Improvisation and Creation

Improvising in music is mainly recognised in the jazz genre, with musicians such as Louis Armstrong, both on the trumpet and scatting however is also present in other genres such as Indian ragas, described as a "tonal framework for composition and improvisation" (Bor, 1999, p.181).

"Every individual who creates improvised music brings his or her own musical technique and style to the creative music." (Wigram, 2004, p.40) When it comes to performing (and even just playing around), improvisation can be quite a daunting thing, as the fear of "what if it doesn't sound right with what everyone else is playing?" can cause many to simple say no, however as I always like challenges, when this this done in class, I simply just went with whatever came out of my mouth.
We started in a circle and everyone had their own unique noises to make (coming up with a random noise on the spot is harder than it sounds). As the 'conductor' cued us all in, we all had to listen to each other and communicate non verbally to keep on the same level. One pointed at, you had to improvise with a bit of scatting which is easier said than done.
It was an interesting activity to do, and was followed up after I said that it would be harder to do with musical instruments as opposed to the voice.
This seemed more challenging, however following the same rules as before, I felt comfortable with my musical knowledge to do an improvised solo on the tambourine, which not many people can say they have done.
The one thing that it made me realise is that subconsciously, I improvise everyday - whether that be an improvised humming while doing work, or just tapping a drum beat out on a desk.

Ella Fitzgerald, known as the "Queen of Jazz" was most famous for her scat style singing, something that is synonymous with jazz. "I Just tried to do [with my voice] what I heard the horns in the band doing" (Moret, 1996), she recreated and redefined the sound of jazz and went onto have a great career, doing what she did best. Performing here with just the accompaniment of one guitar, Fitzgerald's voice not only compliments the guitar, but also adds another element to the performance as a hole. It is not hard to imagine her voice being replaced with a brass instrument such a saxophone, with both her phrasing and her patterns mimicking the sound so closely.

With more practice, improvisation can become a less daunting thing to try and pull off, as you can never properly practice it, as the whole point is about being in the moment, and going with the flow of the music. "At any point many things can go wrong, as they can in any other living relationship" (Small, 1998, p. 301) therefore it's important to communicate with each other when performing as a group to ensure that everyone is being supportive, then when somebody does improvise a solo, they can go at it with everything they can and think less about the negatives, or "Self One" (Green & Gallwey, 1987), and more about embodying and embracing the music