Conceptual Framework to Assist Instrument Teachers to Embed Musical Improvisation Into Their Instructional Practice
Keywords:
Musical improvisation, conceptual framework, pedagogy of improvisation, cognitive process.Abstract
This essay aims at offering a conceptual framework to help instrument teachers to include improvisation in their pedagogical practice. In order to do so, we have reviewed and analyzed the literature addressing musical improvisation, with a special focus on theoretical models and pedagogical applications. The analysis allowed us to develop a functional definition of musical improvisation, to identify its positive contribution to the learning process and to other aspects, to identify factors and cognitive processes involved in production of musical improvisation, and to inventory pedagogical recommendations found in this literature. Based on the analyzed literature, we finally developed a graphic conceptual framework, which puts together the necessary knowledge to operationalize the process of teaching musical improvisation.References
Ashley, R. (2009). Musical improvisation. En S. Hallam, I. Cross & M. Thaut (Ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology. Nueva York: Oxford University Press.
Azzara, C. D. (1992). The effect of audiation-based improvisation techniques on the music achievement of elementary instrumental music students (tesis doctoral). Rochester: Universidad of Rochester.
Azzara, C. D. (1999). An Aural Approach to Improvisation Music educators can teach improvisation even if they have not had extensive exposure to it themselves. Here are some basic strategies. Music Educators Journal, 86(3), 21–25. doi:10.2307/3399555
Azzara, C. D. (2002). Improvisation. En R. Colwell (Ed.). The New Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning. Nueva York: Schirmer Books.
Baily, J. (1985). Music structure and human movement. Recuperado de http://www.citeulike.org/group/1480/article/792514.
Baily, J. (1991). Some cognitive aspects of motor planning in musical performance. Psychologica Belgica, 31(2), 147–162.
Baily, J. (2001). L’interaction homme-instrument: Vers une conceptualisation. Cahiers de Musiques Traditionnelles, 125–141.
Baily, J. & Driver, P. (1992). Spatio-motor thinking in playing folk blues guitar. The World of Music, 34(3), 57–71.
Barrett, F. J. (1998). Coda-creativity and improvisation in jazz and organizations: Implications for organizational learning. Organization Science, 9(5), 605–622.
Bastien, D. T. & Hostager, T. J. (1988). Jazz as a process of organizational innovation. Communication Research, 15(5), 582–602.
Berkowitz, A. (2010). The improvising mind: Cognition and creativity in the musical moment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Berliner, P. (1994). Thinking in jazz: The infinite art of improvisation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Chamblee, C. (2008). Cognitive processes of improvisation: Performers and listeners in the organ tradition and contemporary gospel styles (tesis doctoral). Filadelfia: Universidad of Pensilvania.
Covington, K. (1997). Improvisation in the aural curriculum: An imperative. College Music Symposium, 37, 49–64.
Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Rich, G. (1997). Musical improvisation: A systems approach. En R. K. Sawyer (Ed.). Creativity in performance. Londres: Ablex.
Dos Santos, R. A. T. & Del Ben, L. (2004). Contextualized improvisation in solfège class. International Journal of Music Education, 22(3), 271–282.
Ferand, E. T. (1961). Improvisation in nine centuries of western music: An anthology with a historical introduction (Vol. 12). Colonia: Arno Volk.
Gibson, W. (2006). Material culture and embodied action: sociological notes on the examination of musical instruments in jazz improvisation. The Sociological Review, 54(1), 171–187. doi:10.1111/j.1467-954X.2006.00607.x
Gordon, E. (1997). Learning sequences in music: Skill, content, and patterns: A music learning theory. Chicago: GIA. Disponible en http://www.getcited.org/pub/103005889.
Gordon, E. (1998). Harmonic improvisation readiness record and rhythm improvisation readiness record. Chicago: GIA.
Guilbault, D. M. (2009). The effects of harmonic accompaniment on the tonal improvisations of students in first through sixth grade. Journal of Research in Music Education, 57(2), 81–91.
Joëlle, L. (2008). À voix basse, entretiens avec Frank Médioni. París: MF.
Johnson-Laird, P. N. (2002). How jazz musicians improvise. Music Perception, 19(3), 415–442.
