improvisation

—improvisational, adj.

/im prov'euh zay"sheuhn, im'preuh veuh-/, n.

1. an act of improvising.

2. something improvised.

[1780-90; IMPROVISE + -ATION]

* * *

Creation of music in real time.

Improvisation usually involves some preparation beforehand, particularly when there is more than one performer. Despite the central place of notated music in the Western tradition, improvisation has often played a role, from the earliest organum through the use of continuo (partially improvised accompaniment played on a bass line) in the 17th and 18th centuries. It has taken forms such as creation of a melody over a bass line for dancing, elaborate ornamentation added to a repeated section in an aria, keyboard variations on popular songs, concerto cadenzas, and free solo fantasias. Perhaps at its lowest ebb in the 19th century, improvisation returned to concert music in "experimental" compositions and in "authentic" performances of older music. Its most important contemporary Western form is jazz. It is also a defining feature of the raga.

* * *

▪ music

also called  Extemporization,  

      in music, the extemporaneous composition or free performance of a musical passage, usually in a manner conforming to certain stylistic norms but unfettered by the prescriptive features of a specific musical text. Music originated as improvisation and is still extensively improvised in Eastern traditions and in the modern Western tradition of jazz.

      Many of the great composers of Western classical music were masters of improvisation, especially on keyboard instruments, which offered such celebrated composer-performers as Johann Sebastian Bach, W.A. Mozart, Felix Mendelssohn, and Frédéric Chopin virtually boundless opportunities for the spontaneous unfolding of their rich musical imaginations. Many an idea so generated eventually appeared in a written composition. Some composers have regarded improvisation as an indispensable warm-up for their creative task.

      Prior to the instrumental era in the West, improvisation within the systematized musical context was largely limited to ornamental variants of vocal parts in polyphonic compositions and to instrumental adaptations of vocal compositions, especially by lute and keyboard virtuosos. The monodic textures that originated about 1600, on the other hand, were ready-made, indeed in large measure intended, for improvisational enhancement, not only of the treble parts but also, almost by definition, of the bass, which was figured to suggest no more than a minimal chordal outline.

      In essentially monophonic musical cultures, whether Western or non-Western, improvisation has been of paramount importance, if only because successful improvisation is always more readily achieved by soloists than by groups. A monophonic oral musical tradition, however, does not necessarily imply the prevalence of improvisational practices. Quite to the contrary, oral traditions have been prone to preserve the integrity of particular songs and dances from generation to generation with a degree of precision virtually unknown in literate musical contexts.

      It is generally assumed that early European music from Roman Catholic chant to medieval polyphony was rooted in such improvisational practices as the exploration of motivic possibilities in the church modes (see church mode) and the addition of a second melody to a preexisting melody or cantus firmus. Modal improvisations have remained central to much non-Western music, including the chant of the Jewish synagogue, Islāmic maqām elaborations, and Indian raga performances.

      In the West, cantus firmus improvisation inspired a great deal of instrumental music as well, beginning with late Renaissance improvisations over ostinato basses (relatively short repeated bass patterns) and maintained through the centuries especially by organists who embraced such popular ostinato genres as the passacaglia and chaconne. Organists have remained in the forefront of improvisation as a primary musical activity in no way at odds with written composition, while keyboard improvisation in turn has been responsible for compositions of a freely associative character of the sort found among hundreds of preludes, toccatas, and fantasies written during the past three centuries. Improvisations on Protestant hymn tunes gave birth to the important 17th- and 18th-century genre the chorale prelude. In the later 18th century, improvisation, often based on variation techniques but not excluding the strictly polyphonic procedures of canon and fugue, challenged the ingenuity of virtuoso-composers repeatedly in public improvisational contests, such as those that pitted Mozart against Muzio Clementi and Ludwig van Beethoven against Joseph Wölfl.

      In modern times, improvisation survives as one of the chief distinguishing characteristics of jazz. Here, too, the process is usually inspired by, and structured (however loosely) in accordance with, salient characteristics of the model in question, be it a well-known show tune or a ground bass. During the second half of the 20th century, there arose among certain avant-garde composers and performers a tendency away from any vestige of traditional structure. A “composition” from this experimental school might be entirely devoid of conventional notation, consisting rather of a verbal instruction, a prescription for duration, or an idiosyncratic graphic code. Some works required performers to combine at random “building blocks” of brief musical phrases or entire sections presented by the composer; it has been asserted that such a process embodies a more profound creative collaboration between composer and performer than does the interpretation of a fully notated work or the express but limited freedom accorded performers at crucial moments in certain fixed compositions (e.g., the da capo section of an 18th-century aria or the cadenza near the end of a solo concerto movement). See also aleatory music.

▪ theatre

      in theatre, the playing of dramatic scenes without written dialogue and with minimal or no predetermined dramatic activity. The method has been used for different purposes in theatrical history.

      The theatrical form known as the commedia dell'arte was highly improvisational, although through repeated performances its characters developed stock speeches and stage business and its scenarios gained fairly standard form. Much of Asian dance and theatrical activity comprises improvised arrangements of stock scenes, movements, and speech.

      A number of contemporary groups have used improvisation, usually working in intimate cabaret theatres and sometimes performing impromptu scenes based on ideas from the audience. Among the most prominent of these is the Second City company in Chicago, whose origins date to the 1950s. Theatresports, a form originated by Keith Johnstone and now practiced around the world, involves improvisation around various competitive “game” pretexts that are judged by the audience. Other major uses of improvisation are in theatrical rehearsals, to discover new nuances of interpretation, and in acting schools, to allow students to explore and broaden their emotional responsiveness to imaginative situations.

Additional Reading

Clive Barker, Theatre Games (1977); John Rudlin, Commedia dell'Arte: An Actor's Handbook (1994).

* * *