341, 858-822-4957
Office Hours: Tuesday 10:30-11:30 and Friday 12:30-1:30 (or by appointment)
MUS 209 general description
Advanced integrated studies in music theory; composition and styles study through analysis and performance. This
course is intended primarily for doctoral students and may be taken by M.A. students only with special approval of
M.A. adviser and course instructor. A major research or analytical publishable paper is required.

Course description:
This seminar provides an introduction to the study of improvised musical traditions around the world and a critical
investigation of the many questions that the diverse practice of improvisation raises. We will explore a variety of
ways to experience and theorize improvised music: along cultural, historical, and stylistic dimensions; with regard to
gender, class and race perspectives; in relationship to developments in science and technology; and with respect to
methodological and pedagogical considerations and issues of dissemination and globalization. Performance
creativity will be approached from the perspective of the artist/creator and equally as art is continually performed
in its reception and interpretation by individuals, institutions, and societies. Each week will focus on a limited set of
themes or issues, having as a starting point a particular improviser or improvisatory tradition. Special attention will
be paid to post-WWII intercultural forms of musical improvisation.
Course Requirements:

Attendance is expected at every session. Please notify me of any extenuating circumstances as soon as
possible.

For each week, I have selected a topic related to improvisation studies and have assigned a number of
required and recommended readings to be discussed during our Friday sessions. All required readings are
available as a bound packet at Cal Copy (3251 Holiday Ct. #103, behind the Mobil station at the corner of
La Jolla Village and Villa La Jolla). All required readings for a given week must be completed prior to the
class meeting. Gray titles are recommended reading and are located either in non-circulating journals or on
reserve in the SSH library.

During discussion I will ask students to briefly summarize the readings and to act as moderator of the
subsequent discussion.

Each week you are required to participate in our discussions and to hand in a concise (2-3 page, typed)
synopsis/position paper. The format for these short papers is not rigid, however, it should be clear from
your writing that you have read and critically reflected on each assignment.

A substantial, publishable research paper is required by finals week of the quarter. You will also be
expected to present the results of your research to the class. There is considerable latitude in topic and
approach (e.g. a more analytical, theoretical, historical, or cultural approach to a given topic), but by the 6th
week of the quarter you will need to submit a proposed topic along with a description of your intended
approach and a sampling of potential resources. All topics must be approved by the instructor.

During the quarter, I will bring in audio and video examples to illustrate the various topics or artists under
discussion, and I encourage students to share audio/video examples and readings as well.

Course Schedule and Readings

Week 1: Introductions and Overview
Week 2: Definitions (and Disregard) of Improvisation
Can we define improvisation? What does the process of improvisation involve? What is the difference
between improvisation and composition? Between improvisation and interpretation or variation? What is
the relationship of improvisation to spontaneity? To randomness? To novelty or innovation? To tradition?
Are there differences between product-oriented creativity and process-oriented creativity? How might we
describe the relationship between an art object (e.g. music score) and its performance? Why has this
broadly extended phenomenon been so rarely studied?

Nettl, Bruno. 1998. An Art Neglected in Scholarship. In The Course of Performance: Studies in the World of
Musical Improvisation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Alperson, Philip. 1984. "On Musical Improvisation." Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 43(1):17-29.
Gould, Carol S., and Kenneth Keaton. 2000. The Essential Role of Improvisation in Musical Performance.
Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 58/2.
Bailey, Derek. 1992(1980). Improvisation, its Nature and Practice in Music. London: The British Library
National Sound Archive.
Sancho-Velasquez, Angeles. 1999. Improvisation Beyond the Baroque. Paper presented at the Improvising
Across Borders Conference, UCSD.
Hamilton, Andy. 1990. "The Aesthetics of Imperfection." Philosophy 65:323-40.
Prevst, Eddie. 1982. The Aesthetic Priority of Improvisation: A Lecture. Contact 25:32-37.
Blum, Stephen. 1998. Recognizing Improvisation In In The Course of Performance: Studies in the World of
Musical Improvisation, Bruno Nettl, editor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Week 3: Improvisation, Oral Tradition, and the Model: Ethnomusicological Perspectives

How do musicians and listeners conceive of improvisation in a given culture? How do they value the
practice? Are cross-cultural definitions or studies of improvisation possible or valid? How do musicians
structure their improvisations in a given setting? To what extent might they change over the course of
several performances or over the course of a lifetime? In what ways do cultural or societal expectations
affect musical improvisation? What is the relationship between tradition and innovation in a given culture?
How does the concept of improvisation relate to societies that do not have a form of music notation? Is
there a Western bias concerning the study of improvisation?

