Search

This document describes a collaborative learning project that investigated how theater and improvisational drama can help adult learners to develop basic literacy and English language abilities. Three teachers, working with an average of 10 students each for 6 months, conducted classes to increase students' skills in improvisation, creative thinking, imagination, scriptwriting, and individual and group performance. They improvised skits and plays, worked on writing as scripts what they had created, then read and rehearsed their work and performed it in public. Teachers' activities included a 20-hour orientation , a biweekly teacher-sharing, and the keeping of a detailed record of their work . Following an Introduction (Section I), skits and plays developed by the students are included in this document. Section II, Scenes and Skits, contains the following: "The Accident,""The Vacuum Cleaner,""The Auto Mechanic,""Apartment for Rent,""The Broken Refrigerator,""Family Portrait," and "Out of the Darkness." Contents of Section III, Favorite Tales Reenacted, are as follows: "The Big Bad Wolf Gets Therapy,""Gretel's Miserable Adventure,""The Old Woman Who Lived in the Shoe with Too Many Children,""The Morning After,""To Find a Prince,""Dumbo's Different," and "Jack Faces the Giant." Section IV includes the following Short Plays: "The Decision,""Reflections of One's Self,""The Trial of Pandora," and "The Jones' American Dream." (KC)

Whenever a new technology alters the relations of knowledge production, we are met with a dispute over the political and epistemological meanings of the change. This article offers an alternative look, neither fatalistic nor messianic, at the relationship between information technology and education. In the first part we demonstrate the presence of a widespread governmentality in the contemporary society, resulting from a totalizing collection of data, which we access through AI-mediated interfaces such as ChatGPT. In the second part we argue for the indiscernibility between the production of governmentality and the exercise of power. In the third part we examine how the omnipresence of machines and their improvisational inability make a change of meaning in educational practice indispensable. We conclude with the belief that there is always something uncatchable in human action and to this education must pay attention to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Method books serve as a key curricular resource in beginning band classrooms. Previous examinations of beginning band method books focused primarily on performance technique and pedagogy; however, a curriculum with a singular emphasis on performance will not meet all elements of the 2014 National Core Arts Standards. Therefore, we analyzed 16 beginning band method books for exercises that included creative activities such as compose, arrange, and improvise. Results indicated that 2.53% (n = 66) of the total exercises (N = 2,612) contained creative activities. The most frequently identified creative activity instruction type was improvise (n = 31, 44.93%), followed by compose (n = 27, 39.13%), and arrange (n = 11, 15.94%). These data provide insight into the degree to which beginning band method books contain exercises that include creative activities, specific activity types, and instructional directives, and may support inservice music educators and fine arts administrators in selecting method books. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional development in its current form falls short. It is unengaging, ineffective, and considered a waste of time by participants. At a time when the world is experiencing rapid change and schools are facing increasing scrutiny and mounting pressure to improve academic performance, we need professional development that works. Aleta Margolis describes how the practices of skilled improvisers can inform effective teaching and professional development that supports and uplifts teachers and their students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we conceptualize nature as a participant in improvisation theatre education during the Covid-19 pandemic. As part of an arts colloquium that we held in the spring of 2022, the co-authors were asked to engage in an improvisation walk that was mediated via Zoom due to Covid-19. As we were unable to gather in a shared campus quad space, the co-authors were invited to go outside of their individual homes, take photos, record sounds, engage in filmmaking, and/or write as they ruminated on a writing prompt, "Nature is a part of me ... " As co-authors, we share our responses to spending time in these intimate places through poetry, prose, photography, and film. The animals, trees, and flowers initiated the improvisation, provoking the co-authors to respond. The resulting dialogue highlights personal connections, reflections, and ruminations on the effects of dwelling in nature during the years of the pandemic. Narratives reveal themes of care, symmetry and nature, identity, and transformative learning. Social identities such as neurodiversity, queerness, rurality, and Blackness surface in relation to the natural world. The conversance with nature is a pedagogical and caring experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author's conceptual model for 'vocal alignment' gives equal importance to both semantic