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The Discourse of Free Improvisation: A

Rhetorical Perspective on Free Improvised
Music (2008)
THESIS · FEBRUARY 2009

DOI: 10.13140/2.1.2500.9281
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Cesar Villavicencio
São Paulo State University
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The Discourse of Free Improvisation
A Rhetorical Perspective on Free Improvised Music
Cesar Marino Villavicencio Grossmann
School of Music, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
PhD Thesis
©2008
This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is
understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that no quotation from the
thesis, nor any information derived therefrom, may be published without the author’s prior,
written consent.
The Discourse of Free Improvisation Cesar Marino Villavicencio Grossmann
Truly free, yet in constant obligation:

Circumscribed; but not servile
Johann Mattheson
2
Acknowledgements
To my wife, Camila, who had to learn quite a bit of my work and for her patience in
dealing with some stressful moments. To my little girls, Luiza and Marina, whose
lives is truly an inspiration for me. Also, without the care and support of my parents,
Vera and Marino, this would not have been possible. To Jonathan Impett.
I am extremely grateful to Frits Wils for his great help in developing this thesis. To
my brother Jorge Villavicencio, Clarence Barlow, Richard Barrett, Evan Parker, Henk
Heuvelmans, Rodrigo Sigal, Fernando Iazzetta, Rogério Costa, David Borgo,
Francisco Colasanto, Carlos López Charles, Aslaug Holgersen, Krista Vincent, Diego
Espinosa, Julien Chauvin, Johan van Kreij, Lex van den Broek, Joost Diergaarde,
Paul Schenkels, Juan Parra, Veera Devi Khare, Jason Slaughter, Nikolas James, Luke
Kestner, Enrique Menezes, Nelson Carneiro, Gustavo Sarzi, Fabricio Pires, Tânia
Lanfer, Rafael Ramalhoso, José Leônidas, Fábio do trombone, Juan Enrique
Bobadilla, Waldemar Aguilar, Marcia de la Luz Ortiz, Ixchel Mendez Salmon,
Netzahualcoyotl Rodriges Arcos, Jesmar Garcia Álvarez, William Brent, Jason Ponce,
Jonathan Piper, Joe Bigham, Shanti Harris, Colter Frazier, Devin Burke, Jonathan
Ventura, David Landes, Tim Beutler, Rami Gabriel, James Ilgenfritz, and Charity
Chan.
3
4
Abstract
How can we talk about free improvised music? Would it be possible to teach free
improvisation? It seems that because of the absence of pre-specified rules and
prescriptive materials, this practice presents itself as impermeable to analysis.
Also, developing guidelines for teaching free improvised music may be
considered difficult. This study presents rhetoric as a suitable area for establishing
a discourse on free improvisation. Rhetoric is being tested in understanding this
music in structural and intentional terms. Using the combination of examining the
author's own development as improviser, and the results from seven improvisation
projects, this investigation has set out to propose that the social environment in
which this music activity is realised is crucial for understanding this practice. The
creation of form and content collectively has uncovered ethics as the primary
force in establishing the style of free improvised music. Ethics, the driving force
in rhetorical theory, helps us to understand this music aesthetically, opening ways
for the development of pedagogical approaches. It appears that the realisation of
this activity is important for developing individual expressiveness and may be a
model for a new music educational system.
5
PART I – CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................. 9
1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 9
1.1 Modes of Discussion ........................................................................................... 12
1.2 Education ............................................................................................................ 14
1.3 FIM and Social Dynamics .................................................................................. 20
1.4 Programme of the Study ..................................................................................... 28
2 Objectives. Why is it Difficult to Analyse Free Improvised Music? ......................... 31
2.1 Instrumental Techniques – “Free” of what? ....................................................... 42
3 Historical Considerations ........................................................................................... 46
3.1 Rhetoric as a Concept and Tool: Its Origins and Evolution through the Ages ... 47
3.2 Jazz ...................................................................................................................... 55
3.3 Late 20th Century Western European Music ....................................................... 60
3.4 Considerations in the use of Technology ............................................................ 68
4 Current Limits of the Discourse in FIM ..................................................................... 76
4.1 Concluding Observations .................................................................................... 83
PART II – METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................... 85
5 Framework for the Analysis and Operational Study of Rhetoric Applied to FIM ..... 85
5.1 The Bond between Developing and Learning .................................................... 89
5.2 Revisiting Rhetorical Figures ............................................................................. 93
5.3 Rhetoric in Music. Intention and Structure. ........................................................ 97
6
5.3.1 Rhetorical Figures and their Analogy in FIM ........................................... 106
5.3.1.1 Figures of Intentional Imitation.......................................................... 107
5.3.1.2 Figures of Structural Imitation ........................................................... 112
5.3.1.3 Figures of Illustration ......................................................................... 114
5.3.1.4 Figures of Silence ............................................................................... 124
5.3.1.5 Figures of Time .................................................................................. 130
5.4 The Classical Structure or Dispositio ............................................................... 135
5.5 The Virtues of Style: Ethics, Decorum, Kairos and Audience ......................... 142
5.5.1 Vices .......................................................................................................... 153
5.5.1.1 Stylistic Vices ..................................................................................... 155
6 How Rhetoric Addresses the Unspoken in FIM ....................................................... 158
PART III – HEURISTIC DISCOVERIES ................................................................. 164
7 Individual Experiences ............................................................................................. 164
7.1 The e -recorder .................................................................................................. 164
7.1.1 Dartington, 2000 ........................................................................................ 166
7.1.2 The Hague, 2002........................................................................................ 178
7.1.3 Belfast, 2006 .............................................................................................. 184
7.2 University of California San Diego (UCSD) (April, 9 – 11, 2007) .................. 192
7.3 Lessons Learned ................................................................................................ 199
8 Group Laboratories. Prescriptive and Pedagogical Strategies. ................................ 201
8.1.1 The Royal Conservatory, The Hague. ....................................................... 201
8.1.1.1 MODULUS II, THE HAGUE 2004 ................................................... 205
8.1.2 Universidade de São Paulo (USP) ............................................................. 207
8.1.3 Universidade de São Paulo II (USPII) ....................................................... 210
7
8.1.4 University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) ................................................ 211
8.1.5 Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras (CMMAs) ............. 213
8.1.6 University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) ....................................... 214
8.2 Lessons Learned ................................................................................................ 216
PART IV – CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 220
9 Results and Roads for the Future ............................................................................. 220
10 Bibliography ........................................................................................................... 231
11 APPENDIX ............................................................................................................ 238
11.1 AUDIO SAMPLES – DVDR ......................................................................... 238
11.2 AUDIO SAMPLES – CDR 1 ......................................................................... 238
11.3 AUDIO SAMPLES – CDR2 .......................................................................... 240
11.4 Daniel Landau – COR (Composition Organ Recorder) (1998). ..................... 241
11.5 Erik Stalenhoef – YIDAKI (1998). ................................................................. 242
11.6 Cesar Villavicencio – MODULUS II (2004). ................................................. 243
11.7 Aria: Erbarme Dich, Johann Sebastian Bach ................................................. 244
8
PART I – CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
1 Introduction
In the course of my life I have dedicated special attention to aspects of music

creation that involve the discovery and presentation of new ideas. Setting up the
tools for developing the work presented here revealed connections with another
of my activities, namely the development of new understandings of historically
informed performance of the music of the 18th century1 or, as identified by Bruce
Haynes, “Rhetorical music.”2 The connections between free improvised music
and early practices reside in the need to develop suitable methods for establishing
a discourse. To understand how to interpret and perform rhetorical music it is
imperative to change the conventions established for the analysis of music
written after the 18th century. This also applies to free improvised music in the
sense that conventional systems, used for the analysis of written compositions, do
not seem to be fully adequate. Whilst for addressing rhetorical music today there
is already a consistent body of work that presents better methods for its analysis,3
for free improvised performances there is still a lack of discourse in appropriate
terms. The hypothesis of this investigation is that rhetoric affords a suitable
discourse for understanding the generative processes and the structures of free
improvised music.
1
The investigation set to comprehend the “original” environment and to re-create the modus
operandi of this music began during the end of the 1940s. The task involves the reconstruction of
instruments based on original plans, the study of written sources of that period, re-editing scores
from the originals, etc.
2
Haynes explains that the concept of “Early” music and instruments was set in the early 80s to
reveal them as exceptional and exotic. But since its aura of alternative music or, as he puts it,
“organic” music (e.g. as for tomatos), has faded away to the point that in today’s CDs you rarely
see advertised the use of “historical instruments”. The use of “Early” does not refer to anything.
He says that, “From now on, I’ll call it by this new name, Rhetorical music.” Haynes (2007) p.
12.
3
We have translations and new editions of books on style written during the baroque period
(Mathesson 1739, Geminiani 1751, Muffat 1695, C. Ph. E. Bach 1753, Quantz 1752, etc.) and a
consistent body of new studies (Buelow 1980, Donington 1982, Butt 1994, Harnoncourt 1984 and
1995, Tarling 2005, Haynes 2002 and 2007, etc.).
9
I view the simultaneous conception and performance of free improvised music

as an activity that is inevitably linked to concepts related to arrangement – or the
preoccupation with structuring the invention. Although this may represent an
apparent paradox, musicians and listeners have the tendency to find structures in
the music they create and perceive respectively. Rather than taking a polarised
perspective of this musical practice – considering it the unsystematic result of
spontaneity as opposed to methodical musical composition – I consider the
products of free improvised performances as the outcome of a process in which
inherent structural issues are involved. It is also worth noticing that even if it
were possible to produce music without structure, it would become an anti-
structure, which is then again a new structure in itself. In this case, Derek
Bailey’s modus operandi of non-idiomatic performance might be the best
example. To create something that does not expose any reminiscence of other
styles of music is an achievement in itself, and most certainly Bailey was
knowledgeable about styles in order to perform outside their stylistic ranges.
Then again, the results of his music reveal a new particular form with a
characteristic mode of action. The work here presented accepts the hypothesis
that there is an intrinsic search for structure in the performance of free
improvised music (FIM).
We could think of FIM as a music-compositional activity in which the creators

may do whatever they like. The difference between FIM and written music
composition is that the compositional activity of the former is influenced by
relationships of group performance, and most importantly by the absence of the
concept of perpetuation of the work of art. Contrary to written compositions,
FIM’s products do not entail a preoccupation with becoming works for the future.
In this sense there is some similarity with the ideology of compositions from the
period of rhetorical music. Lydia Goehr has pointed out how the conventional
western concept of “work” does not apply in pre-classical music. She tells us that
“It mattered much more that the music satisfied or lived up to the demands of the
10
occasion.”4 It could be argued that audio recordings of FIM represent a

preoccupation with the posterity of the work of art. However, in FIM
presentations there are other aspects to observe outside the aural, which are
intrinsic and sometimes determinant in the performance. There are unique
characteristics in the performances of FIM such as the observation of gestures
and the public’s potential of altering the course of performance. These elements
are only “alive” during the performances. Consequently, applying the concept of
“work” to FIM’s products would not be accurate.
In this introduction I shall refer to the various modes of musical dialogue in

order to demonstrate the need for developing an appropriate discourse for FIM.
Also, I will discuss educational issues with the purpose of addressing necessary
changes for approaching FIM pedagogically. Additionally, I consider it pertinent
to bring the technical, social, political and psychological aspects rooted in
historical issues together, so as to provide a holistic view of this practice. In
exposing how social dynamics have influenced FIM during its existence, I then
allude to the inherent collaborative qualities of FIM and how this may even
change the role of audiences. I describe then how and why rhetoric is an area
suitable for addressing FIM’s properties and consequently appropriate for
establishing a discourse.
The analytical process in this investigation has been directed towards

drawing notions about purpose, method, ethics and value from both angles: the
individual and the collective. The body of work is informed by a self-reflexive
examination of my own development as improviser in which the analysis is
focused on the changes brought by experience. Also, I examine several FIM
projects that I have directed and in some of which I myself have played. Due to
its heuristic characteristics, FIM ought to be analysed through an empiric
methodology in order to build something of epistemological consistency, keeping
in mind, however, that words are a limited medium and that the works of music
themselves offer the best exposure of its elements.
4
Lydia Goehr (1992) p. 180.
11
1.1 Modes of Discussion
One of the advantages of using rhetoric in developing analysis in FIM is that it