Nettl, Bruno. 1974. "Thoughts on Improvisation: A Comparative Approach." The Musical Quarterly 60/1:1-17.
Erlmann, Veit. 1985. Theories of Improvisation. In Model, Variation and Performance: Fulbe Praise-Song
in Northern Cameroon. Yearbook of Traditional Music.
Hood, Mantle.1975. Improvisation in the Stratified Ensembles of Southeast Asia. Selected Reports in
Ethnomusicology 2/2.
Sutton, R. Anderson. 1998. Do Javanese Gamelan Musicians Really Improvise? In In The Course of
Performance: Studies in the World of Musical Improvisation, Bruno Nettl, editor.
T. Viswanathan and Judy Cormack. 1998. Melodic Improvisation in Karnatak Music. In In The Course of
Performance: Studies in the World of Musical Improvisation, Bruno Nettl, editor.
Nettl, Bruno, and Ronald Riddle. 1998. Taqsim Nahawand Revisited: The Musicianship of Jihad Racy. In In
The Course of Performance: Studies in the World of Musical Improvisation, Bruno Nettl, editor.
Look over all of the following in the library and select one article to discuss in depth in class:
o Lortat-Jacob, Bernard, ed. 1987. LImprovisation dans les Musiques de Tradition Orale. Paris:
SELAF.
o The Yearbook for Traditional Music vol. XIX (1987)
o World of Music 33/3 (1991)

Week 4: Analyzing Improvisation: Jazz and the Problem of Miles Davis and Cecil Taylor
Can we analyze improvisation in the moment of performance? Through what means can we analyze
improvisations after the fact? Can or should improvisation be evaluated in the same light as composed
music? What makes for an exemplary or superlative improvisation? In what ways do the goals or
intentions of the researcher affect the analysis? How might being analyzed affect the future creative work
of an improviser? What types of analysis have been tried in the past? Can analytical models from other
disciplines be effectively applied to improvised music?

Brownell, John. 1994. Analytical Models of Jazz Improvisation. Jazzforschung 26.

Walser, Robert. 1995. "'Out of Notes': Signification, Interpretation, and the Problem of Miles Davis." In Jazz
Among the Discourses, edited by Krin Gabbard, 165-88. Durham: Duke University Press.
Smith, Christopher. 1995. "A Sense of the Possible: Miles Davis and the Semiotics of Musical Performance."
Drama Review 39/3:41-55.
Block, Steven. 1990. "Pitch-Class Transformation in Free Jazz." Music Theory Spectrum 12/2:181-202.
Jost, Ekkehard. 1989. Instant Composing as Body Language: Towards an Understanding of the Music of Cecil
Taylor of the Last 20 years. Notes that accompany the CD-box set of Cecil Taylor in Berlin.
Day, William. 2000. Knowing as Instancing: Jazz Improvisation and Moral Perfectionism. Journal of
Aesthetics and Art Criticism 58/2.

Berliner, Paul. 1994. Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
Monson, Ingrid. 1996. Sayin Something. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Week 5: The Improvisers Body and Instrument

What is the relationship between an improvisers intentions and actions? How does an improvisers
physical connection with her/his instrument factor into this relationship? How does instrumental training
affect improvised creativity? Why has the creative role of the body been neglected in the music academy
and in fields concerned with human cognition?

Bailey, Derek. 1992(1980). The MIC The Instrument. Improvisation, its Nature and Practice in Music.
London: The British Library National Sound Archive.
Berliner, Paul. 1993. In Performance: The Shona Mbira Ensemble and the Relationship Between the Mbira
Player and the Mbira. The Soul of the Mbira (rev. ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Walser, Robert and Susan McClary. Theorizing the Body. Black Music Research Journal.
Borgo, David. In press. The Chaotic Self, or The Embodiment of Evan Parker. In Playing Changes: New Jazz
Studies, ed. Robert Walser. Durham: Duke University Press.
Corbett, John. Ephemera Underscored: Writing Around Free Improvisation In Jazz Among the Discourses,
edited by Krin Gabbard, 165-88. Durham: Duke University Press.

