MUSC283 - Approaches to Improvisation

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

MUSC161 Foundations of Music Practice or permission of LIC

Unit rationale, description and aim

Adaptive and capable musicians need the capacity to improvise in a variety of music styles in order to function professionally.

This unit develops knowledge and skills around the manipulation of musical materials in practical, real-time contexts, independent of genre or style. Improvisation in this unit combines performance with the application of established patterns and techniques related to pitch, rhythm, harmony, formal structure, style and gesture. Improvisations can be based on any style of music and can be undertaken on any instrument, including the voice and emerging performative technologies.

The aims of this unit are to examine fundamental patterns in music that can form the basis of improvisation and develop skills around applying these patterns to practical music contexts.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - demonstrate knowledge of music techniques related to pitch, rhythm, harmony and form. (GA5, GA8) 

LO2 - apply music knowledge in practical contexts. (GA1, GA3, GA5, GA10) 

LO3 - understand the inter-relationships that exist between theory and practice in music performance. (GA4, GA5, GA8) 

LO4 - develop original improvisations in diverse styles. (GA1, GA3, GA4, GA5, GA8, GA10) 

Graduate attributes

GA1 - demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity 

GA3 - apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA10 - utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.

Content

Topics will include:

• foundational knowledge related to the elements of music
• the analysis of music techniques related to pitch, rhythm, harmony and form
• ethical perspectives in music performance including an awareness of contemporary ethical practices related to appropriation as well as Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander perspectives
• an overview of music style as it impacts on elements of music
• developing skills in the application and performance of music techniques as a basis for creativity
• developing skills in different modes of analysis including active listening and score-based methods
• understanding musical contexts and expression
• Third-stream processes

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Students will work through modules designed to provide foundational knowledge of music processes. An early, low-weighted piece of assessment will ensure students are adequately prepared with the required grasp of this knowledge. Throughout the course of the semester, students will undertake formative activities in using simple musical patterns as the basis of short improvisations. Regular feedback and advice will be provided through forums and work submitted using the Kaltura media functionality on LEO. This will enable students to engage with longer and more intricate improvisations which will form the basis of a folio of work. The unit will be hosted through LEO and will use a combination of lecture vignettes and pre-recorded musical demonstrations, quizzes and forums. Adobe360 or equivalent will be used to facilitate synchronous experiences in the unit, where they are required. The pod casting and Kaltura media server functions will be used to support assessment in the unit. 

Assessment strategy and rationale

Assessments in this unit are constructively aligned with Learning Outcomes and are designed to scaffold the development of skills around music improvisation.

Assessment 1

The purpose of this task is to help students develop the necessary knowledge of musical techniques required to underpin activities in improvisation. It also acts as an early, low weighted task that can diagnose gaps in knowledge. The feedback students receive on this work will help prepare them for successive assessments. The task will be submitted on LEO and will require students to demonstrate a knowledge of musical materials via notation and prose.

Assessment 2

The purpose of these exercises is to develop skills in improvisation. This takes place via practical manipulation of short and fragmentary musical material and through developing the students’ awareness of how style and performance practice inform music realisation. The task will consist of both short recordings of improvised material and written analyses that show the student is aware of the connections between theory and practice. It also provides students with the opportunity to analyse and creatively respond to seminal improvisatory works.

Assessment 3

The purpose of the folio is to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their application of the knowledge and skills developed through the unit in the context of longer and more intricate improvisations. The folio will be submitted online as sound and video (where needed) recordings

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Buckwalter, M. (2010). Composing While Dancing : An Improviser's Companion. Madison, WI, 

USA: University of Wisconsin Press.

Fein, M. (2017). Teaching Music Improvisation with Technology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Hakim, N., & Dufourcet-Hakim, M.-B. (2000). The improvisation companion: theory, theme, development, forms, harmony. London, UK: United Music.

Higgins, L., & Campbell, P. S. (2010). Free to be musical: group improvisation in music: R&L Education.

Higgins, L. & Shehan, P. (2010). Free to be musical: Group improvisation in music. Lanham, MD, USA: R&L Education. (ebook)

Kostagiolas, P., Martzoukou, K. & Lavranos, C. (2016). Trends in music information seeking, behaviour, and retrieval for creativity. Hershey, PA, USA: IGI Global.

Odena, O. (2012). Musical Creativity: Insights from Music Education Research (SEMPRE Studies in The Psychology of Music). Farnham: Ashgate Publishing.

Sarath, E. (2009). Music Theory Through Improvisation. UK: Routledge.

Shikaly, A. (2016). Improvisation 101: How music works (2nd Edition ed.). USA: Lulu.com.

Sloboda, J. (2001). Generative processes in music: The psychology of performance, improvisation, and composition. Oxford: Oxford University Press