Improvisation: between technique and spontaneity

Underpinning this project is the attempt to grasp the notion behind improvisation and to understand what is actually meant by 'improvisation', its nature and its construct. At the same time this project aims to bestow on improvisation its legitimate role as a versatile, long-lasting creative process of knowledge and action. The word 'improvisation' is used to describe a host of very different things. It can be considered a collective, creative phenomenon, an individual skilled performance, an emerging act within a rooted practice, or as a set of generative techniques, yet there are a number of issues with its concept and practice. In improvisation, shared practices, steeped in culture and history, are intertwined, yet constantly exposed to the force of spontaneity and innovation. All the studies presented in the book contend that improvisation in artistic practices could hold the key to understanding the more unstructured, at times more unconscious, forms of improvisation that pervade different fields of knowledge and professions, as well as our everyday experiences.

The dialectical eroticism of improvisation / Tord Gustavsen. Jazz as classical music / Andy Hamilton. On the spontaneity of jazz improvisation / Gabriele Tomasi. Improvisation as phenomenon and tool for communication, interactive action and learning / Bjørn Alterhaug. Improvisational creativity as a model for effective learning / Keith Sawyer. Cultivating an attunement to unfolding : Improvisation and the discovery of identity / Frank J. Barrett

The dialectical eroticism of improvisation / Tord Gustavsen -- Jazz as classical music / Andy Hamilton -- On the spontaneity of jazz improvisation / Gabriele Tomasi -- Improvisation as phenomenon and tool for communication, interactive action and learning / Bjørn Alterhaug -- Improvisational creativity as a model for effective learning / Keith Sawyer -- Cultivating an attunement to unfolding : Improvisation and the discovery of identity / Frank J. Barrett.