allows us to base it on the observation of the intentional content of the music
rather than only on the musical material itself. At this point, it is important to
think how music is flexible in adapting itself to the diverse ‘places’ humans have
designated for it in history. In Medieval times, music was part of the
Quadrivium,5 together with arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. The Trivium
was constituted by grammar, logic and rhetoric. Boethius in De Institutione
Musica presents two aspects of music: one that describes the Pythagorean unity
of mathematics and music, and another which illustrates the relationship between
music and society.6 On the one hand there was the tendency to view music as
having “imbibed principles of arithmetic proportionality that were thought to
govern the universe and everything in it,”7 and on the other hand Boethius’
thoughts seemed to acknowledge a great inherent power of music in respect of
human emotions and integrity,8 in keeping with the Platonic ideals that point to
the dangers of musical experience.9 However, as Dewey tells us, “Perhaps he
[Plato] exaggerated when he said that a change from Doric to the Lydian mode in
5
Mark (2002) p.25 “The term quadrivium was introduced by Boethius in his De Institutione
Musica which remained the principal source of information about music as a mathematical
subject for over a millennium.”
6
Mark (2002) p.25
7
Haar, James: Humanism. The Medieval Background. Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy
(Accessed 7/07/2007), http://www.grovemusic.com
8
Boethius, De Institutione Musica. Quoted in Mark (2002) p. 25. “That music is related to us by
nature, and that it can ennoble or debase our character.”
9
Plato, Republic p. 78. “Rhythm and harmony permeate the inner part of the soul more than
anything else…” In searching for the ideal kallipolis it seems that “music’s obscure abstract
quality, which hides its true meaning if there be one, may be the most frightening thing of all for
Plato. Here is this incoherent and amorphous phenomenon that undoubtedly produces immensely
profound effects. When the goal is stasis, how does one respond to such an opaque and
uncontrollable menace? In the end, his reaction to music is to drastically limit our experience of
it.” (Shane Perlowin, Plato and Censorship: A Descriptive Critique of the Limits of Musical
Expression in Kallipolis, 2005)
12
music would be the sure precursor of civic degeneration.”10
Le Coat tells us about Boethius’s distinction between musica mundana,

musica instrumentalis, and musica humana. The first he refers to as a practice
concerned with the mathematical laws inherent in the concord of sounds and their
bond with the harmony of the universe. The second, he says, is dealing with
musical instruments, including human voice, “by means of which various sounds
are produced.” The third concentrates on the human soul “which unites the
incorporeal activity of reason with the body.”11 Chadwick writes that Boethius
considered instrumental music the lowest of the hierarchy. He continues telling
us that “To Boethius ‘human music’ means the blending of incorporeal soul and
the physical body and that musica mundana is related to cosmic harmony holding
together in consonance and equilibrium the four elements of earth, air, fire and
water; or the cycle of the four seasons.”12 Chadwick is also of the opinion that
“Boethius…is writing on musical theory without the least likelihood that he
knows much of the practice of the art.”13 This seems to suggest that the
preoccupation of Boethius’ studies in music are in line with those of Plato, which
were concerned with studying music as an abstract and pure science considering
– from music’s dichotomy between theory and practice – just the first in
isolation. In the range of modes of talking about music, we can identify an
approach with scientific criteria concerned with musical surface, musical gesture,
and one focused on the emotional narrative. A mode of analysis based on rhetoric
provides a method of inquiry that unites surface, gesture and the emotional
qualities of music, yet also provides an idea of structure.
Other modes of discussing FIM have perhaps been brought about by changes
in music over time and its role in the globalised world of today, which have
resulted in an amplification of its area of action. Using music as a medical
10
Dewey (1934) p. 8.
11
Le Coat (1975) p. 16.
12
Chadwick (1981) pp. 81- 82.
13
Idem. p. 87.
13
treatment, for example, claims the possibility of helping restless sleepers by

recording an individual's brain waves and converting them into unique musical
sounds.14 It is most likely that we will discover, through our creative and
explorative processes, profitable cross-disciplinary fields.15
1.2 Education
The flexibility of, and permeability between, various areas might point to the
need to reformulate things such as the role of art today, the way we create and
perceive it and, also, the way we teach it and criticise it. That music education
today faces new challenges, brought about by the influence of multidisciplinary
approaches and the awareness of music of other peoples, and that there is a
tangible need for substantial change, has been tacitly exposed.16 Jorgensen, for
example, presents the idea of understanding music as a social as well as an
individual experience, bringing in what she calls “a dialectical view of music
education.” She tells us about the idea of a broader observation of music
education which considers: musical form and context, transmission and
transformation, continuity and interaction, making and receiving, understanding
and pleasure, and philosophy and practice.17 These dialectics could eventually
help to introduce a broader field of artistic music comprehension and criticism
14
“These musical sounds correlate to brain waves that promote relaxation and trigger activation in
your body. The musical sounds are presented to you in the form of two musical files - one
relaxing, and one activating.” They continue claiming that “Playing those files promotes
relaxation and activation in your body.” From the Brain Music Therapy webpage:
http://www.brainmusictreatment.com/. Accessed on 31/10/2007.
15
New collaborative artistic forms such as image and sound, arquitecture and music
(installations), theatre and music, are examples of that. Dr. Željko Obrenović, a Postdoctoral
Researcher at the Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam, for example,
developed what he called a Multimodal Human-Computer Interface for Tactical Audio
Applications. He tells us that the “Experiments have shown that acoustic presentation improves
the quality of human-machine interaction and reduces error during guidance tasks.” On-line
source, http://homepages.cwi.nl/~obrenovi/projects.html#project_03b. Accessed on 31/10.2007.
16
Jorgensen says that because of the rapid advances in technology, global communication has
facilitated learning about the “political, religious, economic, and social upheavals”, that took
place in remote parts of the world, almost instantaneously. This, she says, has cultural effects
which “raise compelling questions for music education internationally – questions that have yet to
be addressed fully whithin the community of music educators and that offer a rich basis on which
to revise the profession.” Jorgersen (1997) p. 71.
17
Jorgensen (1997) xiv.
14
based on acknowledging the need for a combination of formalistic and functional

angles. Other factors that perhaps would help to make judgments on consistency
are historical consciousness, and a developed perceptive apparatus that combines
the observation of intentionalities parallel to those that could be referred as the
materials used in a performance. An imbalance in artistic perception happens
because an observation made only through conceptual knowledge isolates the
observer from human experience. Dewey affirms, “The actual work of art is what
the product does with and in experience.” He also is of the opinion that “The
prestige of these products creates conventions that get in the way of fresh
insight.” 18 Once conventions have set, the audience expects something and
ceases to be creative, which compromises the experience with reality.
Before proceeding, I should try to explain the relevance of having a

discussion on FIM in pedagogical terms. If we think about developing a system
for establishing a discourse for FIM it is necessary to observe a set of materials
that can be referred to as the product of invention. In composed written music,
the discourse can be focused on the interpretation and delivery of pre-established
materials set by the score. This is because the content of the score is fixed, and its
form involves the interpretation and delivery of it. In FIM, however, the content
(res) and form (verba) influence each other in the process of creating the music.
The dynamics of delivery actually influence the content, which in turn affects the
delivery and so on, creating random interactive sequences. If, in FIM, verba – the
form that is linked to the delivery – determines to a certain extent the
arrangement of the invention, and is itself shaped by the collective interactive
dynamics of the group, then we may deduce that any attempt to develop a critical
analysis in FIM ought to take both angles into consideration. Focusing solely on
the musical results or only in the interactive dynamics of a group playing FIM
will give an incomplete picture of what it is really happening. Therefore, in order
to “harvest” consistent material from the experimental laboratories that I have
conducted for this investigation, it was necessary to devise some pedagogical
18
Dewey (1934) p. 3.
15
premises so as to gather material produced by a “controlled" generative process.

However, the challenge in setting up those premises was to harmonise them with
the natural freedom and inherent experimental qualities of FIM. Susan Allen tells
us, “Once a learner understands clearly that an instructor is only an authority by
way of experience, the avenues for co-education have been opened. A learner and
instructor here may set forth the notion of examining a set of ideas or issues
together, while the instructor, rather than delivering truths or platitudes, may
guide the student toward avenues for research, thought, process and self-
discovery.”19 Consequently, a possible strategy for the elaboration of a
pedagogical framework for FIM may well consider including lines that promote
adopting a diversity of angles for individual experimentation. One way to obtain
results and arrive at conclusions from experiments with group activities in FIM
might be to focus on the form of the sonic outcome through an angle of
interactive social dynamics. The content then is created in a group, for which
reason it may be useful to examine the results according to the intensities
provoked by different degrees of balance in collective artistic creation.
The matter of polarising music analysis into investigating form in isolation

from content seems to be the core of the problem of music education today.20
FIM embodies a symbiotic relationship between content and form, or, in
rhetorical terms: res and verba, respectively. Maybe the challenge in music
education today is to devise ways to transcend cultural boundaries in order to
approach the task of evaluating not only FIM but non-western music as well.
Accepting content and form in a balanced combination by ceasing to rely
primarily on the contextualisation of music, and allowing expression to be part of
the analysis, might be one step forward into finding a new model for music
education in a globalised society. If we think about the expressions that art
19
From Susan Allen’s website: http://music.calarts.edu/~susie/teaching_philosophy.html accessed
on 28/08/2007.
20
In all institutions where I have studied, the way I was tought to analyse a Mozart symphony, for
instance, was solely directed towards revealing the division of phrases, periods, the hamonic
skeleton, etc. A limited attention was given to the expressive elements that those pieces may carry
to the public.
16
generates as an activity that reflects what is happening in our societies through

the experiences the artist has with the environment, we could also think that art
education should somehow gather the necessary elements to observe art as an
experience linked to a perception in reality with reality. Dewey tells us that, “A
conception of fine art that sets out from its connection with discovered qualities
of ordinary experience will be able to indicate the factors and forces that favour
the normal development of human activities into matters of artistic values.”21
Dewey also affirms, “Experience occurs continuously, because the interaction of
live creature and environing [sic] is involved in the very process of living. Under
conditions of resistance and conflict, aspects and elements of the self and the
world that are implicated in this interaction qualify experience with emotions and
ideas so that conscious intent emerges.”22 Dewey’s concept of resistance is based
on the need of “obstacles” for transforming what he calls “impulsion” into
expression. Impulsions, he tells us, “are the beginnings of complete experience
because they proceed from need…”23 He also explains that for impulsion to be
transformed, or rather “distilled”, into an expression “impulsion also meets many
things on its outbound course that deflect and oppose it. In the process of
converting these obstacles and neutral conditions into favouring agencies, the live
creature becomes aware of the intent implicit in its impulsion.”24 While
impulsion is the movement of the whole organism, impulse, he affirms, “is
specialized and particular; … a part of the mechanism involved in a complete
adaptation with the environment.”25 The concept of resistance presented by
Dewey seems to describe the symbiotic relationship between res and verba when
he affirms “the artist is controlled in the process of his work by his grasp of the
21
Dewey (1934) p.11. Dewey also says that “No matter whether the artists affects to be a stranger
or an enemy to the society that surrounds him, he can never succeed to cut himself off from it
absolutely.” Quoted in Gaultier (1913) p. 159.
22
Dewey (1934) p. 35.
23
Dewey (1934) p. 58.
24
Dewey (1934) p. 59.
25
Dewey (1934) p. 58.
17
connection between what he has already done and what he is to do next.”26 In this
embodiment of the attitude of a receiver by the artist, the experience becomes the
relationship between doing and undergoing.27 Dewey tells us that prior
experiences induce reflection upon the experience resulting from the impulsion,
“one that does not know where it is going.” This reflection represents a resistance
which helps in converting a “direct forward action into re-flection; what is
turned back upon is the relation of hindering conditions to what the self possesses
as working capital in virtue of prior experiences.”28 A possible measure for
making music education today a more holistic activity, and thus a complete
experience, might be to direct the learning process to promote, together with the
accumulation of knowledge regarding instrumental technicalities and the
mastering of musical styles, strategies that encourage students to explore the
historical, social and psychological aspects that influence the realisation of art.
Conceivably, this would sponsor depth of thought and resistance to emerge.
There are also factors that have conditioned the production and perception of
art such as the changes brought by mass production and the revolution in
technology. According to Benjamin, “That which withers in the age of
mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art.”29 By “aura” Benjamin
refers to the elements that become compromised in a reproduction, isolating the
work of art from tradition and the uniqueness of existence. He gives us an
example: “The poorest provincial staging of Faust is superior to a Faust film in
that, ideally, it competes with the first performance at Weimar.”30 Based on
Benjamin’s idea we could say that the mere reproduction of the outer elements of
an artistic object does not reproduce its aura, because the existence of it might
depend on the presence of Dewey’s concept of resistance. As I have explained,
26
Dewey (1934) p. 45.
27
Dewey (1934) p. 44.
28
Dewey (1934) p. 60.
29
Benjamin (1968, p. 221)
30
Ibid.
18
resistance is presented by Dewey as a sort of catalyst needed for producing

