Improvisation

Everyday improvisation in public space is an extremely broad topic, and the structure of this literature review speaks to that. Rather than providing a cohesive overview, I have instead opted to focus on a few select areas and examples of how this phenomenon is discussed in social theory and social science research (particularly sociology and human geography), as well as providing some examples that may be of interest to IICSI in terms of philosophy of improvisation or applications for improvisation.

Interactive Improvisation in Times of Isolation, which will showcase the realities of living in isolation. The ambient recordings signify the current reality in which nature exists — even thrives — with muted human intervention.

“Sounds that Emerge from You” is an interview with musician and writer David Lee, conducted by IICSI Research Paul Watkins about what led Lee to improvised music.

A short interview with Allen Tush Naturinda about the role of improvisation in the transformative art workshops for youth in Uganda.

Voices Found: Free Jazz and Singing is a new title in Routledge’s Transnational Studies in Jazz series and the culmination of Dr. Chris Tonelli’s postdoctoral work with the IICSI. It pieces together a history of free jazz voice that spans from sound poetry and scat in the 1950s to the more recent wave of free jazz choirs.

The Digital Incubator sessions (June 25-July 2, 2018) at the Sonic Ars Research Centre, in Queens University Belfast brought together researchers from across the ImprovEnabled project and focused on accessibility and strengths-based approaches to disabilities.

 Edited by Ajay Heble Douglas R. Ewart’s Crepuscule: Stories of Impact features: essays and reflections by Michael Collins, Jeannette Hicks and Brian Lefrense, and Ed Sarath; an interview with Ewart by Ajay Heble; Ewart’s artist statement about the evolving energy that is Crepuscule; and throughout the pages are photographs from Crepuscule – Guelph – the culminating event of Ewart’s 2015-16 residency in Guelph’s Arboretum, and the subsequent participatory, multi-site, mixed-media exhibition Douglas R. Ewart’s Crepuscule at the Robert Langen Art Gallery at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Insubordinate Spaces: Improvisation and Accompaniment for Social Justice is from the Insubordinate Spaces series, edited by George Lipsitz – a home for books that resist and rethink the increasingly outsized power market forces wield over public and private life and over the rules and assumptions of scholarly investigation and discourse.

Thinking-In-The-Making: A Conversation About Practice-Based Methodologies & Collaborations with the IICSI’s 2018-2019 postdoctoral fellows, Dr. Leila Qashu & Dr. Teresa Connors. Dr. Leila Qashu (McGill University) presented on her current…

The University of Regina iPad Orchestra project aims to explore the potential for engaging with the Apple iPad as a teaching and learning device in the area of music composition…