improvisation

Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians.^[1] Thus, musical ideas in improvisation are spontaneous, but may be based on chord changes in classical music,^[1] and indeed many other kinds of music. One definition is a "performance given extempore without planning or preparation."^[2] Another definition is to "play or sing (music) extemporaneously, especially by inventing variations on a melody or creating new melodies in accordance with a set progression of chords."^[3]

Encyclopedia Britannica defines it as "the extemporaneous composition or free performance of a musical passage, usually in a manner conforming to certain stylistic norms but unfettered by the prescriptive features of a specific musical text. Music originated as improvisation and is still extensively improvised in Eastern traditions and in the modern Western tradition of jazz."^[4]

Throughout the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, improvisation was a highly valued skill. J.S. Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven,Chopin, Liszt, and many other famous composers and musicians were known especially for their improvisational skills. Improvisation might have played an important role in the monophonic period. The earliest treatises on polyphony, such as the Musica enchiriadis (ninth century), make plain that added parts were improvised for centuries before the first notated examples. However, it was only in the fifteenth century that theorists began making a hard distinction between improvised and written music.^[5] Many classical forms contained sections for improvisation, such as the cadenza in concertos, or the preludes to some keyboard suites by Bach and Handel, which consist of elaborations of a progression of chords, which performers are to use as the basis for their improvisation. Handel,Scarlatti, and Bach all belonged to a tradition of solo keyboard improvisation.

In Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi classical music, raga is the "tonal framework for composition and improvisation."^[6] The Encyclopedia Britannica defines a raga as "a melodic framework for improvisation and composition. ^[7]

Contents

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• 1 In Western music
  • 1.1 Medieval period
  • 1.2 Renaissance period
  • 1.3 Baroque period
    • 1.3.1 Melodic instruments
    • 1.3.2 Keyboard, lute, and guitar
    • 1.3.3 Organ improvisation and church music
  • 1.4 Classical period
    • 1.4.1 Keyboard improvisation
      • 1.4.1.1 Mozart and Beethoven
  • 1.5 Romantic period
    • 1.5.1 Instrumental
    • 1.5.2 Opera
• 2 Modern opinions
  • 2.1 Theodor Adorno
  • 2.2 Glenn Gould
• 3 Contemporary
  • 3.1 Jazz
  • 3.2 Contemporary classical music
  • 3.3 Contemporary popular music
    • 3.3.1 Jam bands
    • 3.3.2 Psychedelic- and progressive-rock music
  • 3.4 Silent-film music
  • 3.5 Venues
• 4 Eastern music
• 5 See also
• 6 Notes
• 7 References
• 8 Further reading
• 9 External links
  • 9.1 Articles
  • 9.2 Books
  • 9.3 Improvisations
  • 9.4 Other

In Western music[edit]

Medieval period[edit]

Although melodic improvisation was an important factor in European music from the earliest times, the first detailed information on improvisation technique appears in ninth-century treatises instructing singers on how to add another melody to a pre-existent liturgical chant, in a style called organum.^[8] Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, improvised counterpoint over acantus firmus (a practice found both in church music and in popular dance music) constituted a part of every musician's education, and is regarded as the most important kind of unwritten music before the Baroque period.^[9]

Renaissance period[edit]

Following the invention of music printing at the beginning of the sixteenth century, there is more detailed documentation of improvisational practice, in the form of published instruction manuals, mainly in Italy.^[10] In addition to improvising counterpoint over a cantus firmus, singers and instrumentalists improvised melodies over ostinato chord patterns, made elaborate embellishments of melodic lines, and invented music extemporaneously without any predetermined schemata.^[11] Keyboard players likewise performed extempore, freely formed pieces.^[12]

Baroque period[edit]

The kinds of improvisation practised during the Renaissance—principally either the embellishing of an existing part or the creation of an entirely new part or parts—continued into the early Baroque, though important modifications were introduced. Ornamentation began to be brought more under the control of composers, in some cases by writing out embellishments, and more broadly by introducing symbols or abbreviations for certain ornamental patterns. Two of the earliest important sources for vocal ornamentation of this sort are Giovanni Battista Bovicelli’s Regole, passaggi di musica (1594), and the preface to Giulio Caccini’s collection, Le nuove musiche (1601/2)^[13]

Melodic instruments[edit]

Eighteenth-century manuals make it clear that performers on the flute, oboe, violin, and other melodic instruments were expected not only to ornament previously composed pieces, but also spontaneously to improvise preludes.^[14]

Keyboard, lute, and guitar[edit]

This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. (September 2009)

The pattern of chords in many baroque preludes, for example, can be played on keyboard and guitar over a pedal tone or repeated bass notes. Such progressions can be used in many other structures and contexts, and are still found in Mozart, but most preludes begin with the treble supported by a simple bass. J.S. Bach, for example, was particularly fond of the sound produced by the dominant seventh harmony played over, i.e., suspended against, the tonic pedal tone.^[15]

There is little or no Alberti bass in baroque keyboard music, and instead the accompanying hand supports the moving lines mostly by contrasting them with longer note values, which themselves have a melodic shape and are mostly placed in consonant harmony. This polarity can be reversed—another useful technique for improvisation—by changing the longer note values to the right hand and playing moving lines in the left at intervals—or with moving lines in both hands, occasionally. This shift of roles between treble and bass is another definitive characteristic. Finally, in keeping with this polarity, the kind of question and answer which appears in baroque music has the appearance of fugue or canon. This method was a favorite in compositions by Scarlatti and Handelespecially at the beginning of a piece, even when not forming a fugue.^[16]

Organ improvisation and church music[edit]

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the "monodic textures that originated about 1600 … were ready-made, indeed in large measure intended, for improvisational enhancement, not only of the treble parts but also, almost by definition, of the bass, which was figured to suggest no more than a minimal chordal outline."^[17] Improvised accompaniment over a figured bass was a common practice during the Baroque era, and to some extent the following periods. Improvisation remains a feature of organ playing in some church services and are regularly also performed at concerts.

Dietrich Buxtehude and Johann Sebastian Bach were regarded in the Baroque period as highly skilled organ improvisers.

Classical period[edit]

Keyboard improvisation[edit]

Classical music departs from baroque style in that sometimes several voices may move together as chords invo