artistic quality. In this sense, quality points towards not measuring effort or time
in the production of an object but allowing resistance to exist and creating the
ideal balance between rich levels of depth with the more superficial decorative
levels. The latter, isolated from the full context, is what the qualitative core of
today’s commercial production machinery has the tendency to present; a strategy
that envisions the future of their enterprises as one that renders the biggest
possible audience to their products primarily for monetary interests. In the case of
a musician resistance may be represented by his instrumental technical control
and by a self-criticism that results from embodying “in himself the attitude of the
perceiver while he works.” 31 The relevance of thinking about concepts such as
Dewey’s resistance and Benjamin’s aura in FIM resides in the lack of pre-
formulated material. For example, the musical score, or any pre-formulated set of
rules, offers resistance to the interpreter. Deciphering pre-set elements for
musical interpretation represents a sort of filter which can become the necessary
resistance so that both expression and aura may be obtained. The manifestation of
resistance in FIM, rather than being an evident element, such as in a score,
manifests itself in other ways that seem to be linked to ethical issues related to
the collective quality of this practice.32
31
Dewey (1934) p. 48.
32
Under the Chapter Ethics, Decorum and Audience I explain in more detail the relation of ethics
and style.
19
1.3 FIM and Social Dynamics
Smith and Dean observe that a characteristic of improvised music is that it breaks
with principles of tradition and modernistic values of permanence.33 In order to
understand this concept, some of the ideas about the meaning of postmodernism
ought to be presented. Postmodernism has been described in many ways, but,
after the Fifties, it is usually regarded as a social and cultural, rather than purely
artistic, phenomenon.34 Gerhard Hoffmann explains that “The proliferation of
designations may diffuse the contours of postmodernism, but it also indicates the
wide spread of the post-situation into all spheres of life.”35 He continues telling
us “something new has occurred, but is finding it difficult to crystallize into a
defining entity of its own. Unity is here multiplicity … of collage without
hierarchy. Pluralism is the catchword, pluralism of viewpoints and definitions.”36
We may consider the practice of a creative activity through the concept of
permanence as something that is not prearranged to change and therefore
incompatible with FIM’s idea of creating in a collaborative, plural and flexible
environment. Another postmodernist idea comes from Judy Lochhead when she
considers the changes in the concepts of time and space as relevant for thinking
about music. She tells us that because of the technological developments, the
rapidity of world travel, and the accessibility of far away places and long-ago
times; knowledge has become “situated” rather than “absolute.”37 From this
perspective, postmodernist thought is based on non-absolute truth in which the
33
“The improvisor engages with process and change rather than permanence… Improvisation is
concerned with processes rather than products, it is social rather than solipsistic.” Smith & Dean
(1997) p. 25.
34
Smith & Dean (1997) p. 16.
35
Hoffmann mentions that “the period up to the end of the Eighties, has not only been called
postmodern, but also, post-social, post-historical, post-ideological, post-utopian, post-political,
post-fascist, post-aesthetic, post-development, post-revolutionary, post-colonial, post-industrial,
post-cultural, post-metaphysical … etc.” Hoffmann (2005) p.35.
36
Hoffmann (2005) p.35.
37
Lochhead (2002) p. 6.
20
creator and receiver form together the “meaning”. If we consider the new
category of musical concept proposed by FIM, it is evident that it harmonises
with the postmodern thought which is referred to as a force contrary to
modernistic concepts such as purpose, design, hierarchy, finished work, art
object.
Free improvisation is one contemporary artistic field that presents,

apparently, a totally free platform for musical expression. It has roots in jazz and
Western European music, and, with the incorporation of electronic technology,
has put music closer to the world of sciences once more, surrounded by infinite
possibilities for sonic creations. It seems that free improvisation is perceived
sometimes as a kind of an “outlaw” musical movement because its aesthetics
become alien for those who adopt a kind of position proper for listening and
discerning about “concert” music or “The Classical Canon.”38 It may be worth
considering that in order to perceive the musical results produced by free
improvisation it is necessary to learn a different way of listening, taking into
consideration that the performer of FIM is absorbed in a creative activity
different from the interpretation of written compositions. The invention in FIM is
continually changing in the course of performance because of an intricate system
of connections between the players. In this sense, as Smith and Dean affirm,
“improvisation offers more scope for performers than they might have in
composed forms: this permits change in composer/performer/audience
relationship. Improvisation also provides a tool for collaboration between several
individuals, be they creators, performers or audience/participants.”39 Because of
the strong collaborative ethical nature of this practice, the interaction between the
improvisers is in itself something that might be useful to observe. The listener
then is capable of participating by either supporting or dismissing actions taken
38
“The Canonic ideology leads to a number of corollaries that form the basic assumptions of
Classically oriented musicians. They include: great respect for composers, represented by the
cults of genius and originality, the almost scriptural awe of musical “works,” an obsession with
the original intentions of the composer, the practice of listening to music as ritual, the custom of
repeating hearings of a limited number of works.” Haynes (2007) p. 6.
39
Smith & Dean (1997) p. 4.
21
by the musicians, creating a parallel level of appreciation to the perception of

sounds. Particularly, it has been a recurrent case while listening to a FIM
presentation, to identify with the musical input of one or more performers. In my
musical appreciation, any change made by those performers goes automatically
through a process of evaluation, which result in either a positive, neutral or
negative reaction. Consequently, free improvisation brings a new relationship
between the performers and the audience profiling the public as potentially
capable of altering the course of musical events. Borgo says that, “Improvisation
and other highly interactive art forms … can foreshorten or even eliminate the
distance between artist, audience, and work.”40 The concept of giving to
audiences an active role also harmonises with the inherent characteristics of
rhetorical practice. In fact, rhetoric became obsolete in music when musicians
were given a higher status and “the performer’s own importance increased as an
object of adulation.”41 Maybe because of the separation between the artist and the
audience, the objects of art began to acquire value as something separated from
ordinary experience. But, as Dewey tells us, “The factors that have glorified fine
art by setting it upon a far-off pedestal did not arise within the realm of art nor is
their influence confined to the arts.” He continues saying that “For many persons
an aura of mingled awe and unreality encompasses the ‘spiritual’ and the ‘ideal’
while ‘matter’ has become by contrast a term of depreciation, something to be
explained away or apologized for.”42 These factors could lead to some reluctance
in accepting FIM as a valid form of artistic expression. This reluctance and the
difficulty in understanding FIM’s components using any existing critical
methodology seem to suggest that this practice is still in its early stages of
existence.
However, it would be useful not only to consider FIM’s new aesthetics and
social interactivity but also other factors that are determinant, such as the
40
Borgo (2005) p. 87.
41
Tarling (2005) p. 40.
42
Dewey (1934) p. 6.
22
questioning of social conventions in the aftermath of the Second World War.

Borgo tells us that “in Europe, the early years of free improvisation were often
inspired by a rebellious attitude toward the ‘accepted’ forms of modern
music…”43 Free improvised music’s aesthetics was very much influenced by the
post-war counter-movement that embraced pacifist and anti-materialistic values
aiming to expose the need for social change and the preoccupation with spiritual
integrity. Already before WWII, experiments such as Dada44 and Surrealism
pointed towards a direction of reformulating socio-political concepts and adopted
an increasing emphasis on art as process. “This interest in process was part of a
larger reaction against the nineteenth century ideal of the creative process as it
was symbolised in the concepts of genius, individuality, permanency and
privacy.”45 One of the characteristics of the improvisation movement during the
sixties was the radical socialism that attracted many improvisers and that many
artists then were politically aware and active, which produced an ideology of
improvisation based on ideologies derived from the works of Freud, Goodman,
Marx and values suggested by Eastern religions (e.g. Zen Buddhism).46 If we
look into the depths of free improvisation it becomes apparent that its
significance is greater than as a mere platform for musical expression. FIM
establishes an emphasis on art as process in which human values and ethics play
an important role. It is no surprise then that its inherent collective ethos reflected,
for instance, Marxist principles of political equality and co-operation. It is
important to note how this movement was significant in the sense that it defied
the status quo by opposing censorship, war, inequalities, discrimination,
commodification in an object-oriented-market and economic repression.
It is not surprising that many musicians dedicated to this practice have

expressed strong socio-political views. In his article The AACM in Paris, George
43
Borgo (2005) p. 87.
44
“Dada performances at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich during the first world war often involved
improvisation…” Smith & Dean (1997) pp. 11-12.
45
Smith & Dean (1997) p. 21.
46
Smith & Dean (1997) p. 19.
23
Lewis tells us that the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative
Musicians), founded in Chicago in 1965, was producing works that challenged
“the white-coded American experimental music movement to move beyond
ethnic particularism toward the recognition of a multicultural, multiethnic base,
with a variety of perspectives, histories, traditions and methods.” Lewis also
mentions, “For many French intellectuals operating in the wake of May 1968, the
dissonant sounds of free jazz asserted a radical break with Western social,
political and economic hegemony.”47 In an interview with Daniel Varela,
Frederic Rzewski lets us know that at the Festivale Internazionale di Teatro
Universitario “there was an event organized by Jean Jacques Lebel in which
Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV), the Living Theater and other people took part as
well. It was a kind of happening and this was in March 1968…People from the
establishment and the authorities looked at this place full of people and all
smoking good hash and they got a little freaked and decided to close the event
taking off the electricity. MEV was playing and suddenly, there was no sound!
The lights were off and Jean Jacques decided to go to the streets and take the
event directly into the city but the next day, the University was occupied by the
students- the action against the artists had an inflammatory effect. The basic idea
of the text - remember, that was 1968 - was that we are living in a time of very
rapid transitions in which older models guiding behaviour collapsed and were in
crisis. So, there's very little time to construct new ones and it's necessary to find
new forms for human relationships. Improvised music was a possible music to
find these new things…”48 British composer Cornelius Cardew was also very
much involved in politics. He embraced Marxism-Leninism and, as a performer,
joined the People’s Liberation Music (PLM) in 1974. He performed songs with
the PLM on anti-fascist demonstrations and for the support of Irish people in
47
George Lewis, The AACM in Paris, Renaissance Noire Magazine. On-line source. http://aacm-
newyork.com/text.html. Accessed 21/11/2007.
48
Interview with Frederic Rzewski by Daniel Varela (2003). On-line source:
http://www.furious.com/PERFECT/rzewski.html. Accessed 21/11/2007.
24
their opposition to British imperialism.49 He wrote in Stockhausen Serves

Imperialism: “A composition is not ‘an object to be evaluated’ but a force to
influence the consciousness of living people – as such it functions morally and
politically.”50
Presently, the political influence in FIM seems to be less palpable than

during the 1960s. It also appears to have succumbed to commodification in the
sense that there is quite an array of recordings, films and concert halls that
present it. If we think on the subliminal importance of the political stand of
improvisation during its early beginnings we could speculate that, at that time,
any sort of attempt to engage in deep analysis of the practice in “purely” musical
terms might have provoked aversion. This movement might have gone against
some western compositional techniques. The excess of compliance with the
scores (e.g. Dodecaphonism and serialism) constricted the interpreters’ activity.
This rational way of creating music might have been associated with analysing
music. Because of this, it looks as if establishing a discourse on FIM might have
been regarded as losing ground to the rule-management system they were set to
go against. Today, there is a lack of criticism in the FIM scene, which seems to
reveal that some dogmatization is already happening. This dogmatization implies
a silent agreement to avoid acknowledging the possibility of judging FIM’s
musical results qualitatively.
Free improvisation is a practice that lacks any sort of pre-specified rules.