Sudnow, David. 1978. Ways of the Hand: The Organization of Improvised Conduct. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press.
Iyer, Vijay. 1998. Microstructures of Feel, Macrostructures of Sound: Embodied Cognition in West
African and African-American Musics. Ph.D. Dissertation. UC Berkeley.
(http://cnmat.cnmat.berkeley.edu/People/Vijay/) - especially Chp. 4 Music Cognition and Embodiment.

Week 6: Freedom and Limits I: Individual and Cultural Perspectives

Final Paper Proposals are Due
What is meant by the term free improvisation? Non-idiomatic improvisation? How do individual,
cultural, and historical factors affect how we understand and employ these terms? What possibilities are
inherent in the practice of so-called free improvisation that may not be available or may be less
pronounced in other forms of musicking? What difficulties can arise in the practice? What are some
common aesthetic objections to free improvisation? What are some common aesthetic endorsements?

How do individuals, performing groups, listeners, and industry folk make sense, or make use of free
improvisation? How are various identity markers employed to describe this music? And what personal,
cultural, or nationalistic connections do they highlight or mask?

Bailey, Derek. 1992 (1980). Improvisation, its Nature and Practice in Music. London: The British Library
National Sound Archive.
Read Free, Joseph Holbrooke, Objections and Limits and Freedom
Gustaffson, Mats. 1992. Improvisation and Interpretation. Essays Solo. Stockholm: Almlf Edition.
Smith, Wadada Leo. 1999 (1973). AACM and Creative Music. In Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History,
ed. Robert Walser. New York: Oxford University Press.
Cardew, Cornelius. 1971. Towards an Ethic of Improvisation. In Treatise Handbook. London: Peters.
Ballantine, Christopher. An Aesthetic of Experimental Music (excerpt). Music and its Social Meanings.
Borgo, David. 2003. Negotiating Freedom: Values and Practices in Improvised Music. Black Music Research
Journal 23/1.
Atton, Christopher. 1988-89. Some Answers to Some Questions about Improvised Music. The Improvisor
8:32-40.
Nunn, Tom. 1998. Survey of Improvisers. Wisdom of the Impulse: On the Nature of Musical Free
Improvisation. Self Published. (tomnunn@sirius.com).

Lewis, George E. 1996. Improvised Music After 1950: Afro- and Eurological Perspectives. Black Music
Research Journal 16/1: 91-122.
Prvost, Edwin. 1995. No Sound is Innocent. Wiltshire: Antony Row, Ltd.
Such, David. 1993. Avant-Garde Musicians Performing 'Out There'. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

Week 7: Freedom and Limits II: Psychological, Spiritual, and Technological Perspectives
How do performers conceptualize (and listeners attend to) improvisation? Are there cognitive or
psychological limits imposed on artistic creativity? What are the benefits and limits to cognitive modeling?
What are the spiritual ramifications of improvisation frequently posited by performers and listeners? How
are we to investigate these connections? What are the possibilities and implications for the use of
human-computer-interfaces in improvised performance?

Johnson-Laird, Philip N. 1988. "Freedom and Constraint in Creativity." In The Nature of Creativity:
Contemporary Psychological Perspectives, edited by Robert J. Sternberg, 202-19. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Pressing, Jeff. 1998. Psychological Contraints on Improvisational Expertise and Communication. In In the
Course of Performance, edited by Bruno Nettl, 47-69. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Pressing, Jeff. 1988. "Improvisation: Methods and Models." In Generative Processes in Music, edited by John
Sloboda, 129-78. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Sarath, Ed. 1996. A New Look at Improvisation. Journal of Music Theory 40/1.
Borgo, David. In Press. Between Worlds: The Embodied and Ecstatic Sounds of Jazz. Open Space 5.
Dean, Roger. 2003. Evolving Futures. Hyperimprovisation: Computer-Interactive Sound Improvisation.
Wisconsin: A&R Editions.
Lewis, George. 2000. Too Many Notes: Computers, Complexity and Culture in Voyager. Leonardo Music
Journal 10, 33-39.

