Processes of consistency and contexts in free improvisation: preliminary approaches

Abstract

From research conducted in recent
years, I realized that despite the large number of studies devoted to the subject, free
improvisation keeps today, a very broad
and imprecise definition. In fact, there are
currently in Brazil and in the world, many
artistic practices that include procedures
that refer explicitly or not, to free improvisation. So one of the challenges that arises
is, on the one hand, the search for a definition of what would be common (especially
in terms of sound materials and procedures) between multiple and diverse practices that are located in the vast territory of
free improvisation or which make use of it
and, second, what would be unique and
specific to each of these practices. First
of all, it is necessary to establish whether
there is actually a common territory that
covers all these practices to further segment it into sub categories with their own
identities. And more than that, it is necessary to unravel the building of consistency
building processes in each case. In this paper I intend to make a preliminary survey in
view of the above outlined goals. I’m also
interested in discussing to what extent and
how these various manifestations interact
with certain social, cultural and political
contemporary settings or, in other words,
determine the extent to which free improvisation can be considered both as a symptom and as a line of force that contributes specifically to the setting of certain contemporary socio-cultural contexts related
to creative practices.