However, this does not mean that the concept of “free” points towards a “play-
whatever” kind of direction. In an interview with Charity Chan, Fred Frith tells
us that, “When you [improvise] with other people, then all kinds of social aspects
come into play, and mostly the qualities that make a good improviser are not
dissimilar to the ones that I appreciate in my friends: being a good listener,
sensitivity to your social surroundings, being there when you’re needed but
knowing how to step back too, knowing when to be supportive, when to be
49
Cornelius Cardew Memorial Concert booklet. p. 21.
50
Quoted in Cornelius Cardew Memorial Concert booklet. p. 17.
25
assertive, when your opinion is valuable, when to just go along with something,
when to insist! Patience. Tolerance. Openness.”51 This ethos, I would suggest, is
very influential in shaping the ‘style’ of FIM.
From a dialectical point of view it is possible to understand the process in

which an improviser is involved. Gustavsen tells us that “The sounding music is a
product of the musician – making music is an externalizing of the musician.
Next, the sounding music is objective reality – the components of music are
‘objective’ entities. But now, the musician becomes a product of the music – his
or her being in the music shapes consciousness with ‘form and matter’ from the
musical landscape. Finally, this perception shaping the musician is in itself an
active process in selecting, grouping and highlighting (as Gestalt theory and
cognitive psychology show us), and thus, the circle is already back to where the
musician is creating the music.”52 Gustavsen describes this dynamic from an
individual perspective so extra considerations should be made when grouping
various individual dynamic creative fields. Apparently, if resistance is beneficial
for the establishment of expression, then it might also help in obtaining an
integrated musical outcome in collective improvisation. How to create resistance
in the collective? Bastien and Hostager tell us that, “By imposing particular
limitations on the range of potential musical and behavioural choices available to
performers, these structural conventions also serve as ‘information’ that reduces
individual uncertainty.” They continue, “Paradoxically, these structures enable
collective musical innovation by constraining the range of musical and
behavioural choices available to the players.”53 Given that FIM has no specific
rules as to how musicians should interact between themselves it must be clear
that there is an inherent ethics that helps in building the musical discourse
collectively. This collective artistic human interactivity is to a great extent
unpredictable; this is why the application of existing methods for musical
51
http://quasar.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/csieci/article/view/293/617 accessed on 14/04/2008.
52
Gustavsen (1999) p. 13.
53
Jazz as a process of organizational innovation by Bastien and Hostager in Organizational
Improvisation Kamoche, K., Pina e Cunha, M., Cunha, J. V. (2002). p. 17.
26
analysis in FIM is ineffective. Adorno says that a method should legitimate itself
by adapting to its object concentrating on the light it sheds on it.54 This idea
serves as an objective line in the elaboration of analytical “tools” for FIM; tools
that could be adapted accordingly to both the aesthetics and dynamisms presented
by this practice.
Free improvisation also affords opportunities for collaborations with

sciences in the use of computer technology for sound production and
manipulation, and offers a rich field for cognitive psychology focused on
analysing subjective creative behaviour. As it is recognized as a cultural
phenomenon that has properties of its own as well as a specific audience, theatres
where it is presented, producers, recordings, and magazines, FIM has to live
today with the paradox of having to coexist with the commercial business and
propaganda it so much repudiated during its early beginnings. However, this
appears to represent the adaptability of this musical area to the changing
environment. It seems that the pressure exerted by the environment continuously
tests the flexibility of FIM in adapting, mutating and developing itself into
becoming the musical area it represents in the contemporary music scene. To
establish a discourse in FIM it is necessary to bring together concepts that are in
tune with its inherent flexibility, with the structures result from spontaneity, with
the succession of events, and with the use of a myriad of sounds. At the same
time, a focus on FIM has to consider the influence of the relationships in
collective creation and the importance of behaviour and ethics. So we have a
musical practice that can use any sort of sound, any kind of instrument and
interpreter, and where “composing” the music is the result of an intricate system
that involves, in no particular order, invention, negotiation, organisation,
development, refutation, imitation, complementation, support, discussion, etc.
Since rhetoric in its abstraction seems to address many of these concepts, this
work is presented as an exploration of the use of rhetoric as a discourse for FIM.
54
Adorno (1978) p. 1.
27
1.4 Programme of the Study
The following sections will describe how it is fundamental to acknowledge the

existence of a communication process in this practice before attempting to
develop any sort of analysis using rhetoric. Part I deals with issues that seem to
have influenced in the development of FIM. Also in this part I analyse how this
musical practice is transforming the instrumental and perceptive aspects, making
considerations with respect to the sui generis collaborative qualities inherent in
this way of expressing ourselves through the use of sounds. In Chapter 1, I
scrutinize various aspects of understanding music with the objective of presenting
new insights that relate to its historical, socio-political and pedagogical contexts.
Chapter 2 will explain the conditions that influenced the realisation of this study
and the idea of using rhetoric for analysing and teaching FIM. Also, I will draw
the differences between composition and improvisation, pointing to the need to
address theory and expression simultaneously. Finally, I will present FIM’s
particular characteristics, discussing both instrumental and technological media.
Next, in Chapter 3, I will present a historical overview of areas relevant to this
practice, and offer a map of the origins of FIM. These areas have strong ties with
socio-political aspects that I believe are relevant in shaping its ethical and
aesthetic qualities. In this same chapter, first a historical discussion of rhetoric is
presented pointing to the diversity of angles in which it could be used to
investigate FIM; this is followed by a general idea of how jazz and late 20th
century Western European music influenced FIM. Also in Chapter 3, the use of
computer technology in the performance of FIM is discussed, focusing on its
implications for the connection between performers and audiences. Chapter 4
explores today’s restricted ambits of criticism in FIM.
Part II sets out, in a systematic manner, the conceptual and operational

framework needed for an understanding and empirical investigation of rhetoric
and its application to FIM. Drawing upon old and new literature, Part II offers
operational tools which represent an important contribution to this study in
themselves, but also lay the basis for the empirical projects presented and
28
analysed in Part III. Chapter 5 presents the elements that consider the potential of
using rhetoric in FIM as a discourse its creation, discussion, reflection, analysis
and pedagogy. It is followed by a detailed description of musical figures taken
from ancient sources and the suggested analogy for the application in FIM.
Moreover, the influence of socio-political issues is presented. Next, the classical
rhetorical structure of oration is set out and possible ways for its operation in FIM
are drawn. Subsequently, FIM is analysed through a prism of ethics and decorum,
involving fundamental issues in rhetorical theory and which, consequently, are
relevant determinants in the intersubjective dynamics of FIM.55 Also under ethics
and decorum are examined the role of audiences and the manifestation of vices.
Closing the second part, conclusions are formulated on the manner in which
rhetoric could signify a theory that addresses the unspoken in FIM.
Part III concentrates on the description, analysis and comparison of several

improvisation experiences in which I myself was involved, either as a performer
or as a director, during the last six years. This chapter represents the core of the
practical work of this investigation in which the efficacy of the rhetorical model
is tested. Four approaches are described; first, my experiences with the e-
recorder56 and with a group of improvisers; second, I analyse a recording in
which I make use of an acoustic instrument, a tenor recorder, with a group of
improvisers from the University of California, San Diego; third, a more
constrained type of FIM in the form of graphic scores that I developed and its
analysis; and fourth, an analysis and comparison of five pedagogical projects in
which almost all members were, initially, totally unfamiliar with this practice.
The experiences with the e-recorder entail a self-critical and reflective

approach to my own development as an improviser. In this auto-analysis in
different circumstances I distinguish subsequent changes in behaviour and,
55
“The particular challenge of group improvisation is that each performer may have a rather
different interpretation of what is going on and where the performance might be going. In other
words, intersubjetivity is an inherent property of improvised performances.” Borgo (2005) p. 186.
56
The e-recorder (electronic recorder) is an instrument that I developed, which consists of a
contrabass recorder that apart from being an acoustic instrument is also a MIDI controller.
29
consequently, in style. Since those transformations were also influenced by the

changes in control that developed from having to deal with the acoustic
instrument – a contrabass recorder – and its electronic controller simultaneously,
attention is given to the instrumental parameters which might have become
significant in characterising my performances, solo and collective. In this aspect,
I also describe some differences brought by playing with an acoustic recorder,
without any electronic equipment. In Chapter 8, the project that I conducted at
the Royal Conservatory, in The Hague, is thoroughly explained. This project
represents the genesis of the idea of this study. For this undertaking I presented
performers with an elaborated rhetorical “path” in the form of a graphical score.
In this same chapter I concentrate on investigating the efficacy of rhetorical
guidance for achieving specific intentionalities in group performance. In this
connection, I also scrutinize some prescriptive elements set in the score that
appear to be inefficient or too restrictive. Finally, five projects are presented,
organized in four institutions for higher music education. The main product
resulting from these projects is an idea of how effective pedagogical strategies
are for teaching FIM, and how to assess the usefulness of the application of
rhetoric in guiding the realisation of the activity. From the recordings that I have
made, that consist of more than ten hours of sound material, I have extracted
examples that show relevant issues related to the connections between
performers, the problems with decorum resulting from individual actions, the
achievement of eloquence in the collective, and several musical moments that
represent examples of the rhetorical figures that I have revised in Chapter 5.3.1.
Finally, in part IV, conclusions are drawn, derived from the application of
rhetoric for analysing and teaching FIM. Also, the evolving nature of FIM is
addressed and an agenda is presented for future work.
30
2 Objectives. Why is it Difficult to Analyse Free Improvised Music?
The idea of finding a rhetorical perspective of FIM came during the experiments
I made in building an interactive recorder during my studies at the Royal
Conservatory in The Hague, The Netherlands. For testing the e-recorder’s
interactive system we used improvisation. Through the course of building the
sensors and experimenting with the instrument, the role of improvisation itself
changed from being the exploring medium to the explored one. It became clear,
by analysing my own behaviour, that in the course of the musical improvisatory
process I was elaborating structures and models that were apparently rooted in
my past experiences with rhetorical music, such as structural formalisms and
principles of repetition, recapitulation, variation, etc. Although this could just
indicate that human beings tend to deal with themselves in terms of their formal
training, the possibility of having rhetoric embedded in my improvisations57 was
a revelation that gave me the first impulse to put together a two thousand five
hundred year old discipline – rhetoric – with another of just a half a century of
existence – free improvisation. Continuing what became a very exciting path of
discovery, I conducted a project with students of the Royal Conservatory for
which I wrote a graphic score, entitled Modulus II. The score of Modulus II is
composed following the structure of a classical oration – exordium, narratio,
dispositio, confirmatio, refutatio, peroratio.58 In the score, diverse
Figurenlehren59 (music-rhetorical figures) indicate specific intentionalities which
in combination with the classical division work as guide for the players. Apart
57
While playing the e-recorder during the early stages I became aware that, in order to grasp any
possible consistency in the music produced by experimenting with the new interface and the
sounds it produced, I was making connections between the elements created with rhetorical
devices. E.g. going up = anabasis, going down = catabasis.
58
Entrance, narration, proposition, disposition, confirmation, rebuttal, conclusion. See: Rhetorica
ad Herennium I. iii. 4 and Quintilian, Institutio VIII. pref. 11.
59
Rhetorical Figurenlehren were extensively used in musical composition and performance
during the 17th and 18th centuries with the objective of communicating with clarity the intentions
of the music.
31
from some dynamics and pitch range, no specific musical materials are suggested
in the score. During more than twenty hours of rehearsals the group developed its
own dynamism which was influenced by the strategies set in the score of
Modulus II and also by the interactive processes of improvising without any pre-
established idea. Evaluating the musical results seemed to indicate that the
elaboration of guidelines based on rhetoric for teaching improvisation had proved
to be effective. However, I had to consider also the fact that for that project I had
chosen skilful performers. The immediate doubt was as to how much the success
of the project came from the effectiveness of the pedagogical strategies and how
much it was the result of the expertise of the performers. That experience gave
me the impetus to investigate the potential of rhetoric as a system to discern
FIM’s contents and dynamics parallel to the elaboration of pedagogical
guidelines.
Other approaches to preparing FIM have been realised by, for instance, Cecil
Taylor and Butch Morris. Cecil Taylor in his work with the Italian Orchestra
Instabile, for example, engaged in rehearsals after distributing a score composed
of graphics, symbols and words. Regarding the score, Marcello Lorrai asks:
“What does it all represent? An overall plan of the piece to be rehearsed? Some
kind of personal, symbolic and evocative drawing? It’s not clear.” And he
continues: “An atmosphere of uncertainty frequently prevails…but Taylor
ignores this and begins to dictate a melody,” and “Taylor wants the music to
develop more slowly…[He] is not interested in the performance of a pre-defined
product but is interested in a process which gradually grows, which is fed by the
feedback of the musicians’ reactions to his input.” 60 Another approach is that of
Butch Morris, which is rather different than that of Taylor. It concentrates on the
development of a series of hand gestures in a practice he calls Conduction to
specify a variety of things. Ed Hazell mentions that the gestures can indicate, “to
sustain a chord or continuous sound, repeat a motif, or memorize a theme and
60
Liner notes of the CD: Cecil Taylor & Italian Instabile Orchestra, The owner of the River Bank.
Enja Records 2003.
32
play it whenever called for.” He also informs us that the “gestures can also
suggest melodic movement or rhythm in a kind of real-time graphic notation.”61
Morris tells us that “the Conduction vocabulary made it possible for me to alter
or initiate rhythm, melody, harmony, form/structure, articulation, phrasing and
meter of any given notation. Once the vocabulary had been established, it then
became possible to eliminate notation altogether in order to pursue ideas based on
collective, interactive confrontations for the process of constructing composition
in real time.”62 It is interesting to read Krell’s comments on Conduction No. 31,
“Angelica”. He says that, “the structures Morris imposes on the group of
European free-improvisers (which includes the wild-and-woolly likes of
drummer Han Bennink, guitarist Hans Reichel, and bassist Peter Kowald) seem
more like constraints; the music takes wing only when soloists cut loose.”63 It is
perhaps true that when the will of one “leader” is applied to a FIM group that the
strategies, rather than being the result of collective negotiation and interaction,
become the decision of one person. This aspect can make some free improvisers
feel constricted.
A debatable issue in FIM is how to understand the word ‘free’. How free
actually is the performer and which are the forces that might constrict or expand
this freedom? If we consider that we have created systems that allow us to
exercise our sharing capabilities – spoken and written language, creation of art,
mathematics, etc – we can infer that to a certain extent we understand each other.
Booth tells us that, “we are often successful in exchanging ideas, emotions and
purposes, using not only words but a fantastically rich set of symbolic devices,
ranging from facial expressions that seem much more resourceful than those
61
Ed Hazell, Out of the Lab, Butch Morris’s bold experiment yields 10 CDs. Review (January
2006) on-line http://72.166.46.24//alt1/archive/music/reviews/01-18-96/BUTCH_MORRIS.html
Accessed on 29/11/2007.
62
From Butch Morris homepage. Artist’s Statement. http://www.conduction.us/butchmorris.html
63
Ed Hazell, Out of the Lab, Butch Morris’s bold experiment yields 10 CDs. Review (January
2006) on-line http://72.166.46.24//alt1/archive/music/reviews/01-18-96/BUTCH_MORRIS.html
33
available to other animals, bodily stances, dancing, music, mathematics, painting,

