A musical practice used for centuries the world over, improvisation too often has been dismissed as either technically undissectible or inexplicably mysterious. Approaching musical improvisation from the fields of ethnomusicology, education, performance, historical musicology, and music theory, the contributors to this volume delve into diverse topics such as the creative minds of Mozart and Beethoven, the place of improvised musics in Western and non-Western societies, and the development of jazz as a musical and cultural phenomenon.Contributors are Stephen Blum, Patricia Shehan Campbell, Sabine M. Feisst, Lawrence Gushee, Robert S. Hatten, William Kinderman, Natalie Kononenko, Robert Levin, Charlotte Mattax Moersch, Ingrid Monson, John P. Murphy, Bruno Nettl, A. Jihad Racy, Anne K. Rasmussen, Stephen Slawek, Gabriel Solis, Nicholas Temperley, John Toenjes, and Thomas Turino.
Musical Improvisation: Art, Education and Society; Edited by Gabriel Solis and Bruno Nettl; Preface - Bruno Nettl; Introduction - Gabriel Solis; Part One: Society; 1. Jazz as Political and Musical Practice - Ingrid Monson; 2. John Cage and Improvisation: an Unresolved Relationship - Sabine M. Feisst; 3. When Traditional Improvisation is Prohibited: Contemporary; Ukrainian Funeral Laments and Burial Practices - Natalie Kononenko; 4. The Juncture between Creation and Recreation among Indonesian Reciters of the Qur'an - Anne K. Rasmussen; 5. Genius, Improvisation, and the Narrative of Jazz History - Gabriel Solis; 6. Formula, Variation and Improvisation in Participatory Music - Thomas Turino; Part Two: Education; 7. Learning to Improvise Music, Improvising to Learn Music - Patricia Shehan Campbell; 8. Improvising Mozart - Robert Levin; 9. Keyboard Improvisation in the Baroque Period - Charlotte Mattax Moersch; 10. Beyond the Improvisation Class: Learning to Improvise; in a University Jazz Studies Program - John P. Murphy; 11. On Learning the Radif and Improvisation in Iran - Bruno Nettl; 12. Hindustani Sitar and Jazz Guitar Music: A Foray into Comparative Improvology - Stephen Slawek; 13. Music Improvisation in the Modern Dance Class - John Toenjes; Part Three: Creation; 14. Representations of Music-Making - Stephen Blum; 15. Improvisation and Related Terms in Middle-Period Jazz - Lawrence Gushee; 16. Opening the Museum Window: Improvisation and its Inscribed Values in Canonic Works by Schumann and Chopin - Robert S. Hatten; 17. Improvisation in Beethoven's Creative Process - William Kinderman; 18. Why Do They Improvise? Reflections on; Meaning and Experience - A. Jihad Racy; 19. Preluding at the Piano - Nicholas Temperley; Contributor List; Index
''Cutting across traditional subject boundaries in music and cultural studies, this admirably comprehensive work adopts a welcome interdisciplinary ideal and makes a truly significant contribution to our knowledge of musical improvisation.'' Robert Witmer, professor emeritus of music, York University
