Welcome to an improvisation website with a psychological basis!
My name is Dr Jonathan Ayerst and this site is all about teaching and performing improvisation in classical styles. It is based in my work as a researcher, especially my studies in music psychology (MA and PhD, the University of Sheffield), which led to a long-term autoethnographical study of learning to improvise, from novice to expert.
Please use the following quick access links to
- PhD thesis: Learning to improvise as a Western classical musician: a psychological self-study
- Open source article: Are classical musicians excluded from improvisation? Cultural hegemony and the effects of ideology on musician's attitudes towards improvisation.
- Workshop plan: Workshops EN
- A Youtube channel of my concert improvisations in Baroque, Romantic and Contemporary styles
- Facebook blog and forum: Psychology of classical improvisation
