Improvisational Intelligence: A Study of the Cognitive Process of Improvisation

The teaching of music improvisation is commonly approached as the process of incorporating the vocabulary of a specific style. In the university setting this is most often accomplished through the methodology of jazz. As an alternative, improvisation is also taught as an experimental or experiential endeavor influenced by the practice of free-improvisation. A third model teaches improvisation as games; this is common in the field of Music Education. Although all these methods accomplish their various purposes, in their pedagogical application none of these models focus on the most distinctive feature of improvisation: how the musician thinks. Improvisation as a way of “thinking music” constitutes a form of musical intelligence that entails a number of cognitive processes that solve specific problems unique to the improvisational setting. As an alternative to the existing models, I propose to teach improvisation as a form of intelligence, with the purpose of empowering the learner to construct a spontaneous yet intended musical discourse meaningful to the improviser and representative of his or her own understanding of musical organization. In order to advance a pedagogical model based on improvisational intelligence, I have conducted a grounded theory research project to construct a theoretical model of the cognitive processes of improvisation deployed by professional improvisers, with the intention that this model inform the teaching of improvisational intelligence. The research comprised individual interviews with 10 improvisers. The participants improvised a piece of music and subsequently elaborated on the cognitive mechanisms deployed while improvising. The resulting theory from this research proposes that improvisational intelligence consists of residual and emergent behaviors mediated by a monitoring system. The theory is illustrated by three models, and it is summarized in six postulates. The practical application of the model does not form part of this research; turning the theoretical model into a practical teaching method constitutes a subsequent stage to the current work. Nonetheless, the discussion section of the thesis elaborates on possible pedagogical applications and challenges for the professional musician as well as for various institutional settings such as the elementary school, the secondary school, the university jazz program, and the classical performance program.Ph