IMPROVISATION CONFERENCE TAKES PLACE APRIL 1 - 4, 2004

"New Directions in the Study of Musical Improvsation: An Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Conference," sponsored by the UIUC Musicology Division, will take place April 1 - 4, 2004, on the campus of UIUC. There will be three themes to the conference:

Improvisation and Social and Political Processes

Improvisation and the Creative Process

Improvisation and Educational Processes

The following schedule is current as of March 8, 2004. Please recheck this site for updates.

The conference and the individual events are open to the public without charge. All are welcome. No registration is required. For further information, write Bruno Nettl b-nettl@uiuc.edu or call 217-333-9613. You will also want to read Melissa Mitchell's informative article, including an interview with Professor Bruno Nettl, that appeared in the March 18 edition of Inside Illinois. Headquarters: Levis Faculty Center, University of Illinois campus (Lincoln at California, Urbana). Except where noted, all sessions are in the Levis Faculty Center.

April 1 (Thursday)

Noon - Concert of Persian Classical Music (Lobby, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S. Goodwin, Urbana)

Manoochehr Sadeghi (Los Angeles), Santour
(Light lunch available in the Lobby; or bring a brown bag)

1:30pm - Session A. Chair: Gabriel Solis (UIUC) (Levis Center, Room 407)

Opening of Conference. Welcoming Remarks. Karl Kramer, Director, School of Music

Bruno Nettl (Musicology and Anthropology, UIUC)
Introductory Notes: "On Changing Conceptions of Improvisation in Music Research"

2:15-4:15pm - First Plenary Lecture

Ingrid Monson (Music, Harvard University)
"Jazz as Political and Musical Practice - on the Continuing Relevance of Practice Theory"

Respondents: Christopher Waterman (Ethnomusicology, UCLA), Matti Bunzl (Anthropology, UIUC), and Nichole Rustin (Afro-American Studies, UIUC)

4:30-5:30pm - Lecture-demonstration (Room 25, Smith Memorial Hall, 805 S. Mathews, Urbana)

David Rosenboom (California Institute of the Arts)
"The Sal-Mar Construction of Salvatore Martirano"

8:30-10:30pm - Drop-in Reception for all participants and guests (Music Room, Second Floor of the Levis Faculty Center)


April 2 (Friday)

9:00-11:00am - Session B Papers - Chair: Herbert Kellman (UIUC) (Room 407, Levis Center)

Gabriel Solis (Musicology, UIUC)
”Genius, Improvisation, and the Narratives of Jazz History”

Robert Hatten (Music Theory, Indiana University)
” Improvisation as Intimate Communication”

Robin Moore (Music, Temple University)
”Dialogic Improvisations on the Cuban Batá Drums. The Example of a Toque to Obbatala by the Group Oba Ilu”

9:00-11:00am - Session C Papers - Chair: Isabel F.K. Wong (Musicology, UIUC) (Music Room, Levis Center)

Tom R. Ward (Musicology, UIUC)
”Improvisation in an Easter Procession”

Amy Beal (Music, University of California Santa Cruz)
”Frames for Freedom: the Disappearing Score of the American Avant-garde”

Stephen Slawek (Musicology, University of Texas - Austin)
”Hindustani Sitar and Jazz Guitar Music: a Foray into Comparative Improvology”

11:00am - Workshop

John Toenjes (Dance, UIUC) “Improvising Music for the Dance”
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Dance Rehearsal Room (second level)

1:30-3:30pm - Session D - Second Plenary Lecture - Chair: William Kinderman (Musicology, UIUC) (Room 407, Levis Center)

Stephen Blum (Musicology, CUNY)
”Representations of Music-making”

Respondents: Josef Helfenstein (Art History, Menil Collection, Houston), Charles Capwell (Musicology, UIUC), Robert Graves (Theater, UIUC)

4:00-5:30pm - Workshop

Guy Garnett (Composition/Theory, UIUC) (Music Room, Levis Center)
”Improvisation and Technology”

8:00pm - Lecture-Demonstration and Concert: Jazz - Chair: Karl Kramer (Director, School of Music, UIUC) (Room 2100 - Auditorium, Music Building)

Chip McNeill (Jazz, UIUC)
”Teaching Jazz Improvisation”
Concert by University of Illinois Jazz Combo I

