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Composition vs. Improvisation

This is an age-old debate, under which improvisation usually has some explaining to do.. at least a bit of defensive ground to make up.

The fact seems to be that improvisers often feel at a disadvantage when it comes to the output of their art. After all, how can an improvised piece of music match the long process of creative decision-making that composers invest in their art? This came to my mind recently as I read an article by Andrew Goldman (2013): Towards a cognitive-scientific research programme for improvisation. In this article, Goldman puts his finger on the false premises under which this debate is run - that of conceptualising music as a product rather than a process. As Goldman suggests, the question of real-time creativity and the implied value judgments in this conceptualisation disappear when we look at the processes of music-making: 'Without considering a musical product, however, the consideration of time becomes less important - composing, improvising, and playing from memory, at least in cognitive terms, are all "in real time".

The question is, are they so similar? I think the answer to this question depends very much on the musical style, and goals of the creator. In one sense, (for example, the Baroque sense epitomised by J.S.Bach) improvising, composing, performing, memorising, can be so similar or inter-related as cognitive activities - all means to a common end as it were - that it becomes senseless to try and find a dividing line between the actions themselves. When we see how precious the compositional process is, or has become during the last 200 years, however, certain distinctions begin to emerge. Whether we like it or not, romantic ideals, born of the late 18th century and crystallised into the practice and pedagogy of music during the 19th, remain a significant part of our attitude towards music-making in the 21st century. The ideals of romanticisim, beginning with a desire to capture something of the natural world, and then to define something of human existence in, or perception of, the same natural world, has led to composers investing huge amounts of effort in the descriptive and communicative potential of music. In particular, composers think a great deal about form - the proportions and structure of musical contruction. The aim - I believe of these efforts - is to successfully communicate a series of psychological states, perhaps in the form of a narrative, perhaps as a series of tableaux or glimpses from different angles of a significant scene or event. Either way, this style or approach to composing is generally the result of intensive reflection, and is usually discussed in terms of (the product of) unconscious processes taking place over a period of time.

In what way can improvisation compare to these processes?

 

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