sculpture, stories, rituals, and manipulation of social groups in war and
politics.”64 Booth also says that “we are endowed with the capacity to infer
intentions, not just in the linguistic sense of meanings but in the sense of
purpose.” If, then, the tendency to understand each other is inherent in the
intersubjective dynamisms of musicians playing FIM, some kind of limits must
exist in order to make the sharing of ideas possible.
It has not been an easy task to choose a term for referring to what it is
transmitted by the improviser because none of the names seem to give a
satisfactory idea of the manifestations of a free improviser at the time of
performance. Among the possible candidates were “messages”, “meanings”,
“impulses”, and “intentionalities.” Since I consider FIM from an angle that
acknowledges communication as a constant active element, intention is
understood as an intrinsic element which is possibly always present in one way or
another. Even if we presume that at times there may be no intention, or conscious
intention, produced by the creator, it is very likely that intention will be manifest
in the receiver. Still, intentions are intuitive states of consciousness65 which
characteristically intend to change other people’s minds. Intention, by being
intuitive, doesn’t present facts but somehow a sort of a combined world of
objective and subjective interplay, a mixed deliberation from indications derived
by observation and subjective scrutiny. So I have chosen to use “intentionality”
to point towards the objective/subjective expressive energies produced by FIM’s
communicative dynamisms. Intentionality is seen through the perspective of
producing changes in people’s minds from both angles of persuasion; the
conscious one and the other that is often referred to as a more “heart” or “gut”
one.
64
Booth (1974) p.113.
65
Booth says that, “We really know only facts, and intentions are not facts but states of mind. We
do not know them, even in ourselves: they are intutive states of consciousness. We certainly do
not know them in others; rather, we infer them and our inferences have at best a very low level of
probability. Or so one tradition says.” Ibid. p. 116.
34
The hypothesis is that a method based on rhetoric may allow us to

understand the intentionalities, structures and dynamics inherent in the
communication process of free improvised music. In turn, in the case of an
ensemble of FIM, rhetoric could focus on the intentionalities through the angle of
ethics of human interactive behaviour in the process of collective creativity. If we
also consider the communication process in which intentionalities are involved,
rhetoric could also represent a useful field for developing orientation in obtaining
a critical observation.
FIM presents the paradox of not having a defined style and yet existing as a
tacitly agreed musical practice that involves action, production, market, and the
presence of an audience and a community of experts. Consequently, we are
confronted with the problem of finding a rational model that adapts to a practice
defined by not being a style, a practice in which the elements necessary for its
performance are dependent on subjective decisions and influenced by collective
relationships. Monson declares: “Musical theories developed for the explication
of scores are not fully appropriate for the elucidation of improvisational music
making.” She continues, explaining that “a meaningful theorizing about jazz
improvisation at the level of the ensemble must take the interactive, collaborative
context of musical invention as a point of departure.” 66 While FIM is an
identifiable cultural phenomenon that apparently has no defined style, it has
properties of its own that need to be addressed by using a different analytical
methodology.
Generally, analytical approaches to FIM have been directed mostly to the

description of the relationships between improvisers, taking angles of aesthetic
analysis derived from the improviser’s personal understandings of the so-called
“free”. Other documents that focus on FIM are mostly descriptive, metaphorical,
and polemical such as, for example, magazines like Wire Magazine, Avant,
Banana Fish, Cadence, Coda, Contact, Downbeat, Gramophone Explorations,
THC Improviser, Music Words, Opprobrium, Resonance, etc. Also the many CD
66
Monson (1996) p. 74.
35
booklets and available interviews, both in music magazines and in on-line

sources, generally contribute with statements that reveal individual concepts
about the group dynamics in which the words fall into the description of the
group’s integration, pointing to specific situations during performance. David
Borgo points out: “Perhaps what is most often missed…. in critical discussion of
improvisation music is its functional quality.”67 Ingrid Monson writes about the
conversational aspect of jazz, affirming: “translating musical experience and
insight into written or spoken words is one of the most fundamental frustrations
of musical scholarship.”68 Paul Berliner points out that, “despite the difficulties
of verbalizing about essentially nonverbal aspects of improvisation, artists favour
two metaphors…One metaphor likens group improvisation to a conversation that
players carry on among themselves…The second likens the experience of
improvising to going on a demanding musical journey.”69 The point is, if we talk
about functional qualities and conversational aspects in music, couldn’t we find a
manner of coming closer to understanding (a) which functions are at play and (b)
what is the content of the conversation?
A mode of analysis for FIM has been proposed by David Borgo. It presents a
different approach suggesting that, “By applying the analytical tools of fractal
dimensions to the sonic aspects of recorded music…we may be able to arrive at a
useful measure of the relative degrees of complexity of a given performance.”70
However, Borgo acknowledges that the perception of complexity is confined to
the visual representation and not to the perceptual complexity.71 His fractal
analysis is focused on selected recordings of Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Peter
Brötzmann, The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Sam Rivers Trio. The result of his
scientific approach produced graphical representations which provide us with an
idea of densities and some notion of sections. The graphics presented by Borgo
67
Borgo (2005) p. 34.
68
Monson (1996) p. 74.
69
Berliner (1994) p. 348.
70
Borgo (2005) p. 90.
71
Ibid.
36
do not give any insight into the qualities of sound. When he describes, for
example, Parker increasing “his fluttering with these extreme overtones,
eventually cadencing at 7:10”,72 it is impossible to obtain this perception from the
graphics provided by the fractal analysis. It seems to be problematic to approach
a FIM group with the hypothesis that its dynamism resembles one produced by
the self-organization of natural phenomena, or the idea of theory of chaos directly
applied to music. As Paulo Freire tells us, “The normal role of human beings in
and with the world is not a passive one. Because they are not limited to the
natural (biological) sphere but participate in the creative dimension as well, men
can intervene in reality in order to change it.”73 Freire writes about the concept of
integration. He affirms “Integration results from the capacity to adapt oneself to
reality plus the critical capacity to make choices and to transform that reality.”74
This concept seems to capture with more accuracy the role of the performer when
involved in the practice of FIM.
Moreover, Locke in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)

explains how science can be divided into three parts: “All that can fall within the
compass of human understanding, being either, first, the nature of things, as they
are in themselves, their relations, and their manner of operation: or, secondly, that
which man himself ought to do, as a rational and voluntary agent, for the
attainment of any end, especially happiness: or, thirdly, the ways and means
whereby the knowledge of both the one and the other of these is attained and
communicated; I think science may be divided properly into these three sorts.”75
From Locke’s words we can come to think that the issue of the “rational
voluntary agent” may point to the idea that it is incomplete to focus on human’s
actions using Locke’s first point in isolation. “The knowledge of things as they
72
Borgo (2005) p. 98.
73
Freire (1974) p. 4.
74
Ibid.
75
Locke (1690) p. 634.
37
are in their own proper beings, their constitutions, properties and operations”76
cannot be taken in isolation in approaching an understanding of a human artistic
activity because there are intrinsic criteria of its perceptive qualities that are
better focused through the second issue, which points to “the skill or right
applying our power or actions, for the attainment of things good and useful.”77
Making reference to the second point, Locke goes further affirming, “The most
considerable under this head, is ethics, which is the seeking out those rules, and
measures of human actions, which lead to happiness, and the means to practice
them.”78 The third point is referred by Locke as “the doctrine of signs” and
concentrates in the logical approach for the delivery of ideas. He continues
saying that, “Those which men have found most convenient, and therefore
generally make use of, are articulate sounds.”79 Therefore, if we understand a
human artistic activity through Locke’s philosophy, an approach that focuses on
FIM by taking the self-organisation of systems into consideration, and thus
disregarding the possibility that the actions produced by the “voluntary agent”
would interfere or even make invalid the occurrence of a natural phenomenon,
does not seem to offer a complete view of its dynamics. Although there are
theories, such as the one Borgo presents, that show results from approaching art
through the scientific angle of “chaos theory”, like the study that focuses on
Pollock’s paintings,80 the findings just demonstrate the intriguing ways these
systems work and how useful science is in revealing the dynamics of those
systems, but by no means do I think that this method of approaching the object of
scrutiny would reflect any understanding based on artistic grounds.
76
Locke (1690) p. 634.
77
Locke (1690) p. 634-635.
78
Locke (1690) p. 635.
79
Ibid.
80
Richard P. Taylor (The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Autralia) found in Jackson
Pollock’s paintings patterns that are fractal.
http://phys.unsw.edu.au/phys_about/PHYSICS!/FRACTAL_EXPRESSIONISM/fractal_taylor.ht
ml accessed on 4/9/2007.
38
Because of FIM’s particular and unique characteristics, the approach taken

