“How free is free?” Conceptions of free improvised music as performance practice and educational content among teachers in HME

This article draws on empirical findings from a qualitative interview
study with twelve teachers of free improvisation in European HME institutions
in eight different countries. A salient theme from the interviews was teachers’
reflections on the very notion of free improvisation. This article explores their
conceptions of free improvisation with a particular educational interest in the
critical potential embedded in improvisation practices. Within a socio-cultural
framework, key concepts are epistemic diversity, George Lewis’ Afrological and
Eurological approaches to improvisation, and Maxine Greene’s notion of freedom as closely connected to imagination and the power for self-expression and self-determination in the arts. The teachers in the study constructed free improvisation as a site for challenging established “truths” about music and creativity and to defy epistemic hierarchies. However, some teachers addressed mechanisms in improvisation practice and pedagogy that pull towards a conservation of (new) knowledge and values, and privilege what can be perceived as normative masculinity. We claim that in a learning and performing environment in free improvisation where epistemic diversity can flourish, a more diverse range of students and musicians will feel welcome to participate.