musifying

Some thousands of years ago someone hit a stick against a piece of wood, deliberately, not for the purpose of making a tool or for hunting or farming. S/He did it for the purpose of hearing the sound of it. Music was born.

How did music start? Why do we play music? What was the first music like? Was it invented by a child or an adult? Was it invented in daytime or nighttime? Was it improvised or composed? Why do we still improvise? Where is music going? Why are there so many different kinds of music? Read the rest…

Fusion music, whether improvised or composed should sound different enough from the original idioms that go into making it to the point where it can not be considered to be within any of the idioms. At the same time, it has to have discernible characteristics of all of the original idioms that it can be heard as fusion of those idioms. Read the rest…

It is not unusual for musicians from different idioms to get together and play. The result, sometimes, is something fresh, human, beautiful, and creative. Most of the time, however, the result is boring, cold, superficial, and disjointed.

In my view, a series of decisions, mostly not musical, taken by each person early on, in the first seconds of the meeting or even before it, determine the outcome. The question is, how do we make fusion that works? Read the rest…

This post discusses compositions that have sections that are partially improvised, as well as the improvisation that takes place while playing a composed melody line (aka ornamentation, interpretation, styling, etc..). Both instrumental and vocal forms will be discussed. Read the rest…

Now that we are clear on the politics of the term “improvisation” (see part 1), we can talk about where and how improvisation is used in Arabic music.

Improvisation is present in three types of musical activities. The first is forms that are entirely improvised. The second is partially improvised forms and rhythmic improvisations inserted within a composed piece. Finally, there are the ornaments that a player introduces while playing a composed musical line. Read the rest…

It should be noted that in Arabic music, as well as in other idioms which emphasize improvisation, the term improvisation is not used to describe these musical practices. There are improvised forms, improvisations within composed forms, or improvisations while playing a composed line (see part 2 of this post for details). These forms have names and parameters and rules. They are not random notes played whimsically. Here’s an anecdote to illustrate the politics of the western term “improvisation”. Read the rest…