This project deals with one of the key issues of European music in modern and contemporary eras: the relationship between improvisation and composition, understood as the objectification of musical thought in a written form. In the 20th century, musicology dealt with this problem with a new awareness, drawing lymph from ethnographic studies on traditional music and jazz, from research on the psychology of the creative act and from transdisciplinary investigations on performance. The core issue, currently the focus of international debate, is whether improvisation is an alternative practice to composition (and plays a leading role in times and areas where the concept of a work of art is not widespread), or whether this practice is a constant of European musical culture that occurs in a different way each time, establishing relationships with written composition and the theory derived from it. The work of the research group addresses the latter hypothesis. Although the methodological referents are historiographic research and analysis of the musical languages, we do not overlook the challenges posed by scholars who investigate improvisation via ethnographic procedures, the analysis of cognitive processes and the interpretation of socio-cultural structures. The members of project pursue a dialogic relationship with these approaches, being confident that the conceptual elaboration and the definition of ontologies will profit from increased historiographic knowledge. A variety of sources will be used to study improvisation: theoretical treatises, sources of the compositional process, musical instruments and their manufacture, reports and criticism, and audio and video recordings. In addition to the historiographical and analytical work, a didactic dimension is a crucial component of the project and includes an evaluation of the suitable methods for transmitting the awareness of the historical-cultural roots of improvisational practices and their relations with music theory to students (instrumentalists, composers and musicologists). The output will consist in a collective volume, preceded by a conference, a series of workshops, the implementation of a digital platform, and the elaboration of models for online teaching. The project establishes a close-knit relationship between theory and practice, a fundamental requisite for the exercise and understanding of the performing arts. The interdisciplinary approach is ensured by the variety of skills integrated in the units (university musicologists, conservatory teachers, performers, composers, scholars of aesthetics, performing arts, education and cognitive sciences) and by the wide range of scheduled activities that are inspired by the logic of responsibility, sustainability and innovative thinking.

Improvvisazione e Composizione nella musica europea

Vincenzo Caporaletti
2022-01-01

Abstract

This project deals with one of the key issues of European music in modern and contemporary eras: the relationship between improvisation and composition, understood as the objectification of musical thought in a written form. In the 20th century, musicology dealt with this problem with a new awareness, drawing lymph from ethnographic studies on traditional music and jazz, from research on the psychology of the creative act and from transdisciplinary investigations on performance. The core issue, currently the focus of international debate, is whether improvisation is an alternative practice to composition (and plays a leading role in times and areas where the concept of a work of art is not widespread), or whether this practice is a constant of European musical culture that occurs in a different way each time, establishing relationships with written composition and the theory derived from it. The work of the research group addresses the latter hypothesis. Although the methodological referents are historiographic research and analysis of the musical languages, we do not overlook the challenges posed by scholars who investigate improvisation via ethnographic procedures, the analysis of cognitive processes and the interpretation of socio-cultural structures. The members of project pursue a dialogic relationship with these approaches, being confident that the conceptual elaboration and the definition of ontologies will profit from increased historiographic knowledge. A variety of sources will be used to study improvisation: theoretical treatises, sources of the compositional process, musical instruments and their manufacture, reports and criticism, and audio and video recordings. In addition to the historiographical and analytical work, a didactic dimension is a crucial component of the project and includes an evaluation of the suitable methods for transmitting the awareness of the historical-cultural roots of improvisational practices and their relations with music theory to students (instrumentalists, composers and musicologists). The output will consist in a collective volume, preceded by a conference, a series of workshops, the implementation of a digital platform, and the elaboration of models for online teaching. The project establishes a close-knit relationship between theory and practice, a fundamental requisite for the exercise and understanding of the performing arts. The interdisciplinary approach is ensured by the variety of skills integrated in the units (university musicologists, conservatory teachers, performers, composers, scholars of aesthetics, performing arts, education and cognitive sciences) and by the wide range of scheduled activities that are inspired by the logic of responsibility, sustainability and innovative thinking.
2022
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11393/299386
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