MP18: Improvisation in Theory and Practice
About
From plainchant to free jazz and beyond, this Working Group explores how musical improvisation has been conceptualized, performed, construed, and analyzed across a broad range of periods, places, and genres.
Open to New People
Active since: 2013
- Syracuse University
- University of Rochester
- Cornell University
Collaborative Goals
To provide opportunities for faculty and students to engage with improvisation in theory and practice.
Group Organizers
Anne Laver
Assistant Professor of Applied Music and Performance; University Organist, Syracuse University
Annette Richards
Given Foundation Professor in the Humanities and University Organist, Cornell University
David Higgs
Professor of Organ; Chair, Organ, Sacred Music, and Historical Keyboards Department, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester
Group Members
- William Porter, Professor of Organ, University of Rochester
- Ivan Bosnar, Instructor of Organ, Syracuse University
Activities
Improvising in the Gospel Style - Workshop with Alcee Chriss
Nov. 8, 2022, 1:30 p.m.
Improvising in the Gospel Style with Alcee Chriss
Oct. 18, 2022, 2 p.m.
Organ Improvisation Masterclass with Jeffrey Brillhart
April 21, 2022, 2 p.m.
Group Outcomes
Students learned about the context for improvisation in the Historically Black Church. They also learned how to harmonize melodies with some of the traditional patterns from the gospel tradition. This experience led the working group members to develop a signature event to take place in 2024 that will continue to explore the gospel idiom and put it in conversation with improvisation practices from western European liturgical traditions.