Week 8: The Politics of Improvisation: Economic, Ethnic, and Gender Concerns

How does improvised music fit within the economic and political structures of the music industry or music
academy? How have individuals and associations confronted and shaped this relationship in the past?
What role has race and gender played in the politics and economics of improvised music? What role can
cultural and gender studies play in alerting us to, and altering this situation?

Attali, Jacques. 1985. excerpt from Noise: The Political Economy of Music. Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press.

Durant, Alan. 1989. Improvisation in the Political Economy of Music. In Music and the Politics of Culture,
edited by Christopher Norris, 252-282. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
Lewis, George. 2003. Experimental Music in Black and White: The AACM in New York, 1970-1985. Current
Musicology vols. 71-73.
Ho, Fred Wei-Han. 1995. Jazz. Kreolization and Revolutionary Music for the 21st Century. In Sounding
Off!: Music as Subversion/Resistance/ Revolution, edited by Ron Sakolsky and Fred Wei-han Ho. New York:
Autonomedia.
Stanyek, Jason. 1999. Articulating Intercultural Improvisation. Resonance 7/2.
Tucker, Sherrie. 2003. Big Ears: Listening for Gender in Jazz Studies. Current Musicology no.71-73, 375408.
Smith, Julie Dawn. (2004) Playing Like a Girl: The Queer Laughter of the Feminist Improvising Group. In
The Other Side of Nowhere: Jazz, Improvisation, and Communities in Dialog. Connecticut: Wesleyan
University Press.
Heble, Ajay and Gillian Siddall. 2000. Nice Work If You Can Get It. Landing on the Wrong Note: Jazz
Dissonance and Critical Practice. New York; Routledge.
Tucker, Sherrie. Bordering on Community: Improvising Women Improvising Women-in-Jazz. In The Other
Side of Nowhere: Jazz, Improvisation, and Communities in Dialog. Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press.
Heble, Ajay. 2000. Up For Grabs: The Ethicopolitical Authority of Jazz. Landing on the Wrong Note: Jazz
Dissonance and Critical Practice. New York; Routledge.

Week 9: Imparting Improvisation: Methodology, Pedagogy, and Reception

Can improvisation be taught? What methods have been tried in the past? How do these methods vary
from culture to culture? What are the potential benefits and potential detriments to the institutionalized
teaching of improvisation? to more informal or more community-based settings for instruction? What
appeals to audiences about improvised performance? What may be unappealing? How does the
relationship between the audience and performer(s) affect the process of improvising?

Prvost, Edwin. 1995 (1985). Improvisation: Music for an Occasion. No Sound is Innocent. Wiltshire:
Antony Row, Ltd.
Barry, Malcolm. 1985. Improvisation: The State of the Art. British Journal of Music Education 2(2):171175.
Bailey, Derek. 1992 (1980). Improvisation, its Nature and Practice in Music. London: The British Library
National Sound Archive.
Read Classroom Improvisation and Audience
Racy, Ali Jihad. 1998. Improvisation, Ecstasy, and Performance Dynamics in Arabic Music. In In The Course
of Performance: Studies in the World of Musical Improvisation, Bruno Nettl, editor.
Nunn, Tom. 1998. Free Improvisation and Education and Exercises. Wisdom of the Impulse: On the Nature
of Musical Free Improvisation. Self Published. (tomnunn@sirius.com).
Lewis, George. 2000. Teaching Improvised Music: An Ethnographic Memoir. In Arcana: Musicians on
Music, ed. John Zorn. New York: Granary Books.
Look over other contributions including those by Marilyn Crispell Larry Ochs
Davidson, Lyle, and Bruce Torff. 1992. Situated Cognition The World of Music 34/3.
Hall, E.T. 1992. Improvisation as an Acquired, Multilevel Process Ethnomusicology 36/2.

Sweet, Robert. 1996. Music Universe, Music Mind: Revisiting the Creative Music Studio, Woodstock, New
York. Ann Arbor: Arborville Press.
Day, Steve. 1998. Two Full Ears: Listening to Improvised Music. Chemlsford: Soundworld.
Music Educators Journal 66 (1980)

Dean, Roger T. Creative improvisation : jazz, contemporary music, and beyond : how to
develop techniques of improvisation for any musical context.

Week 10 and Finals Week

In-class presentations of student research