At the pitch meeting on the 9th November I was given feedback regarding how to further develop my project. One aspect was to look at existing studies that had been done on classical musicians and improvisation. The rationale for my project focuses on the point that classical musicians often find the transition to improvisation uncomfortable due to their education not best facilitating the techniques needed for effective improvisation. My project would attempt to create an effective learning resource that would aid classical musicians in making this transition.
"Investigating musical performance: commonality and diversity amongst classical and non-classical musicians", is a review article focusing on what aspects of musicianship are similar amongst classical and non classical musicians and where the differences lie. It aims to "Explore findings relating to attitudes towards the importance of musical skills, the relevance of musical activities and the nature of musical expertise." (Creech, et al, P1, 2008) One of the tasks that has been set out in the learning contract is to identify limitations of a classical education within the context of improvisation. The most apparent observation is the emphasis in classical music placed on playing exactly what is notated. The nature of improvisation with its emphasis on the freedom of the player is completely at odds with this approach. The research paper states that "While classical musicians emphasized the drive to excel musically and technically and prioritized notation-based skills and analytical skills, non-classical musicians attached greater importance to memorising and improvising" (Creech, et al, 2008, P1) It makes this assessment using results from a questionnaire of 244 undergraduate and professional musicians. With regards to the aim of my project, I will have to consider attitudes of classical musicians when coming up with a suitable teaching method. I could perhaps start with a notation based approach that would gradually place more emphasis on the freedom of the player. This might involve initially notating a solo in its entirety then leaving gradually more spaces in the notation for the improviser to fill. This way the learning method should be accessible to the intended audience. The paper discusses how genres produce an ideology where particular characteristics can be observed in the musician who identifies themselves as being of that genre. (Creech, et al,2008 p5) It is apparent that classical musicians in the mainstream regard ability to improvise as the "least important skill" (Creech, et al, 2008 p8) They place sight reading as the most important. This suggests that the niche for my project consists of a minority of classical musicians who have the desire to improvise but don't adhere to the belief that this is off limits because of their education. The survey also observed that classical musicians place a higher importance on the advancement of technical skills and musicality. Non classical musicians however consider making music for pleasure and listening to music of their own genre more relevant. (Creech, et al, 2008 p23) Again, when coming up with an effective teaching device, I will be informed by this. I feel that the advancement of technical skill and musicality is a goal that can be met within the context of improvisation. For example technical skills can be devoloped using increasingly difficult patterns of arpeggios and scales, which a classical musician may already be familiar with because of the emphasis on scales and arpeggios within a classical education. Also, many jazz pianists have been influenced by highly technical aspects of classical piano playing. For example Bill Evans was influenced by Debussy. Added to this, because improvisation is a creative process this allows for an advancement of musicality.
This review paper therefore documents important evidence regarding the mindset of classical musicians that I can use to inform what teaching methods I use.
Creech, et all.(2008) Investigating musical performance: commonality and diversity amongst classical and non-classical musicians.
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