MUS 247 - Improvisation: Exploring the Art of Musical Spontaneity

This course will introduce students to improvisation-with a particular focus on jazz and American popular music traditions-and examines improvisation as both a musical and cultural practice. This is open to students with widely varying musical backgrounds and levels of experience, though there is an emphasis on performance, therefore a moderate level of proficiency on an instrument or voice is strongly encouraged. Key skills we will develop-in both individual and group settings-are reading, interpreting, and writing lead sheets; building and realizing chord progressions; reharmonization; writing melodies; and creating spontaneous musical material/ideas. Through readings, listenings, and class discussion, we will explore improvisation as a means of storytelling and communication, and how it can give voice to personal histories, reinforce or disrupt expectations, and forge unspoken connections between sound, space, and the people who fill it. Other topics we will investigate are jazz harmony, genre definitions and idiosyncrasies, blues progressions, arranging, and ensemble interaction, and survey the broader context and social histories of improvisation in American music. The course concludes with a final performance project (individual or group), in which students are encouraged to experiment with improvisational approaches in an encouraging and supportive environment.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).