Improvisation rattles some listeners. Maybe they're even suspicious of
it. John Coltrane's saxophonic flights of fancy, Jimi Hendrix's feedback
drenched guitar solos, Ravi Shankar's sitar extrapolations--all these
sounds seem like so much noodling or jamming, indulgent self-expression.
"Just" improvising, as is sometimes said. For these music fans, it seems
natural that music is meant to be composed. In the first book of its
kind, John Corbett's A Listener's Guide to Free Improvisation provides
a how-to manual for the most extreme example of spontaneous improvising:
music with no pre-planned material at all. Drawing on over three decades
of writing about, presenting, playing, teaching, and studying freely
improvised music, Corbett offers an enriching set of tools that show any
curious listener how to really listen, and he encourages them to enjoy
the human impulse-- found all around the world-- to make up music on the
spot. Corbett equips his reader for a journey into a difficult musical
landscape, where there is no steady beat, no pre-ordained format, no
overarching melodic or harmonic framework, and where tones can ring with
the sharpest of burrs. In "Fundamentals," he explores key areas of
interest, such as how the musicians interact, the malleability of time,
overcoming impatience, and watching out for changes and transitions; he
grounds these observations in concrete listening exercises, a veritable
training regime for musical attentiveness. Then he takes readers deeper
in "Advanced Techniques," plumbing the philosophical conundrums at the
heart of free improvisation, including topics such as the influence of
the audience and the counterintuitive challenge of listening while
asleep. Scattered throughout are helpful and accessible lists of
essential resources--recordings, books, videos-- and a registry of major
practicing free improvisors from Noël Akchoté to John Zorn, particularly
essential because this music is best experienced live. The result is a
concise, humorous, and inspiring guide, a unique book that will help
transform one of the world's most notoriously unapproachable artforms
into a rewarding and enjoyable experience.
