When one thinks of jazz, one's mind should immediately spring to "improvisation." It is a true characteristic of the jazz art form, but it truly is a rarity when seen in a historical context.
Improvisation has been an integral part of music since the very beginning of music, and it has
been a very important element in Western Classical music for most of the past 1000 years.
The following is a list of examples:
a) When the single voice 'Plainsong' started to develop into the 2, 3 or 4 part
'Organum' (during the mid Medieval Period 1000 - 1300) , one or more of the parts
were also commonly improvised, weaving free counter lines around the written melody
line.
b) Original score notations for Medieval organ music for example, commonly include
instructions for improvisation and embellishments. Scales that were used were
selected according to the same improvisation principles now used in Jazz.
c) Improvistional sections were often included in many classical scores. The preludes to
keyboard suites by Bach and Handel for example consisted solely of a progression of chords.
The performers used these as basis for their improvisation (again : like in Jazz).
In the scores of to day most of these progressions have been translated into full music
notations by various editors.
d) Later, during the Baroque - (1600 - 1750), Classical - (1750 - 1830), and Romantic -
Periods (1830 - 1900) improvisation flourished, especially for keyboard players. J.S.Bach,
Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt and many other distinguished composers
and virtuoso pianists, excelled in the art of improvisation, in those days called
'extemporisation'.
e) Liszt was a famous boy improvisor. At age 12 his concert in Manchester was
advertised as 'An Extemporary Fantasie on the Pianoforte by Master Liszt, who will
respectfully request a written theme from any person present.' In 1895 Miss Marie Wurm
gave a complete recital in London upon themes handed to her by members of the audience.
Towards the beginning of this century, improvisation inexplicably disappeared from Classical performances, and Classical music as a whole has been totally dominated (and restricted) by the written score.
I would argue that this has had a detrimental effect on the knowledge and understanding of
fundamental music principles by the majority of classical music students. Good improvisation skills rely on a thourough understanding and knowledge of chords,
chord progressions and chord - scale relationships. The written score on the other hand can be (and usually is) played without such knowledge. One simply reads and reguritates the input, without any interpretation of the music so easily provided.
The demise of extemporisation has also had its effect on the teaching of classical harmony.
A rare exception is the text 'Harmony in Western Music' by Richard Franko
Goldman (1965, Published by W.W.Norton & Company, Inc. , New York).
Goldman's preface reads as follows:
"For some reason, generally unexplained, all music students 'take' a year or more of harmony. What they learn is in many cases a mystery. The emphasis of the usual harmony course is on having the student complete a number of exercises with reasonable 'correctness'. Whose correctness is seldom defined. It is often a notion of correctness based on the style of Bach's chorales. But sometimes one wonders what is achieved."
The emergence of tertiary jazz Institutions in the 60s and 70s throughout the Western
world, and their subsequent integration with Classical Institutions (as in Australia), are also
having a positive effect on the modern day understanding of music.
Modern Classical composers, such as Lucas Foss and others, as a reaction to the stifling
effect of the written score, and encouraged by the example of jazz music, compose again
with elements of improvisation incorporated in their works.
Despite the prevalence of the lack of constant improvisation in music throughout history, a few types of European music have not suffered from the 'drought', and continued uninterrupted with their tradition of improvisation.
Examples of this can include:
a) Irish folk music, "The Furies"
b) Hungarian Gypsy music
c) as discussed previously, organ improvisation in churches
d) and Spanish Flamenco music.
In conclusion, music that has not retained any sense of improvisation often loses some of its vitality. Classical music, though well regarded, is finding a shallow audience with today's consumers, who seem to be more driven by slick marketing campaigns and child prodigies. Another example, rap music, was thought to be a passing fad when introduced. Rap has managed to retain a certain sense of improvisation through its loose, almost random lyrics in many instances. "Freestyle" rap follows a constant beat and allows the performer to improvise rhymes over the constant. This emotes in the listener a sense of urgency and liveliness, which keeps the medium fresh. While this style certainly does not appeal to everyone, in 1996, the rap/R&B market share reached heights of 21% of market sales.
