I teach an annual module of music improvisation at Queen’s University in Belfast. I also have given many workshops on free improvisation and here are a few of them. See also under Performances/Recordings.
2019: Orgelpark, Amsterdam
An invitation by Prof Hans Fidom to be part of MINDING MUSIC :||: MAKING SOUND, an incredible event with invited improvising artists and educators, to teach students from across the world methods and practices of improvisation during a 2 week summer course.
Here are a few slides with improvisation ideas, used during the workshop (contact me if you would like me to explain these on how they might work in practice)!
2018: Soundpainting Workshop, Portugal
A fantastic opportunity to work with a group of young musicians from the gorgeous city of Viseu.
We learned some basic ‘Soundpainting’ gestures and performed on the main city square for the closing event of the Jardins Éfemeros Festival.
A fantastic opportunity to work with a group of young musicians from the gorgeous city of Viseu.
We learned some basic ‘Soundpainting’ gestures and performed on the main city square for the closing event of the Jardins Éfemeros Festival.
2017: The Hague, Conservatoire (METRIC)
Many improvisers came together again during the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership Project “Modernizing European Higher Music Education through Improvisation (METRIC)”, led by the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, Tallinn. Great to work with all these talented young music students.
(not my workshop, but just a nice picture…)
2016: Berlin, Explo and Kühlspot
Lecture and concerts at Berlin’s Exploratorium and the very cool Kühlspot Social Club, organised through Tom Arthurs / BIRG (Berlin Improvisers Research group).
2016: Lisbon, Nova University:
During my sabbatical research into the improvisation scene in Lisbon, I also had the pleasure in running workshops with students at the University’s CESEM Research Group.
2015: Estonia, Tallinn (METRIC)
Several workshops during the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership Project “Modernizing European Higher Music Education through Improvisation (METRIC)”, led by the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, Tallinn. See Youtube channel for archived concerts.
2015: London, Edinburgh, Nottingham
London: A workshop for the “Young Guildhall’ at the Reflective Conservatoire Conference, at London’s Guildhall.
Edinburgh: Concurrent network workshop with dance and music therapists. Concurrent is a network that develops research on interdisciplinary improvising from both practice-led and psychological perspectives.
Nottingham: Workshop given for Xenia Pestova’s Undergraduate Music performance programme.
2014: Brazil, Workshops at various places
Throughout 2014 I lived in Rio de Janeiro, with the generous support of a Higher Education Academy (HEA) International Fellowship. I traveled extensively and carried out an ethnography of the free improvisation scene in Brazil.
I ran workshops on improvisation at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), the Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), the University of São Paulo (USP), The Federal University in Bahia (UFBA), the Federal University in Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte (UFMG) as well as at The Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Natal (UFRN) and at Unicamp where I visited the ELM, the Escola Livre de Música. You can find out more on my improvisation in Brazil blog where I archived all the work.
Materials that I like to use when preparing for workshops:
John Stevens: Search and Reflect – A Music Workshop Handbook, 2007
Tom Hall: Free Improvisation: A Practical Guide, 2009
Teresa Sauer: Notations 21, 2009
But also, it is always worth re-reading passages in:
- Bailey, Derek. (1993). Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice in Music. Perseus Books Group.
- Canonne, Clément. (2008). Free Improvisation and Game Theory: an introduction and a few experiments.
- Harnum, Jonathan (2014). The Practice of Practice: How to Boost Your Music Skills. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform .
- Johnston, Chris (2006). The Improvisation Game: Discovering the Secrets of Spontaneous Performance. Nick Hern Books.
- Nachmanovitch, Stephen (1990). Free Play: Power of Improvisation in Life and the Arts. Tarcher/Putnam.
- Oliveros, Pauline (2013). Anthology of text scores. Deep Listening Institute, Ltd. NY.
- Prévost, Eddie. (1995). No Sound is Innocent: AMM and the Practice of Self-invention, Meta-musical Narratives. COPULA. ISBN 0-9525492-0-4.
Improvisationresearch 