April 3 (Saturday)

9:00-12:00 - Session E Papers - Chair: John Walter Hill (Musicology, UIUC) (Room 407, Levis Center)

Nicholas Temperley (Musicology, UIUC)
”Preluding at the Piano”

Travis Jackson (Music, University of Chicago)
”Out of this World: Jazz Improvisation, Optimal Experience and Stylistic Change”

David Stern (Music, Ball State University)
”Improvisation and Compositional Rigor in Mozart Fantasias”

Robert Levin (Music, Harvard University)
”Mozart and Improvisation”

9:00-11:00am - Session F Papers - Chair: Donna Buchanan (Musicology, UIUC) (Music Room, Levis Center)

Natalie Kononenko (Slavic Studies, University of Virginia)”When Traditional Improvisation Is Prohibited: Ukrainian Folk Belief about the Funeral Lament”

Lawrence Gushee (Musicology, UIUC)
”Improvisation: Mapping the Terrain”

Anne Rasmussen (Music, College of William & Mary)
”Improvisation: the Juncture Between Creation and Recreation among Indonesian Reciters of the Qur’ân”

1:30-3:30pm - Session G Papers - Chair: Stephen Zank (Musicology, UIUC) (Room 407, Levis Center)

A. Jihad Racy (Ethnomusicology, UCLA)
”Why Do They Improvise? Symbolic Interpretation of the Arabic Taqasim”

R. Keith Sawyer (Education, Washington University)
”Improvisation in Everyday Social Life”

William Kinderman (Musicology, UIUC)
”Improvisation in Beethoven’s Creative Process”

1:30-3:30pm - Session H Papers - Chair: Eric Lund (Composition/Theory, UIUC) (Music Room, Levis Center)

Sabine Feisst (Music, Arizona State)
“‘I Have Been Most of My Life with a Chip on My Shoulder Against Improvisation’: John Cage’s Struggle with Improvisation”

Thomas Turino (Musicology, UIUC)
”Formula, Variation, and Improvisation in Participatory Music

John Murphy (Jazz, University of North Texas)
”Beyond the Improvisation Class: Learning to Improvise in a University Jazz Studies Program”

4:00-5:00pm - Lecture-Demonstration - Chair: John Walter Hill (Musicology, UIUC)
(please note change of location as of March 30 - Room 105 Smith Hall)

Charlotte Mattax (Harpsichord/Performance Practice, UIUC)
”Keyboard Improvisation in Baroque Music”

8:00pm - Demonstration-Workshop - Chair: Rebecca Nettl-Fiol (Dance, UIUC) (Krannert Center Dance Rehearsal Room)

Chris Aiken (Dance, Ursinus College)
”Dance Improvisation”

10:00pm - Performance - Krannert Center, Lobby

NUOrbit Ensemble, Jason Finkelman (Pauline Olveros Foundation Midwest), Director
Chad Dunn (percussion), Tom Paynter (keyboard, flute), YangYing (erhu), Jay Eychaner (synthesizer), and Jason Finkelman (percussion), with Dorothy Martirano (violin), and, Morgan Powell (trombone)

April 4 (Sunday)

10:00-12:00pm - Third Plenary Lecture - Chair: Bruno Nettl (Musicology and Anthropology, UIUC) (Room 407, Levis Center)

Patricia Campbell (Music Education, University of Washington)
Respondents: Chris Aiken (Dance, Ursinus College), Stephen Hill (Ethnomusicology, Northwestern University), and Eve Harwood (Music Education, UIUC)

2:00pm - Concert of Arabic Classical Music (Krannert Art Museum, Peabody Drive at 6th Street, Champaign)

Ali Jihad Racy, Bouzouq and Ney, with Sohail Kaspar, Drum Accompaniment

The organizers gratefully acknowledge support from the following units and departments:

Chancellor’s Initiative on the Humanities in a Globalizing World
Office of the Provost
Bruno and Wanda Nettl Lecture in Ethnomusicology Fund
College of Fine and Applied Arts
School of Music
Office of International Programs and Studies
College of Fine and Applied Arts Lorado Taft Lectureship on Art Committee
Center for Advanced Study
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
Krannert Art Museum
Center for Russian and East European Studies
Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Center for African Studies
Afro-American Studies and Research Program
Department of Dance
Department of Anthropology