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Andrew Hodges
(July 2007)
There are many different interpretations of sound
improvisation. For many, when the word 'improvisation' is
mentioned, jazz or Indian music may be brought to mind. Others may
have experienced music improvisation through music therapy. The
classically trained are often expected, as part of their practice, to
develop skills in extemporisation. These are all forms of
improvisation but not the only ones.
However in the last few decades a new phenomenon has
emerged which might be called free intuitive group improvisation.
Whilst this form of improvisation has its roots perhaps with Stockhausen
and others in the 1970s, it has now emerged as a form of music making
available not just to the specialist musician but also the community at
large. Because of the special conditions that make free
intuitive sound improvisation possible to the skilled performer it also makes it
available to the ‘beginner’.
Intuitive free improvisation makes it possible to
consider ways of creating group ‘pieces’ on-the-spot. Unlike
traditional forms of composition there is very little structure or
formality. As Dr. Rod Paton says in his excellent book on
music improvisation ‘Living Music’ (2000) “we might associate
improvisation with ‘working in the dark’, with a notion of
unpredictability or uncertainty” which means that the significance of
intuitive free sound
improvisation is that one can be placed directly in a position of
actively working with the unforeseen, with the unknowable.
Although the trained musician, due to their familiarity
with their instrument, can bring a particularly extensive array of
‘sound offerings’ it is often the so-called novice who most quickly
takes to the notion of improvisation. This is largely due to the fact
that the novice often has fewer preconceived notions as to what
constitutes ‘music’ and as a consequence is freer to explore its
possibilities. The skills of improvising develop during the actual
experience of improvisation rather than necessarily needing to have been
acquired as a result of previous ‘practice’. If the novice group has
access to high quality ‘easy access’ musical instruments then their lack
of facility is often overcome by the sheer magic of the sounds they can
easily create. Websites such as
www.soundtravels.co.uk specialise in musical instruments that are
highly appropriate for this kind of music-making.
Through free intuitive group improvisation participants
have the shortest root possible to experience working with others
directly ‘in the moment’, making instant decisions intuitively.
Through the approach, a sense of trust is developed, not only in the
other members of the group, but also in the realisation that they have
an innate ability to organise and create something beautiful and
fulfilling almost at will. In the improvising situation there is often
an instant when the piece seems to just take off and develop a life of
its own. The group seems, at this moment, to have become something
distinctly more than the sum of its parts.
For many of us, as we get older we may steadily lose
touch with our imaginations. Ultimately, for the participants, free
intuitive group improvisation reawakens their facility to create and to
imagine. Experience like this has spin-offs into other areas outside
of the field of music. Professionals who need to work creatively find
their ‘imaginal’ juices refreshed and with added zest. Team members
who need to work closely together will find hidden resources within
themselves. Individuals who find themselves at a junction in their
lives and need a new direction will find themselves refreshed.
Useful sources of further information can be found at
www.lifesound.org,
www.rodpaton.com and
www.musicpsyche.org. |
