Re: This is your brain on jazz -- MRI studies of improvisation

["Krispen Hartung" <khartung@cableone.net>]

It is an interesting article. This is the second or third I've seen on 
this 
topic. Actually, the factors compared in the experimental aren't really 
satisfactory to me. Enough literature has been written on different types 
of 
improvisation that I would have like to seen several experiment groups 
compared.  Compared to someone playing straight, I would have liked to 
seen 
the results of a) a jazz musician improvising over a traditional jazz 
structure (the more "idiomatic" form of improvisation), b) a jazz musician 
improvising in the "free" format, with no idiomatic structure over which 
he 
improvises, and c) a non-jazz musician also playing free (genre neutral). 
I'm sure others might arrange varying differences as well, not like mine. 
Although I like and can play jazz, the fact that they selected jazz 
players 
somewhat taints the results for me. I would have preferred someone in the 
modern creative or free genres.  Jazz players bring a whole lot of baggage 
with them when play according to their idiom...a lot of memorized, but 
forgotten clichés, runs, motifs, etc...all of which they are used to 
applying over idiomatic jazz structures.  The fact that they use the term 
"jazz" in "free jazz" has implications and a degree of predictability that 
is, historically speaking, out of date, relative to the really cutting 
edge 
creative music coming out of major creative music university programs 
today. 
Anyway....really long and complex topic. I knee deep in it right now, with 
a 
reading list of 15 books looming over my head. I'm reading "As Serious As 
Your Life" right now. Read  Derek Baily's improv book a while back. Have 
many others on my "to do" list, like Forces in Motion (Locke), Arcana I 
and 
II (Zorn), Jazz Among the Discourses (Gabbhard), Northern Sun Southern 
Moon 
(Heffley), Blues People, Sink or Swarm. Free Jazz (Jost), etc, etc. 
Man...fascinating stuff, especially on the interpretations of 
improvisation 
history by afro-American and European sources.  Anyone read the George 
Lewis' "Improvised Music after 1950"?  Unbelievably earth-shaking, 
pivotal, 
and paradigm shifting work in light of the history of 
improvisation....recommended reading to me by Jeff Kaiser. I have a PDF 
copy 
for anyone interested.

...but it's pretty damn cool that science is starting to show that us 
improvisers having something unique going on in our brains when we play.

Kris

----- Original Message ----- 



> Hi folks,
>
> This may be of interest to some of you.
>
> http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/NEWS07/803110344
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