Post 1

Like Dr. Porter addressed at the beginning of class, human society has always had an order or hierarchy; there was no period in time where civilization had no structure of some kind. I found this opening idea very thought provoking as we applied this notion towards improvisation in music, looking at both jazz and classical music. I found this relevant to looking at music in New Orleans in the early twentieth century. Like civilization’s organization as a whole, there were no early origins of improvisation in jazz as a wild and free act with little restrictions. As the recordings show in class, improvisation in jazz has developed from a rigid structure to more open in possibilities, from written solos that are worked out to “spontaneous creation,” which we heard in the recordings of “ Dipper Mouth Blues,” “Shoeshine Boy,” and “Parker’s Mood,” respectively, which each show a steady development in improvising. By listening to more than one recording, we can hear Johnny Dodds playing the same solo, with the second recording including the same solo from the first chorus on the first recording played twice. I found the Giardullo Method interesting when addressing group improvisation, which gave us a basic structure within our playing as a group, which helped us in playing both individually and as a group.

I also found it especially interesting to compare ideas and definitions of improvisation in jazz and classical music. Improvisation in the classical world seemed to revolve more on interpreting written compositions. The notes are already present, but how they are played is up to the performer, as Horowitz demonstrated. While improvisation in the classical world could also include performers creating new material as it is being performed, which is included in the Main Grove Dictionary’s definition, it is not expected today that classical musicians know how to improvise, with the exception of most organ players. I thought that the use of graph notation by classical composers was very interesting, in that it gave performers more freedom in terms of notes but still has a basic structure of what the composer wanted with direction and volume. I am looking forward to the next class when we look at improvisation in world music, to see what remains constant and what distinguishes it in definition and in development.