Kenny, B. J. & Gellrich, M. (2002). Improvisation. En R. Parncutt & G. McPherson (Ed.). The science and psychology of music performance. Nueva York: Oxford University Press.
Koutsoupidou, T. & Hargreaves, D. J. (2009). An experimental study of the effects of improvisation on the development of children’s creative thinking in music. Psychology of Music, 37(3), 251–278.
Kratus, J. (1991). Growing with improvisation. Music Educators Journal, 78(4), 36–40.
Kratus, J. (1995). A developmental approach to teaching music improvisation. International Journal of Music Education, 1, 27–38.
Lehmann, A. C., Sloboda, J. A. & Woody, R. H. (2007). Composition and improvisation. En Psychology for musicians: Understanding and acquiring the skills. Nueva York: Oxford University Press.
McMullen, E. & Saffran, J. R. (2004). Music and language: A developmental comparison. Music Perception, 21, 289–311.
McPherson, G. (1993). Evaluating improvisational ability of high school instrumentalists. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 119, 11–20.
Montano, D. R. (1983). The effect of improvisation in given rhythms on rhythmic accuracy in sight reading achievement by college elementary group piano students. Kansas: Universidad de Misuri.
Montello, L. (1989). Utilizing music therapy as a mode of treatment for the performance stress of professional musicians. Nueva York : Universidad de Nueva York.
Nakamura, J. & Csikszentmihalyi, M. 2002. The Concept of Flow. En C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopezs (Ed.). Handbook of Positive Psychology. Nueva York: Oxford University Press.
Nettl, B., Wegman, R. C., Horsley, I., Collins, M., Carter, S. A., Garden, G., … Kernfeld, B. (n.d.). Improvisation. En Grove Music Online. Disponible en http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/13738?q=improvisation&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit.
Norgaard, M. (2008). Descriptions of improvisational thinking by artist-level jazz musicians (tesis doctoral). Austin: Universidad of Tejas.
Norgaard, M. (2011). Descriptions of improvisational thinking by artist-level jazz musicians. Journal of Research in Music Education, 59(2), 109–127.
Pressing, J. (1988). Improvisation: methods and models. En J. A. Sloboda (Ed.). Generative processes in music. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pressing, J. (1998). Psychological Constraints on Improvisational Expertise and Communication. En B. Nettl & M. Russell (Ed.). In the course of performance: Studies in the world of musical improvisation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Rowlyk, W. T. (2008). Effects of improvisation instruction on nonimprovisation music achievement of seventh and eighth grade instrumental music students (tesis doctoral). Filadelfia: Universidad de Temple.
Sarath, E. (1996). A new look at improvisation. Journal of Music Theory, 40(1), 1–38.
Sawyer, K. (2011). The cognitive neuroscience of creativity: A critical review. Creativity Research Journal, 23(2), 137–154. doi:10.1080/10400419.2011.571191
Sloboda, J. A. (1985). The musical mind: The cognitive psychology of music. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sousa, D. A. (2002). Un cerveau pour apprendre. Comment rendre le processus d’enseignement-apprentissage plus efficace. Montreal: Chenelière/McGraw-Hill.
Sternberg, R. J. (2000). Giftedness as developing expertise. En K. A. Heller, F. J. Mönks, R. Sternberg & R. Subotnik (Ed.). International Handbook of Giftedness and Talent. Oxford: Pergamon.
Thompson, S., & Lehmann, A. C. (2004). Strategies for sight-reading and improvising music. En A. Williamon (Ed.). Musical excellence: Strategies and techniques to enhance performance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Webster, P. (1987) Refinement of a measure of creative thinking in music. En C. Madsen & C. Prickett (Ed.). Applications of Research in Music Behavior. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press.
Whitman, G. G. (2001). The effects of vocal improvisation on attitudes, aural identification skills, knowledge of music theory, and pitch accuracy in sight-reading of high school choral singers (tesis doctoral). Kansas: Universidad de Misuri.
Wilson, D. S. (1970). A Study of the Child Voice from six to twelve (tesis doctoral). Eugene: Universidad de Oregón.
Young, S. (2004). The interpersonal dimension: A potential source of musical creativity for young children? Musicae Scientiae, 7(1 suppl), 175–191.