interpretations of the word 'voice.' It seeks an alignment between the vocal sounds one's body produces and one's artistic, personal, social, and political voice. Parameters that lead to vocal alignment overlap the sonic or musical level, various creative choices as well as contextual, professional, financial, promotional, social, and political components related to art-making. Aligning lived experiences and creative output is challenging—the author's path toward vocal alignment implies an inclination toward vocal, technical, and artistic flexibility, guided by social justice models, queer theory, and decolonial efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The line between life and death is blurry. For one organism to live, others must die, turning first into food, then units of energy, and then fodder for new life. Performance itself is a play between liveliness and stabilizations, sensory immediacy and documented pasts. In the culture and practice of food, parallels abound. A notable yet humble example is witnessed in fermentation practice and the use of starter cultures, whether bacterial, yeasty, or both. Even as such cultures are consumed by a production process, they are renewed by it. This autoethnographic account of a cycle of three performances centred on an inherited sourdough starter explores the ways in which performance with food can act as a process of preservation, as well as an exploration of life, death, and states of being that may exist in between. In using a yeast culture that is more than 25 years old, I have attempted not only to perpetuate the tiny bodies within the flour-water paste but also to embody in a larger way the attitude and essence of the culture's original user. Probing the preservation of humanness through food practice and artistic improvisation, I propose an alternate sense of memory, ecology, and mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon scholarship in sound studies, computer music, sensory ethnography, and musicology, this article argues that digital mediation has radically altered our understanding of the 'musical work' and the divisions of labour emerging from digital musical performance practice. It further argues that this opens up both an opportunity and a need, particularly in contexts involving artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning or interactive systems, for new creative approaches that place embodied practices of listening, improvisatory musical expression, and new approaches to performative sense-making at the core of musical research and creation in a manner that traverses composition, performance, and technological development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text lays down the lines of possible interpretations of semantic connections between jazz and means of narration in feature films. At the centre of the analysis are films that do not fall within the corpus of works in which jazz is the dominant film music, the protagonist is a fictitious jazz musician or those whose plot relies on living jazz musicians biographies (a biopic). In terms of genre, these are diverse films where jazz is not dominant in the narrative framework but it rather additionally portrays the characters, or as a micronarrative in the film narrative structure it formulates a specific sub context, or, in a self-reference manner, it uses more or less visible affective effects. Jazz draws its semantic and symbolic potential from its rich history in which it figured as a progressive and/or subversive social phenomenon, as the music of intellectual and artistic elites, or a means of cultural diplomacy. The influence of jazz on the ever-present topics such as understanding, tolerance, inter-racial relations, personal and civil liberties, topical in every period and social system, are explored on the example of the films The Two Popes (2019) by Fernando Meirelles, BlacKkKlansman (2018) by Spike Lee, Genius (2016) by Michel Grandage, Detroit (2017) by Kathryn Bygelow, Cold War (Zimna wojna, 2018) by Paweł Pawlikowski and The Comedian (2016) by Taylor Hackford. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apart from providing a comparison with contemporary American film music, the author of the text analyses music in two films by Arsen Anton Ostojić: A Wonderful Night in Split (2004) and F20 (2018). Starting from the tendency of American mainstream films to shape film music in the manner of sound design, often with strong references to music used in other media (videogames) and with the mandatory use of popular songs, the analysis finds all those elements in the aforementioned Croatian films. Also, the extraordinarily creative score by Mate Matišić, score composer in both films, is adapted to this; the idea of team work is subordinated to this as well (cooperation with Dino Dvornik in A Wonderful Night in Split and with Embrio Production in F20). Interestingly, in the F20 narrative flow the song Seven Days Amongst Your Hair by Mr. Albino marks a turning point. It is even more interesting that the structure of the film A Wonderful Night in Split places at its centre popular singer from Split Dino Dvornik and his songs that, through association with Greek tragedy, mark the three catharses or the three film deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real-world experiences, such as situated learning, fieldwork, and student teaching have been among the most prevalent examples employed in teacher preparation programs. Despite the increasing evidence in support of service learning in music teacher preparation, there are a limited number of models specific to instrumental music education. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of participants in one such model, called Band Project. Participants included preservice music educators, young band students, and one lead teacher who also served as the instrumental music teacher at the school. The research question that guided this investigation was as follows: In what ways do participants in an afterschool band project describe their experience? Four themes emerged from analysis of data: (a) Relationships and Community, (b) Challenges and Tensions, (c) Aspirations, and (d) Transformations. Findings reinforced the importance of service learning for preservice music educators, particularly amid growing concerns for cross-cultural awareness, inclusion, and social justice in music teacher preparation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on Regier's article, concert and marching band pedagogical strategies might not transfer to the jazz setting. Participating in jazz pedagogical workshops or graduate courses may develop director jazz pedagogy self-efficacy when possible. This "Extending the Discussion" article provides alternative suggestions for band directors to become more familiar with jazz improvisation and phrasing, thereby possibly improving self-efficacy in jazz pedagogy settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improvisation is an area of interest to both music education researchers and music educators alike. The purpose of this literature review was to examine extant studies related to improvisation at the elementary level. Selected research included the nature of improvisation, the amount of instructional time and activity type used, the development of improvisation skills with age, and the effect of improvisation on other skill areas. Findings indicated that children chose their own musical and social roles when there was minimal teacher intervention. Most teachers agreed that improvisation was important, although at varying degrees and based on varying levels of experience and ability. Improvisation skills increased with age, particularly when considering rhythmic improvisation and phrase structure, and improvisation was found to increase creativity and divergent thinking while also reducing performance anxiety. Research findings are included from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Malaysia, and the United States. The review concludes with implications for practice and recommendations for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the concepts introduced in Chandler’s article “Improvisation in Elementary General Music: A Review of the Literature” this “Extending the Discussion” article provides a rhythmic improvisation lesson for primary grades and a melodic improvisation lesson for intermediate grades to assist practicing teachers in pragmatically applying improvisation activities in their classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though jazz has been a part of many school music programs for more than 40 years, relatively little research on jazz education exists. Despite this scarcity, a comprehensive examination of the extant literature could serve to inform practice and guide future studies. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to analyze and synthesize the extant research on school jazz education. The first section addresses research as it applies to jazz ensembles in general, while the second section addresses the research as it applies to jazz improvisation in particular. The article concludes with implications for music education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – A personal account of Gregory Bateson and the turning over of the generations, carrying some of Bateson's way of thinking forward to the time and beyond. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken is that of a synthesis. Findings – Bateson attributed the ecological peril to bad thinking and suggested that the author needs better thinking, including what the author can learn from the syncretic practice of art. To operate in the realm of play – music, poetry, myth, and so on – in the context of hearing your children talk about Malthusian events and mass extinctions is perhaps a way of fiddling while Rome burns. But possibly, this is itself the practice – a way to begin to master the new kinds of thinking that the author needs to learn to do. Originality/value – The issues that Bateson touched on are intensely personal. The issue of the survival of the ecosystem and of human civilization in the forms that the author recognizes is not an academic or political matter, but personal for each of us, as is the creative response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the artistic and creative process that was used in the choreography and production of the dance "Adaptation Project." The theatrical company Dancemakers made an in initial research, resolved procedural issues and questions, and interviewed former dancers and performers before finalizing the dance piece. Videos of improvisational responses to the film "Adaptation," by Spike Jonze were assessed by the company.