by this research adopts certain considerations in order better to frame it within an
analysable field. Before the main objectives are presented it is necessary to
expose the understanding of “free”, in the context of free improvised music, used
by this research. The understanding of the concept of “free” as an adjective,
presents a field with a broad spectrum of possible meanings in which
contradictory concepts arise as result of the deceptive strategy of “freeing” the
music from something. For this research I derive the concept of “free” from the
verb that conditions the interpreter with regard to his musical past experiences.
To become a free improviser, the musician has to, somehow, “free” himself from
possible constraints left by his/her musical education rather than thinking about
freeing the music, for it must be clear that music itself hasn’t any link with
constrictive issues but it is the musician, who learned to play in specific styles,
that has to become free from them. Consequently, it seems that one of the
qualities that manifests itself naturally in free improvised music is diversity.
When the doors for sonic exploration are opened to outside stylistic boundaries
with no commitment to precision, it appears to be the case that one common
strategy between improvisers is to be diverse. Derek Bailey tells us “Diversity is
its most consistent characteristic.”81
To develop a theory for addressing FIM, we have to deal with form and
intentionality at the same time. The use of an analytical method that considers the
theory and the expression of music independently won’t be useful for
approaching a practice such as FIM. A complex collective, dynamic, and
interactive field is created by the performers in dealing with the sound structures,
which are directly connected to the intentionalities. In the case of written music,
or music dependent on a preset concept or style, the focus has a fixed theoretical
point of departure to establish the critical theory, which in FIM is absent.
However, there is a recognisable sonic result produced by FIM. It seems that the
“style” of FIM is not dependent on the existence of its own musical theory but
81
Bailey (1992) p. 83.
39
rather on how the dynamics are shaped between the improvisers during the
performance. It is most likely that the equilibrium of these inter-relationships
influences the production and delivery of the music. So, if we ought to find a
method that would give us a solid ground for developing a theory for analysing
FIM, it might be useful to consider understanding the organization of materials
by focusing on the complexity presented by the use of unlimited resources and
the dynamics of collective relations and behaviour, or ethics.
One of the differences between the creative environment in FIM and music
composition is that in the first the intentionalities are constantly moving, deeply
influenced by subjective forces and by the presence of an audience which can
subconsciously influence the course of the performance. However, composed
music can also present different intentionalities in reproducing the pre-stipulated
elements set in the score. Between the interpreters of western classical European
music, for example, the so-called versions of a Beethoven piano sonata
differentiate from each other by the surfacing of subjective decisions of the
interpreter which are based not only on particular choices in tempo, articulation,
and dynamics, but also on the emotional outbursts that come as result of an
intricate and subjective dynamic field of intentions. This is an area proper to the
discipline of music cognition, outside the scope of the present study. There are
dynamics in FIM that are strongly influenced by factors outside music, very
subjective and, from a musical perspective, difficult, or even pointless, to
analyse. Being a free improviser myself, I am very aware that words are a very
limited medium to describe what happens in the process of creating music within
free improvisation. Dewey says: “Indeed, since words are easily manipulated in
mechanical ways, the production of a work of genuine art probably demands
more intelligence than does most of the so-called thinking that goes among those
who pride themselves on being ‘intellectuals.’”82 This research will focus on a
rhetorical view of the different levels of expression and structural organizations
82
Dewey (1934) p. 46.
40
that are particular to the practice of FIM, which at times might come close to
areas such as human psychology, cognition, and social sciences.
As I mentioned before, I became engaged in an experimental methodology

based in improvisation during the development of the e-recorder at the Institute
of Sonology in The Hague. This created a psychological awareness of my own
behaviour while improvising. At the same time, I was also searching for ways of
understanding the intentionality of the musical structures that I was creating
during the improvisation sessions. Moreover, finding out that it was possible that
rhetoric could represent something useful for FIM took me to conduct a project at
the Royal Conservatory, The Hague, and its consistent musical results made me
undertake the elaboration of several points that are analysed in this research:
1. How can an analytical methodology based in rhetoric reveal notions about

FIM’s structure?
2. How can we identify the intentionality of FIM through the use of rhetoric?
3. In a collective level, how do ethics and the (inter) subjective relationships

between improvisers influence successful or unsuccessful moments in FIM
performances?
4. Individually speaking, how can rhetoric help in providing guidelines for

practicing and teaching FIM?
5. What is the role of technology and how influential it is in this practice?
This investigation suggests that the rhetorical purposes of docet, moveat,

delectat83 (to inform, to persuade, to entertain) and its classical division of
inventio, distributio, decoratio (invention, arrangement, ornamentation)
embedded in a suitable elocutio, memoria, pronuntiatio (style, memory,
delivery)84 and used in a creative environment that has a balanced ethos, pathos
83
Quintilian, Institutio XI. iii. 154. “There are three qualities which delivery should possess. It
should be conciliatory (conciliet), persuasive (persuadeat), and moving (moveat), and the
possession of these three qualities involves charm (delectet) as a further requisite.
84
Rhetorica ad Herennium, I. ii. 3.
41
and logos (ethics, emotions, logic) offer, potentially, the opportunity of

elaborating a methodology for analysing the structures based on understanding
the intentionalities involved in free improvised music. This methodology has
been applied as a guide for the elaboration of pedagogical lines, which, as I
explained earlier, was necessary to conduct the experimental laboratories. It is
important to consider the rhetorical components, exposed above, isolated from
any historical frame since they are not linked to any specific style in history but
rather related to the dynamics of human expression and communication.
2.1 Instrumental Techniques – “Free” of what?
Both free jazz and the European classical avant-garde encouraged the use and
development of new, or extended instrumental techniques, new formal ideas, and
the use of electronic technology. It is also known that the manifesto of the free
improvised movement at its early beginnings presented a strong opposition to
certain aspects of modern society. An example of it is Derek Bailey’s initial idea
of avoiding the use of anything that could resemble existing styles. This idea
derived, somehow, from the fight against the principle of permanence combined
with the impulse of finding a satisfactory contemporary medium for expression.
But it must be very clear to us that the validity of music must be judged from
what it is and not from what it negates. Bailey’s music creations inevitably
exhibited a defined style characterised by the effort of remaining outside the
realm stylistic recognisability.
During the early free jazz and the post-war Western European music
movements, it was common to search for instrumental possibilities not yet
discovered in order to expand the range of sounds. Anne LeBaron tells us: “John
Coltrane spearheaded the timbral expansions of the saxophone with both
controlled and purposely fractured multiphonics.” She continues saying that
“Harmonic complexities in the music of Cecil Taylor evolved from the late 1950s
42
into the cluster-studded galaxies of sound he came to generate from the piano.”85
We should also think of the particular sax technique developed by Evan Parker.
This search for new sound material led to performances where it was possible to
try-out new sounds, new rhythms, new structures, and, in general, a novel way of
behaving. However, I believe that any radical change should present ideas that
provide depth of thought to support more superficial technicalities such as the
materials used to make a statement. I am of the opinion that if FIM seeks to be
free from the limits particular to composition it ought to present elements of its
own such as a new variety of sounds and rhythms, parallel to a different dynamic
of performance and thought. Although it is natural that “an open-ness to the
totality of sounds implies a tendency away from traditional musical structures
towards informality,”86 it seems to me important that the searching for
unexplored sonic possibilities should be considered as an instrumental technical
expansion rather than a technical migration. New and “traditional” techniques
should be, consequently, included in the sonic possibilities of improvisers. In
1984 Prévost noted that, “we as a community of musicians have taken a long
time to counter…the erroneous idea of a ‘non-idiomatic’ form of
improvisation.”87 I regard Bailey’s idea of “non-idiomatic” improvisation as one
approach to FIM which might be useful pedagogically. This idea could help
beginners to focus only in the new discoveries by isolating instrumental
techniques which are linked, or were linked throughout the learning process of
the performer, to stylistic idioms. In this way, a more concentrated manner of
developing new sounds becomes available. After a period of experimentation, it
may be possible to re-incorporate older known techniques detached from their
association with an specific style, to form a new, richer, broader field of sonic
possibilities.
85
Anne LeBaron – Reflections of Surrealism in Postmodern Musics. Lochhead & Auer (2002) p.
40.
86
Cardew (1971) xvii.
87
Prévost (1984) p. 11.
43
The concept of “free” should also be understood as one that gives the
interpreters greater and more expandable possibilities in dealing with musical
materials away from any constraints that recall standardised or style-based
performances. It is within this strategy that I believe practice and preparation
should be focussed on, at least in the first stages of learning improvisation. It is
worth mentioning, at this point, my personal experience in practicing Berio’s solo
piece for the recorder: Gesti (1966). The first section of this composition follows
a graphical score in which the main idea is the disassociation of the performer
from his “standard” instrumental control. I recall devoting many hours of daily
practice to be able to play above an ostinato, which should be performed in a
regular tempo, an intricate combination of vocal and instrumental sounds, using
different fluttertongue techniques, and eight types of dynamics. Embracing and
practicing new techniques, such as those proposed by Berio, may signify a
strategy to legitimise FIM by making it stand on its own broader technical,
creative, and aesthetic development. Furthermore, to bring about a state of mind
in which musical spontaneity becomes achievable, it is important to think about
the possibility that, in a musical practice permeated with characteristics of a
process such as FIM, it is important to deal with the musical elements as they are
presented rather than to follow a pre-formulated scheme of strategies. We might
conclude that performing FIM is also the time of learning. We should think about
the fact that knowledge is accumulative and that it depends on memory. In this
investigation, rhetoric is presented as a tool that may help performers associate
musical moments with rhetorical principles, helping them to recall those
moments. The apparent paradox is that this approach could be associated with a
predetermined fixed scheme of action. However, this stratagem allows the
performer to retain his/her subjective decision-making when linking musical
materials and/or performative strategies to rhetorical terms.
“Free”, in today’s context of free improvisation, also refers to a sort of

license given to the musician so that his/her playing derives from individual
decisions rather than pre-specified rules. I do not understand “free” as a field in
which life is smooth and responsibilities lighter. By the contrary, the improviser
44
inhabits a flexible and open creative field carrying not only the responsibility of
exteriorizing ideas through sounds but also of creating and formalizing them
before delivering them to the audience. In this sense, improvisation acquires a
formal thought proper of the field of composition with the difference that the
invention, communication and delivery occur almost simultaneously. This
combination of the creation of form and content plus the factor of delivery is in
my view a task that cannot be taken without proper responsibility, and it is the
reason why I believe that the performer of FIM is involved in a complicated
ethical heuristic process for musical artistic creation.
45
3 Historical Considerations
I believe that history becomes a crucial factor for those who establish their field
of action in the avant-garde.88 I also believe that the breaking of the status quo
has to be founded on strong arguments based on historical awareness.
Sometimes, it seems to me that the driving force in the avant-garde today is
neither the preoccupation of establishing a balanced communication nor the
search for expressive methods. I have frequently witnessed music where the
concentration is on individual experiments to the detriment of any sort of
aesthetic elaboration for the delivery. In FIM there has been a switch in the
artistic ethos of improvisation from one that was permeated by socio-political
influences, back in the 60’s and 70s’, to one that is inclined towards a “political
relativism and extreme technological change.”89 It seems as if the questioning of
social conventions, the preoccupation with antimaterialistic values, pacifism and
the search for spiritual wholeness, which permeated the improvising scene during
the sixties, is coexisting today with an improvisation that has become
technologically orientated. In my experience, it has been a regular case in
preparing for a FIM concert, expending most of the time for “rehearsal” in setting
up hardware and constantly programming software. This is not per se, as might
be imagined, a problem since it is natural that improvisers develop accordingly to
their specific needs and impetus. I regard as more problematic the fact that
performances sometimes reflect a lack of preoccupation with important factors
such as communication, general background and a disregard towards control. An
example of that was evident in the last “Discussion Concert” (November 2006) I
attended at the Institute of Sonology at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.
After every presentation of those ‘discussion concerts’, where acousmatic and
live-electronic pieces and improvisations are presented, a discussion takes place
88
Here we should understand the concept of avant-garde as one that concentrates in proposing
new concepts.
89
Smith (1997) p. 18.
46
where people have the possibility of asking questions to the

composers/improvisers. Most of the answers pointed solely to the description of
the technological processes used to compose the pieces, showing sometimes even
incapacity of discerning about any aesthetic grounds or discussing on the content,
intentionalities or meaning of their compositions.
Many would agree with the idea that together with a developed instrumental
control, the performer who is knowledgeable in the aspects that surround musical
practice – history, politics, psychology, social aspects, etc – has greater chance of
achieving depth of thought which in turn substantiates the music he creates.
3.1 Rhetoric as a Concept and Tool: Its Origins and Evolution through the
Ages
Defined by Aristotle in his book Retorica as the capacity of discovering all ways
of persuasion available, rhetoric was introduced in ancient Greece by the sophist
Gorgias around the year 428 B.C., taken to Rome and after to Medieval Europe.
At that time, rhetoric and music belonged to two different fields of knowledge.
Music was considered a science that along with arithmetic, geometry and
astronomy formed the Quadrivium. Rhetoric was part of the Trivium that was
composed by grammar, dialectic and rhetoric. Both, the Trivium and the
Quadrivium were part of the so-called Septem Artes Liberalis. Music was part of
logos (logic) and of ethos (ethics) and not of pathos (related to human emotions).
For instance, the music made for the church, like plainchant, and later,
polyphony, restricted the use of pathos. It encouraged the use of a sacred pathos,
because the outburst of human emotions inside the temple of God was seen as
frivolous and totally pagan.
With the arrival of Humanism in the Renaissance at the end of the fourteenth
century, the strong intellectual changes made the connection between music and
rhetoric inevitable. The music became more humane and closely related to the
communication proper of oratory. It is very important to note that until the end of
the fourteenth century instrumentalists worked almost exclusively within an oral
tradition and that compositions in the fifteenth century were mainly vocal from
47
composers such as Martini, Isaac, Agricola, Josquin and Obrecht.90 However,

