Free Improvisation in the academy: A comparative study between the Conservatoire National de Paris and the Musik Akademie Basel

The Basel Musik Akademie and the Conservatoire National de Paris are two institutions where free improvisation is taught at a high level. The two schools - as well as the cities where they are located - played important rules in the field of avant-garde music, with with renowned and sometimes controversial professors who have taught there. With the help of interviews with the founders of the two classes, this paper retraces the stages of the entry of free improvisation into the academic world. It also describes the cohabitation with improvisation classes in idiomatic styles, such as keyboard improvisation, which has a history of more than two centuries in Paris. Finally, this paper also discusses the reciprocal relationship between free improvisation and contemporary music