This article focuses on the impact improvisation at the high school level has had on professional performance in Regina (and elsewhere) over the past twenty-five years. Regina is unique in that it is a small city with a large reputation when it comes to improvisation, rooted in the high school competitive improv format created by the Canadian Improv Games. The article traces the work of several Regina artists, all of whom were actively involved as high school students in the CIG format, and examines the kind of theatrical innovations these artists have designed in part as a result of their background in improv. The article examines the non-scripted element of theatrical creation and explores the effect improvisation has had on one film artist in particular as well as the educational and nurturing impact improvisation has had on students in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the confidence, anxiety, and attitude of novice string student improvisers.A form of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales, as modified for improvisation by Wehr-Flowers, wasgiven to middle school and high school string students (N = 121) after their participation in a 4-month improvisationcurriculum. Whereas females in Wehr-Flowers's study were found to be significantly less confident than males in eitherstudy, the confidence level of females in the current study was not significantly different from any other group. Femalesin both studies were significantly more anxious toward improvisation than males, and the results of the attitudecomparisons were inconclusive. The higher confidence level of females in the current study may have resulted fromthe different populations studied, maturation/history effects, or exposure to a curriculum specifically designed to buildconfidence and allay fears toward improvisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to analyze SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) vocal jazz octavos (N = 150) from three publishers in an effort to (a) identify the most prolific arrangers/composers, (b) cite improvisation opportunities, (c) document publisher improvisation markings, (d) indicate repeated titles, (e) identify most popular styles, and (f) investigate instrumental accompaniment combinations. Results revealed that the most prolific composers were Kirby Shaw, Steve Zegree, and Darmon Meader. Less than one fourth (22.6%) of the charts included improvisation opportunities for singers with transcribed notation (n = 18) or instructions (n = 16). Swing and Ballad styles were more prevalent than Latin and Contemporary. Categories for instrumental accompaniments included none/a cappella (n = 31), bass (n = 1), piano (n = 39), combo (n = 48), and augmented combo (n = 32). Further results and discussion are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a shift from conventional facilitation training based on what we know -- tools, techniques and processes -- to who we are as facilitators. We propose that facilitation is a performance art and that we can learn much of how to be facilitators from improvisational theatre techniques. The confident facilitator is one who is ready to step up and take risks. We share how we develop that confidence in our facilitation training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Living Histories Theatre Ensemble (LHTE) is a socially-engaged improvisational theatre collective exploring the intersections of oral history and performance within a community-university research alliance entitled, 'Life Stories of Montrealers Displaced by Genocide, War, and other Human Rights Violations.' This paper explores the LHTE's adaptations of Playback Theatre, and specifically the evolution of a technique called the 'Bridge', towards more fully reflecting values espoused within the Montreal Life Stories project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the theoretical framework of a research practice that underpins the holistic drama methodology applied in the workshop titled "Each of his own Way" conducted at the journal's annual conference "The Theatre of Dramatherapy" in Durham, England from September 11-13, 2010. It highlights the notion of choice in each individual's continual state of becoming. It says that the practice provides individuals the opportunity of liminal experiences while exploring their other selves.

In its exploration of the work of two Montreal-based cabaret producers—Miriam Ginestier of Le Boudoir and Meow Mix and Danette MacKay of Kiss My Cabaret—this essay engages with contemporary cabaret (particularly feminist and queer cabaret) as an example of improvisational curation. As an improvisatory art, the curation of cabaret might be understood to reflect some of the transformational principles that have come to be associated with activist/social justice improvisation performance. In particular, this essay proposes that the improvisatory nature of cabaret curation contributes to a cabaret consciousness: a social/cultural frame of mind or “structure of feeling” that includes an appreciation of variety, risk, difference, provocation, and surprise accompanied by a concurrent sympathy with, or high tolerance for, the rough-around-the-edges aesthetic that characterizes many cabaret performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“‘Moments You Just Cannot Write’: Suitcase In Point Theatre and the Spectacle of Improvisation” studies a Canadian regional theatre company, St. Catharines' Suitcase In Point, whose collective theatrical creations make consistent use of creative improvised music. The theatrical elements in a jazz or in an instant composition performance can present a radical challenge to all sorts of orthodoxies, including the way in which performance can derive from collaborative, unpredictable, and random elements that become the generative materials for the riffing, jamming, or sampling expressed in the performance. This essay examines how improvisation interlinks musical and theatrical discourses in ways that provoke new hybrid forms into being. In the same way that theatre challenges musical improvisation to rethink itself as a form of spectacle, improvised music challenges theatre to re-conceive the processes by