Timothy McGee raises questions about the importance of rhetoric in the musical
composition of that period. He says that, “My own attempts to analyse a large
quantity of musical compositions from the fourteenth century through the
sixteenth centuries has led me to question the nature of that relationship and the
extent to which it was consciously applied by composers.” He continues telling
us that, “In spite of the fact that scholars have been able to identify rhetorical
structure and detail in specific compositions, I found the number of musical
works that exhibit that relationship to be extremely limited, both in their number
and in the extent to which the influence can be documented, and the relationship
itself was on a very general level, often superficial or even accidental.”91
The new texts discovered by Cicero and Quintilian during the early decades
of the fifteenth century renewed the interest in the study of rhetoric.92 Tarling
tells us that, “in music, the main influence of the humanists was to highlight the
importance and expression of the text.”93 As a result, during this period in
history, the science of music gave way for the introduction of the rhetoric of
music. Bartel affirms that, “The composer sought to emulate the
rhetorician...replicating an orderly rhetorical construction.”94 Although there
were minor variations in the number and presentation of rhetorical structures,
Bartel tells us, the composer followed the rhetorical structures of (a) inventio
(invention), (b) dispositio (arrangement, organization), (c) decoratio or elocutio
(expression), (d) memoria and (e) pronuntiatio (delivery).95 At the same time, the
90
See Keith Polk’s essay Instrumentalists and Performance Practices in Dance Music, c. 1500 in
McGee (2003). p. 98.
91
McGee, Music, Rhetoric, and the Emperor’s New Clothes. In Music and Medieval Manuscripts:
Paleography and Performance, ed. Haines and Rosenfeld (2004). p. 210-211.
92
McGee, Music, Rhetoric, and the Emperor’s New Clothes. In Music and Medieval Manuscripts:
Paleography and Performance, ed. Haines and Rosenfeld (2004). p. 207-208.
93
Tarling (2005) p. 14.
94
Bartel (1997) p.68.
95
However, Bartel affirms that the focus on music as a mathematical area remained prevalent in
Lutheran Germany throughout most of the baroque. Bartel (1997) p. 10.
48
(b) dispositio was comprehended by (i) exordium (introduction), (ii) narratio

(narration), (iii) propositio or divisio (division), (iv) confirmatio (confirmation),
(v) confutatio (refutation), (vi) peroratio (conclusion). Bartel says that regarding
the (c) decoratio or elocutio, “its stylistic expectations are summed up in the four
virtutes elocutionis: correct syntax (puritas, latinitas), clarity (perspicuitas),
figurative language (ornatus), and suitability of form to content (aptum,
decorum).”96
Later on, the use of instruments would see itself divorced from its
associations with the text and the development of its own music-rhetoric would
arise. Bartel explains that, “Throughout the Italian Renaissance the speculative
science of music gradually lost ground to the more practical craft of musical
composition.” He also mentions that as a result of this, the musical discipline was
divided into two categories: a theoretical and a practical – musica theoretica
(naturalis, speculativa) and musica practica (artificialis).97 Although Bartel
claims that whilst Italian writers tend to adhere to the division into those
categories, German Lutheran writers introduced a new one: musica poetica.98 Yet
he seems to suggest the lack of importance of musica poetica in Italian music,
which is certainly incorrect, since Caccini in 1601 already held that “poetry alone
is the mistress of music.”99 Also Lawson and Stowell say that the association of
rhetoric and music…appeared for the first time in connection with early Italian
monody (‘di muovere l’affetto dell’animo’, as Caccini, among others terms it.)100
This change towards focusing on the text began four centuries ago when a group
of musicians and poets in Florence intended to revive Greek drama by
speculating that the texts then were sung rather than spoken.101 Harnoncourt is of
the opinion that this upheaval was one of the most radical in music history. He
96
Bartel (1997) p. 67.
97
Bartel (1997) p. 18.
98
Ibid.
99
Harnoncourt (1984) p. 22.
100
Lawson and Stowell (Cambridge, 1999). p. 29.
101
Haynes (2007) p. 121.
49
tells us that around 1600 “The hallowed order of Western music was called into
question by a bizarre circle of influential students of antiquity, or, more aptly,
would-be restorers of antiquity.”102 They were called the “Camerata”. Claudio
Monteverdi’s Seconda Prattica originated in the middle of this movement with
the intention of “projecting the texts with complete clarity and great
expressiveness.”103 So the music had to be at the service of the text. If we think
how much of a shock the presentation of the recitatives of the Seconda Pratica
must have been – considering the prior polyphonic style from Ockeghem,
Clemens non Papa, Desprez, among others – it is at least surprising that a
movement that aimed for resurrecting old values resulted in the production of a
musical aesthetic which most certainly was the avant-garde then. Haynes tells us
that “the Camerata unintentionally ended up inventing something quite new, like
neither the mainstream nor the Classical past it had hoped to emulate.” He
continues underlining the importance of this movement by affirming: “It inspired
all the music prior to the Romantic era. We could call it the basis of Baroque
music.”104
Any piece composed during the baroque period can be analysed

rhetorically.105 The compositional methods were developed following the
rhetorical objective of docere, delectare and movere (to teach, to delight, to
move)106 and the analogies made from the techniques used in ancient oratory
allowed composers to choose and organize the material for compositions mainly
aiming for the effective communication of a diversity of affections. Bruce
Haynes compares the use of rhetoric in the Baroque to the Windows operating
system in today’s computers. He tells us that rhetoric “was their operating
102
103
Haynes (2007) p. 122.
104
Ibid.
105
Haynes in his book The End of Early Music says that “Here we are, then, at the beginning of
this book, witnessing one small end of “Early Music.” From now on, I’ll call it by this new name,
Rhetorical music.” Haynes (2007) p. 12.
106
Quintilian, Institutio III. v. 2.
50
system, the source of their assumptions about what music was and what it was
supposed to accomplish.”107 It was then that composers started to follow the
divisions of rhetorical composition: inventio (invention), dispositio
(arrangement), elocutio (style), memoria (memory), and pronuntiatio
(delivery).108 In oratory, the principle of invention (inventio in Latin), Dreyfus
tells us, “denoted not only the subject matter of an oration but also a mechanism
for discovering good ideas. An orator had at his disposal an entire array of such
tools – called the ‘topics of invention’ – and with these topics one devised or
‘invented’ a fruitful subject for a discourse.”109 Since the subject of the
communication of affetti was central, the first matter that called the attention of
writers was how to communicate them and how much the affections should be
enhanced. The latter was a subject matter for several discussions on the
application of “good-taste” by a variety of writers such as Geminiani (A Treatise
of Good Taste in the art of Music and Rule for Playing in a true Taste on the
Violin, German Flute, Violoncello, and Harpsichord …), Quantz (On Playing the
Flute), Mathesson (Der Volkommene Capellmeister), Tosi (Opinioni de’ cantori
antichi e moderni o sieno osservazioni sopra il canto figurato), Couperin (L’art
de Toucher le Clavecin), to mention a few. The musical-rhetorical theory of
baroque music was then constituted by a re-interpretation of classical sources and
also depended on the elaboration and interpretation of affections. The latter left
the interpreter with great freedom in taking decisions regarding things such as
phrasing, accentuation, dynamics, tempi and ornamentation. We could speculate
that because of this great freedom the same piece of music could have presented
substantial differences between interpretations by various performers. This
flexibility, however, was going to become more restricted in the works of Johann
Sebastian Bach, who brought the baroque principle of “musical discourse” to
107
Haynes (2007) pp. 166-167.
108
Rhetorica ad Herennium, I. ii. 3.
109
Dreyfus (1996) p. 2.
51
perfection.110 Harnoncourt tells us that a friend of Bach, the rhetorician

Birnbaum, writes: “He is so perfectly aware of the aspects and advantages that a
piece of music has in common with the art of rhetoric that one not only hears him
with great pleasure when he focuses his conversation on the similarity and
agreement that exists between both; but also admires the adroit application of the
same in his works.”111 We could see Bach as a composer who rather than
bringing changes to the current style, his traditional education coming from a
extensive family of musicians took him to develop the baroque style to such a
perfection that the idea of freedom of creative interpretation became restricted.
His intricate use of rhetorical devices plus the mastery of his compositional
technique brought Scheibe to manifest the following criticism: “This great man
would be the object for entire nations, if he possessed more pleasantness and if he
did not remove every natural element from his pieces through their bombastic
and muddled nature, obscuring their beauty through an over-abundance of
art…All ornaments, all little embellishments, and everything that one
understands to belong to the method of playing, he expresses with actual notes;
this deprives his pieces not only of the beauty of harmony, but also makes the
singing quite difficult to listen to.”112
Later, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the role of rhetoric started
to change. Judy Tarling affirms that it is because of “The rise in status of artists
and musicians...during this period resulted in a change from audience-centred to
an artist-centred performance.” Also she asserts that, “the rhetorical style of
composition and delivery had undergone a radical change as the audience’s
attention became focused on the performing artist as an individual creative force
(e.g. Paganini, Liszt). As a consequence, the importance of the audience as a
target for the artist’s powers of emotional persuasion was reduced, and the
110
111
Ibid.
112
Scheibe, Der Critische Musicus, Hamburg, May 14, 1737). Quoted in Harnoncourt (2002) p.
38.
52
performer’s own importance increased as an object for adulation.”113 This

increasing separation of a basic element such as the natural connection between
the artist and his audience rendered rhetoric in music obsolete.
Later, rhetoric was partly resurrected in the early twentieth century in the
form of studies that made public speaking more effective, establishing
“communication studies focused on the historical examination of classical and
humanist models of persuasion and governance.”114 Also “the creation of new
rhetorical theory was subordinated to the pedagogical goal of creating effective
speakers along the lines of fairly classical models represented most fully by
Quintilian’s vir bonus dicendi peritus, ‘the good man speaking well.’”115 The
first half of the twentieth century was a period in which methods for reasoning
and speaking were based in scientific thinking and studies grounded in rhetoric
were regarded as inferior. However, the second half of the last century presented
events such as World War II. This somehow showed that the bloom of
technology and scientific thinking had no influence on social dynamics, which
ended in the insanity of this terrible human tragedy. “Although science had made
major advances…it had failed to provide solutions to persistent human problems
such as aggression, racism, economic exploitation and class polarization.” 116
Benjamin tells us that “the destructiveness of war furnishes proof that society has
not been mature enough to incorporate technology as its organ, that technology
has not been sufficiently developed to cope with the elemental forces of society.”
117
Perhaps human values couldn’t be investigated solely through a scientific
methodology. There was an increasing tendency to admit “that much of the
discourse of science was not formulaic, clinical, and syllogistic but, instead,
113
Tarling (2005) p. 40.
114
Lucaites & Condit & Caudill (1999) p. 7.
115
Quintilian, Institutio I. Pr. 9. “My aim, then, is the education of the perfect orator. The first
essential for such an one is that he should be a good man, and consequently we demand of him
not merely the possession of exceptional gifts of speech, but all the excellences of character as
well.”
116
Herrick (1997) p. 195.
117
Benjamin (1968) p. 242.
53
decidedly strategic, argumentative, and rhetorical.”118 To discuss human values,

