Blog 1

Coming into this class I wasn't quite sure what to expect and where I wanted to go with it, I just wanted to play some music and have fun. I also didn't exactly know what "Improvisational Music" was but now I realize that its nearly impossible to describe. There are so many variables involved with "improv music" that its hard to describe, except that it is flexible and reacts to different inputs. When I think of improvisational music, the first thing I think of is jam bands like Phish/Grateful Dead but my views have widened since I came to the class. I now think that any kind of music can be improv as long as it is reacting or being being affected by some kind of input/output. Playing a cd through a radio I don't think is improv music because it will not react to anything or change; the music was created and therefore improvised at some point but it is no longer changing. I think listening to live music, no matter what kind, is witnessing some degree of improvisation. A jam band like the Grateful Dead is obviously reacting to a number of factors, namely eachother and the crowd when they are playing. But even if you are listening to someone play Beethoven note for note with no variation, there are still variations because nothing can be played exactly the same twice unless it is a cd on repeat. The musician is still reacting to the piano, the music and the audience and some kind of relationship is existing in some way and so I think it is still improvisational although maybe not so much as other forms of music.