Improvising Improvisation: From Out Of Philosophy, Music, Dance, And Literature

Download Improvising Improvisation: From Out Of Philosophy, Music, Dance, And Literature

There is an ever-increasing number of books on improvisation, ones that richly recount experiences in the heat of the creative moment, theorize on the essence of improvisation, and offer convincing arguments for improvisation’s impact across a wide range of human activity. This book is nothing like that. In a provocative and at times moving experiment, Gary Peters takes a different approach, turning the philosophy of improvisation upside-down and inside-out.

Guided by Kant, Hegel, Heidegger, and especially Deleuze—and exploring a range of artists from Hendrix to Borges—Peters illuminates new fundamentals about what, as an experience, improvisation truly is. As he shows, improvisation isn’t so much a genre, idiom, style, or technique—it’s a predicament we are thrown into, one we find ourselves in. The predicament, he shows, is a complex entwinement of choice and decision. The performativity of choice during improvisation may happen “in the moment,” but it is already determined by an a priori mode of decision. In this way, improvisation happens both within and around the actual moment, negotiating a simultaneous past, present, and future. Examining these and other often ignored dimensions of spontaneous creativity, Peters proposes a consistently challenging and rigorously argued new perspective on improvisation across an extraordinary range of disciplines.

Teaching Music Improvisation With Technology

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Incorporating technology in music classrooms can take the mystery out of improvisation. What music technology does is establish a strong foundation for chord, scale, phrase, ear training, and listening exercises, creating a solid backdrop for student expression. As author and educator Mike Fein shows, technology is a valuable tool that can be used effectively to supplement student practice time while also developing the skills necessary to become a proficient improviser. Complete with notated exercises, accompaniment tracks, and listening resources, this book gives teachers methods to set their students free to make mistakes and to develop their own ear for improvisation at their own pace. Broken down into significant areas of music technology, each chapter focuses on developing a new skill and guides readers to tangible outcomes with the assistance of hands-on activities that can be immediately implemented into the classroom. In addition to these hands-on activities, each chapter provides the reader with an "iPad Connection" to various iOS applications, which allows teachers and students another, albeit significantly less expensive, medium through which to learn, share, and create art.

This book will appeal to music educators of students in grades K-12. It will serve collegiate music education courses secondarily, and will also appeal to those music educators who work with improvisation and technology.