The joys of polyidiomatic improvisation
Pamela J. Marshall discusses leading her first improv workshop for classical musicians, and captures well the different ideas that can arise, and descirbes how the creative input of various members of the ensemble make a difference. “My workshops are open to anyone who is interested in classical free improv. We try various styles: modal & melodic, aleatoric, with rhythmic accompaniment or not, full group and small subsets.” she writes. And that’s one of the things that make this work, not bound to a particular idiom, so exciting. It can go in any direction. Classical musicians have been exposed to so many styles, so many languages, that “free,” or what I sometimes call “polyidiomatic” (in which different idioms can be combined, or shifted between) improvisation, can come quite naturally.
Derek Bailey coined the term “idiomatic improvisation,” I believe, meaning improvisation in a particular musical idiom such as jazz, Baroque musc, Indiana music, Bulgarian music, etc.. He uses the term extensively in his book Improvisation: It’s Nature and Practice in Music. He contrasts it with what he called “nonidiomatic” improvisation. What I’ve heard of Bailey’s free, non-idiomatic improvisation seems an idiom all it’s own–freely atonal, lots of sound effects and exploration, sort of an anti-idiom.
What I like about improvising with people who have a classical background is how were not bound to, say, a Baroque style; tonal, modal, aleatoric, atonal, etc. styles are all available. And we don’t make a point of avoiding something.
The other side of the coin is that we may not have gone through the rigorous process of becoming adept in any particular idiom, especially those that thake so much study and practice to become fluent in.
That’s a long tangent. Pamela’s article captures much of what is so great about free improvisation. And she also mentions my much admired friend Jeff Agrell, the horn teacher at the University of Iowa who has assembled the most all-encompassing, Sears-catalog size compendium of improvisation games, one I recommend to everyone.
Eric, thanks for your comments about my workshop post. I’m glad to discover your writings about improv!
“He contrasts it with what he called “nonidiomatic” improvisation. What I’ve heard of Bailey’s free, non-idiomatic improvisation seems an idiom all it’s own–freely atonal, lots of sound effects and exploration, sort of an anti-idiom.”
I’m tempted to say Bailey’s just picked a poor word to contrast what he means by the two ways of improvising–I mean, normally if we say something like “he uses language in an idiomatic way” we’re basically saying the equivalent of “he’s got his own individual dialect of the language.”
What was it Data said in that Star Trek episode where the crew of the Enterprise encountered that being living in “dimension-less” space? “Isn’t the absence of dimension a dimension itself?” Like what you said–that it “…seems an idiom all its own…”