Thoughts on Improvisation

This article has been written in response to an intellectual unrest I have been experiencing regarding one of my most indulgent of musical activities; improvisation. It does not constitute an exhaustive account of all things improvisation. It is rather an exploration, at times shorter or longer, of some of the ideas I find most intriguing when discussing this most magical of acts. Whilst not a formal scientific paper, its contents are heavily based on a profound personal experience of indulging in the spontaneous.

What is Improvisation?

Whilst there may be a general notion that we have a solid idea of what improvisation is about, one can soon discover the deceptive difficulty of formulating a definition for it. Words that may come to mind are “spontaneous”, “structure” or lack of, “style", particularly with regards to music, et cetera. Due to being a musician, my approach will often be centred on the musical world, yet I believe most, if not all of the statements that follow apply to improvisation across the arts, and indeed life.

A very important word that seems logical to be mentioned alongside improvisation but rarely is, is instinct. What is instinct? To avoid developing this article into a fully grown dissertation, I will limit my personal, non-scientific answer to this:  instinct is the power of our subconscious, the secret or “dark matter” part of the brain which we cannot control and yet remains in direct communication and influence with our conscious. In a sense, it is the ultimate element of improvisation; the more instinctively we improvise, i.e the more uninhibited the communication between our conscious and subconscious is, the more elating the process. The best way I can describe this, based on my own experience, is “knowing what to play next without knowing what to play next”.

Why do we improvise?

When Yiannis Ritsos was asked why he writes, his answer was, “I simply cannot not write”. For me, this is as good an answer as any. Whilst improvisation may not be part of every artist's practice, it is a wonder waiting to be discovered. Once it has been discovered, it becomes a question of whether one can do without it. No less telling is the use of improvisation as part of the practice of music therapy.

Improvisation and the idea of the “mistake”

Improvisation also challenges the idea of the artistic "right" and "wrong". The most common fear of a musician, of any genre, is “making a mistake”. Let us now consider the word “mistake” against the phrase “deviation from set material”. The former is a clearly negative attribute, the latter a statement with no intrinsic positive or negative underpinning. Should we be so hard on ourselves for making a “mistake”, or should we encourage our creative side to prevail when it happens? Is it not worth considering the possibility of a work we know so well today having arrived in our hands completely different in a parallel universe, due to a seemingly infinitesimal yet cosmically significant difference in one of the conditions at the time it was written?

The possibilities are endless enough in our universe. The fact that works have been written the way they have is a miracle in itself. A testament to the miracle each one of us is. Why should we inhibit our miraculousness just because of an innocent (or not) deviation from what was originally written? Do we respect the composer by following the score to the letter, suppressing every creative idea that may seem contradictory to the text, or do we respect them by using the "instructions" we are presented with to make personal decisions, based on our educated instinct at the time, thus producing an honest performance, unique to our individuality and worthy of the multi-faceted power of music; a power which the composers themselves have served, and which is unimaginably bigger than symbols on pieces of paper? My view on this is self-evident.

To return to the theme of this article, improvisation is a portal to realising the endless possibilities of our world and allows for the above distinction in revelatory ways. It invites us to embrace the uncertainty of life and give it a creative face, rather than the scary one so many of us associate it with.

Improvisation and the Subconscious

The extent to which the subconscious is involved in improvisation has fascinated me ever since I started improvising. I soon realised that, during improvisation, we say, through sound, things our conscious would never allow us to say. It creates a state in which notional barriers and stereotypes are effortlessly lifted, inviting us to join the perpetual vibrations of our collective humanity. It is, perhaps, one of the most effective ways of making our dreams a reality and a step closer towards the Truth.

Conclusions

Let us go back to the first question; what is improvisation? The explosive flourish of spontaneous magic, the linkage of subconscious forces, the exaltation of uncertainty, the experience of creativity on a transcendental level? Whilst the answers to these questions are worthy of a PhD each, not to mention that they differ for each individual, one thing is for certain; in our enormous complexity as human beings, our spirits can collaboratively produce something uniquely magical through improvisation. “Natural”, “instinct”, “ultimate element”, “Truth”; I am always cautious not to overstate, yet this is special. I truly believe in the power of improvisation to elevate our spirit to otherwise unattainable levels, individually and collectively, and, in so doing, change our lives for the better.