Tag Archives: Stephen Nachmanovitch

03/27/13

Improv Quote of the Day: Surrender

As an improvising musician, I am not in the music business, I am not in the creativity business; I am in the surrender business.  Improvisation is acceptance, in a single breath, of both transience and eternity.  We know what might happen in the next day or minutes, but we cannot know what will happen.  To the extent that we feel sure of what will happen, we lock in the future and insulate ourselves against those essential surprises.  Surrender means cultivating a comfortable attitude toward not-knowing, being nurtured by the mystery of moments that are dependably surprising, ever fresh.

–Stephen Nachmanovitch

01/5/13

Improvisation Books

Cover of "Free Play: Improvisation in Lif...

The best way to learn (nonjazz) improvisation is to do it – play and play, preferably with experienced partners who can model and advise and guide. Next to that (or along with that), it’s nice to not have to invent all the wheels yourself and have some books on the subject help you along.

The best ones to get (ahem) of course are mine (all published by GIA) Improvisation Games for Classical Musicians, Improv Games for One Player, Improv Duets, Improvised Chamber Music. But there are plenty of other books out there that you should consider looking at if you are interested in this subject. Here are some of them, not in any particular order:

Stephen Nachmanovitch, Free Play

William L. Cahn, Creative Music Making

Continue reading →

08/24/12

Improv Quote of the Day: Strange Inversion

English: Musical score of Sonata for flute and...

Music represented symbolically is regarded as more acceptable than music which happens in real time as sound. We have fallen under the sway of a strange inversion in which symbols are regarded as more real than the realities they represent. Music (or art, literature, science, technology) is often treated as a collection of works arranged in a historical timeline. The scores are regarded as having not only an independent existence, but a higher existence than a performance.

–Stephen Nachmanovitch

Enhanced by Zemanta
04/14/12

Improv Quote of the Day: Symbols More Prized than the Music?

Example of a music manuscript: Johann Sebastia...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Music represented symbolically is regarded as more acceptable than music which happens in real time as sound. We have fallen under the sway of a strange inversion in which symbols are regarded as more real than the realities they represent. Music (or art, literature, theater, science, technology) is often treated as a collection of works arranged on a historical timeline. The scores are regarded as having not only an independent existence, but a higher existence than a performance.

– Stephen Nachmanovitch (from “It Don’t Mean a Thing (if it ain’t got that swing): Bateson and the How of Knowing”)