which it creates content. This formula maps a largely unexplored area of reciprocal engagement between theatrical and improvised musical discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout theatre history, the power of improvisation to forge a deeper connection between actor and text has been made abundantly clear. And yet, in seventeen years as a professional actor in Canada, I have never once seen improvisation used in the rehearsal process for a scripted play. In the increasingly truncated rehearsal periods common to professional theatre practice in Canada, “exploratory” techniques such as improvisation may seem like an impossible luxury. However, I have come to believe that the integration of such techniques, rooted in the neglected “Later Legacies” of Konstantin Stanislaski, might, in fact, be the most effective way to make our work go further faster and to make the most of the extremely limited time available to Canadian theatre practitioners in a professional rehearsal context. This article outlines my ongoing research into the potential adaptation of these rehearsal practices to the reality of contemporary Canadian production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a documentary play in which actors represent living or historical people, textual artefact is replaced by creatively embodied document. Every stage of the construction of that document, from a subject's recall of events, to a researcher's transcription of the subject's testimony, to performance, is an act of improvisation. Reflecting on Nanay: a testimonial play, this paper examines the document as a necessarily creative construction. It describes improvisative decisions made at every stage of the rehearsal process, how they resulted in naturalistic or non-naturalistic staging, and how spectators and researchers correlated truth claims to the various theatrical genres employed. Referencing cognitive and event theories, Ferguson argues that the spectator engages with embodied performance somatically, and that “identification” based on mutual embodied encounter becomes critical to the spectator's acceptance or rejection of a documentary play's truth claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ligue Nationale d'Improvisation (LNI), an improvisational theatre group that came into being in the late 1970s in Montreal and whose popularity spread quickly, mainly in the francophone world, has imported the structure and rules of hockey and adapted them to a format in which teams of actor-improvisers compete. This paper examines the ways in which the game of hockey has infused theatre improvisation with energy and vitality and why, in a Canadian and more particularly Québécois setting, the transposition of a sport like hockey is particularly loaded with cultural resonance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Sandpaper: The Story of Moncton-Sable” traces the outlines of Le Collectif Moncton-Sable starting with its conception by founder Louise Lemieux “to experiment with creating productions using the set design as the starting and focal point of the process.” The company members, the core of whom have returned production after production, come from various artistic backgrounds but share the goal of creating theatre through “freely exploring ideas, themes, and stories inspired by a raw material and generated through physical improvisation linked to that material.” This article focuses on the 2006 tenth-anniversary production entitled Papier, which was the company's largest undertaking, involving upwards of twenty collaborators including actors, musicians, designers, and writers. The production combined the company's physical, improvisation-based techniques with more text-based approaches they had experimented with occasionally. Today the company continues its interest in laboratory, experimental workshops, while developing more substantial productions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improvisation plays a significant role in almost all aspects of my process as a designer, from staying open to possibilities and surprises that emerge during discussions with directors and other collaborators and even while I am building a maquette, to being a designer in the room during dramaturgical and production workshops, to using improvisation as a tool when instigating my own performance installations. My personal interest and development as an artist involves the pursuit of finding new methods of creating and designing during the process of theatremaking and inherently relies on my ability to improvise with collaborators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improvisation has held an important place in the world of interactive theatrical expression for almost fifty years now. Situated halfway between theatrical performance and party game, this form of dramatic expression is considered by many as almost-theatre. It involves protagonists who interpret their roles in a highly interactive activity that fluctuates between reality and fiction. In keeping with Augusto Boal's seminal theatrical model, a spontaneous process emerges that blurs the distinction between actor and spectator as they become true participants in a game. From Artaud to Caillois, we can retrace the genesis of a spontaneous hybrid form of game. Presented in Montreal in 2009, the spectacle Open House will be used as a subject of study and analysis to conduct thorough research on this activity. This article will put into perspective the notions of games and player/actors using a form of theatrical activity that we can define as “Theatre of the Unexpected.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the relationship between improvisation and (drama) education? In this article, Gallagher examines the brief history of improvisation in the drama curriculum and its connection to forms of pedagogy that have prevailed in formal drama classrooms. The “love-hate” relationship many teachers seem to have with classroom improvisation is considered in light of drama's quest for legitimacy in the curriculum and teachers' desires to extend the form and application of this potentially powerful way of creating and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]