new means outside the scientific had to be taken into consideration. Rhetoric was
then acknowledged as having an important role in areas such as mathematics,
cosmology, psychology, and economics.119
Soon after, the effervescence of the sixties changed the approach to rhetoric.
The consequences of the immense developments in technology brought by the
invention of several communication media changed the way in which public
discourse was exercised. Rhetoric started to be understood as a social
phenomenon that “had implications for how we think about the relationships
between theory, criticism and practice.”120 Facilities such as the TV, internet,
radio, cinema, and recordings, influence the manner in which art is produced and
received. There is an enormous amount of choice by which the demanding
consumer of art becomes more and more demanding not solely as a consequence
of the great amount of offer but also because of the expectation that the real live
events will provide an “error-free” experience such as the one printed in, for
example, a CD or DVD. At the same time the casual consumer who has no solid
parameters for quality discernment is immersed in this massive quantity of
information and, sometimes, it is the quantity rather than the quality that actually
becomes the centre of attention.121 Consequently, defining rhetoric today requires
framing it for your purposes since it has acquired a variety of meanings and acts
in a diversity of areas. Apart from the penetrating use of rhetoric in commercial
propaganda, rhetoric has become studied and applied to a diversity of areas such
as politics, sciences, psychology, marketing, architecture, etc. Such a
contemporary understanding emerged as an outcome during the conferences
118
Herrik (1997) p. 196.
119
See Burke, K. – Rhetoric and Ideology (New York, 1993); Harris, R. A. – Landmark Essays on
Rhetoric of Science: Case Studies (New Jersey, 1997); Brummett, B. – Rhetoric in Popular
Culture (California, 2006).
120
Smith (1997) p. 10.
121
An example of that is today’s pastime of collecting as many gigabytes of music as possible
that, with the advent of sound compression systems such as MP3, allows a person to store more
music than he or she can actually listen to in a life time.
54
organized by the National Developmental Project on Rhetoric (NDPR) in 1970 in

the USA. The objective was defined as “to outline and amplify a theory of
rhetoric suitable to twentieth-century concepts and needs.”122 It produced four
specific recommendations that are very relevant for the direction of this research:
1. The technology of the twentieth century has created so many new

channels and techniques of communication, and the problems confronting
contemporary societies are so related to communicative methods and
contents that it is imperative that rhetorical studies be broadened to
explore communicative procedural practices not traditionally covered.
2. Our recognition of the scope of rhetorical theory and practice should be

greatly widened.
3. At the same time, a clarified and expanded concept of reason and

rational decision should be worked out.
4. Rhetorical invention should be restored to a position of centrality in

theory and practice.123
Accordingly, what it was once defined as “the power to observe the

persuasiveness of which any particular matter admits”124 can today be described
as “the energy inherent in emotion and thought, transmitted through a system of
signs, including language [and music], to others to influence their decisions or
actions.”125
3.2 Jazz
The advent of free jazz can be traced back to the 1940s when Bebop developed in
nightclubs in Harlem, New York. The dynamics of Bebop embodied the principle
of body-mind holism. It was a conversational type of music best played in small
122
Lucaites J. L. & Condit C. M. & Caudill (1999) p. 9.
123
124
Aristotle (1991) p. 74.
125
Herrick (1997) p. 5. Quoting George Kennedy’s introduction to Aristotle on Rhetoric: A
Theory of Civic Discourse. (New York, 1991, p. 7)
55
ensembles rather than the usual Big Bands of Swing Jazz. Bebop was freeing the
musicians not only from the specified notes, melodies and expected behaviour of
swing music, but also from the authoritarianism and totalitarianism of the
producers and conductors, and the framework established by the music business
in general. Swing represented corporate liberalism built on a social-economic
arrangement, the culture of abundance and consumption, mass production, and
the idea of the “American way of life”. The music made by the Big Bands was
played by large groups of musicians with the objective of providing pure
entertainment, including dancing. On the contrary, Bebop was meant for listening
and pursued establishing a conversational dynamic in which any innovation in its
structure was aiming to enhance the “conversation.”
The analogy of improvising with a conversational process delineates the

possibility of an approach to jazz through rhetoric.126 Max Roach explains: “After
you initiate a solo, one phrase determines what the next is going to be. From the
first note that you hear, you are responding to what you’ve just played: you just
said this on your instrument, and now that’s a constant. What follows from that?
And the next phrase is a constant. What follows from that? And so on and so
forth. And finally, let’s wrap it so everybody understands that that’s what you are
doing. It’s like language: you’re talking, you’re speaking, you’re responding to
yourself. When I play, it’s like having a conversation with myself.”127 This line
of thought or, better, way of playing improvisation is a position that the free
improviser can adopt. But it must be obvious that in free improvisation today
there are manners of presentation that do not embrace any sort of strategy based
upon Roach’s idea of organization of musical events based on conversation.128
“Through their radical music, bebop musicians reaffirmed the value of free
individual expression. This individual expression still took place within the
126
See the analysis of Coltrane’s composition Alabama in Chapter 5.3, table 1.
127
Berliner (1994) p. 192.
128
An example of that is the use of the aesthetic musical concept of soundscape, which is a non-
conversational way of presenting sounds that follow the changes in the perception of music
observed by Schaeffer’s in his Traité des Objets Musicaux (1966) pp. 222-223.
56
confines of a group, but it was a more responsive group, not one enslaved by the
predetermined plan of an orchestrator, but a group which had the freedom to react
to the individual, moment to moment, as it saw fit. This group did not fear, but
actually encouraged, the new and unorthodox. It was a group with an open mind
and open ears.”129 Each player maintained a spontaneous awareness of voices and
worked to integrate mind and body by exploring the domain of prosody: the
boundary between ideas and feelings where music becomes rhetoric and words
become pure sound. With bebop technical instrumental limitations were also
stretched to the extreme. Trumpets were playing higher, saxophones faster,
double basses developed an unprecedented dexterity and drummers opened an
entirely new world of rhythmic variety.
Later on, during the 1960’s, “free-jazz”, “avant-garde” jazz or “the new
thing” was introduced. The origins of this new jazz are usually considered to be
in the music of John Coltrane, Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Cecil Taylor and Ornette
Coleman. The avant-garde challenged the listener by allowing the musician to
choose his own musical path rather than following the traditional approaches to
which jazz musicians had previously adhered. All aspects of the music were at
the discretion of the improviser. The music often transcended recognizable
pitches and musical shapes, allowing moans, shrieks, and cries to convey the
energy and emotional discourse of the individual musician. This revolution in
jazz was provoked by the musicians’ dissatisfaction with the lack of liberty
brought by the commercial music business. However, this movement was not
always received with enthusiasm. Monson mentions that, “The hostility towards
free jazz expressed by many advocates of jazz neoclassicism – Wynton Marsalis
most visibly – created in the 1980s and 1990s a climate in which expressions of
African-American aesthetic principles that refused to be confined by tonality or
129
Vogel. on-line source: http://www.loyno.edu/history/journal/1991-2/vogel.htm accessed on
13/11/2006.
57
traditional formal structures were regularly demonized as incompetent, not black

enough, or overinfluenced by a European concept of avant-garde.”130
With the creation of the Association for the Advancement of Creative

Musicians (AACM) in Chicago in 1965, many innovative jazz musicians united
in their effort of promoting the realisation of concerts, educational activities as
well as moral support for its members. George Lewis tells us that “the composite
output of AACM members has explored a wide range of methodologies,
processes, and media, developing new and influential ideas about timbre, sonic
identity, collectivity, extended technique, instrumentation, performance practice,
intermedia, the relationship of improvisation to composition, form, scores,
computer music technologies, invented acoustic instruments, installations, and
kinetic sculptures.”131 Anthony Braxton, who like Lewis is a member of the
AACM, has composed and written many works. About his massive three volume
Tri-axium writings he tells us: “I tried to build a thinking system, a system of
thought that does not tell anybody what to think, but rather it gives people
different ways to look at things and then you find your own way. Because I think
philosophy should not tell people what to think as we move to the third
millennium, but it should help people to find their way and let the people find
themselves what they think.”132 Graham Lock says that, “Braxton’s Tri-axium
Writings, a massive philosophical/historical/spiritual discourse on black creative
music and its relation to world culture, seeks to transform our basic
understanding of what creativity is.”133 Braxton’s catalogue of works reveals a
big variety of music compositional materials. He makes use of traditional notes,
simple graphic lines, geometrical figures, colours, symbols, numbers, verbal
instructions, texts that tell a story, choreographed movements, etc. Leo Smith has
130
Monson (2004) pref/xi
131
The AACM and American Experimentalism. George Lewis (2007). On-line source
http://www.nyfa.org/level3.asp?id=549&fid=6&sid=17&print=true Accessed on 30/11/2007.
132
A Conversation with Anthony Braxton. Interview by Volkan Terzioglu and Sabri Erdem
(1995). On-line source http://www.restructures.net/links/BraxtonConversation.htm Accessed on
30/11/2007.
133
Lock (1988) p. 37.
58
proposed a system of symbols in his production of graphical scores. Smith lets us

that his music considers “each performer as a complete unit with each having his
or her own center from which each performs independently of any other, and
with this respect of autonomy the independent center of the improvisation is
continuously changing depending upon the force created by individual centers at
any instance from any of the units. The idea is that each improviser creates as an
element of the whole, only responding to that which he is creating within himself
instead of responding to the total creative energy of the different units. This
attitude frees the sound-rhythm elements in an improvisation from being realized
through dependent re-action. This is the fundamental principle underlining my
music, in that it extends into all the source-areas of music-making.”134 Smith’s
calls his system by Ankhrasmation. Bill Bleutter tells us, “In practice,
Ankhrasmation uses symbols to sketch out a roadmap for improvisation. A
composition including the symbol ‘orange’, for example, would require Smith
and Mori to have thought deeply about how they could musically reference all
aspects of ‘orange’ - not just the color, but the fruit and its myriad characteristics
as well. Then they take those reference points and improvise on them.”135
It seems evident that the preoccupation of the musicians of the AACM goes
beyond the actual playing of music, extending towards the elaboration of
complex concepts of social interactivity, respect for individuality in collaborative
actions, mysticism, philosophy and metaphysics. This line of thought reveals
similarities with the movement of European free improvisation in that both
embrace the idea of expanding instrumental technical aspects and cherish
creating music by exploring the creative potential of the people involved in the
music making.
134
Leo Smith’s webpage: http://music.calarts.edu/~wls/pages/philos.html Accessed on
30/11/2007.
Leo Smith’s webpage: http://music.calarts.edu/~wls/pages/interviews_eng_2.html Jazz notes:
135
Creating music that’s never the same twice by Bill Bleutter, Boston Globe Correspondent, 2005.
59
3.3 Late 20th Century Western European Music
The musical ideas of John Cage influenced the free improvised music movement.
Paul Griffiths thinks that in the midst of a musical culture that didn’t present the
necessary elements for improvisation to develop, composers such as Cage and
Partch “found themselves bound to improvise, and sometimes let their performers
do so too – although Cage consistently resisted this, and preferred to have his
musicians follow exacting rules if not scores.” He continues affirming,
“Improvisation, as a spontaneous expression of intention, was just what he
wanted to avoid.”136 Cage was not very enthusiastic about improvisation itself,
but was interested rather in a compositional method that embraced chance
determination. Johnson thinks that, “Cage began to work indeterminate of its
performance because to have called his work ‘improvisations’ would have
implied that the performers were not guided by goals and rules.”137 Griffiths says,
“Nevertheless, [Cage’s] influence may have contributed to the re-emergence of
improvisation in composed music during the 1960s.”138 Referring to the early
graphical scores, Philip Thomas tells us, “The 1950s and 1960s are the two
decades most generally associated with the proliferation of scores which were
almost immediately assigned the description ‘indeterminate’.”139 Composers
from the “New York School” – John Cage, Morton Feldman, Earle Brown and
Christian Wolff – present a variety of indeterminate compositions where,
according to Thomas, the compositional intention and the performance
possibilities represent two factors that interact and where “the former may inform
136
Griffiths, Paul. Improvisation. Western Art Music. The 20th Century. Grove Music Online ed.
L. Macy. Accessed on 12/07/2007, http://www.grovemusic.com
137
Johnson (1989) pp. 207-208.
138
Griffiths, Paul. Improvisation. Western Art Music. The 20th Century. Grove Music Online ed.
L. Macy. Accessed on 12/07/2007, http://www.grovemusic.com
139
Philip Thomas, Determining the Indeterminate, Contemporary Music Review, Volume 26,
Number 2 (April 2007), p. 129,
<http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=46798D161B86955358C2>
60
the latter.”140 There are, however, other factors that might influence the
performance of indeterminate compositions, which are previous interpretations
that may have already created some sort of tradition or influential model of
performance. Like Cage, Feldman also was concerned about allowing too much
freedom to the performers. He says that, “after several years of writing graph
music I began to discover its most important flaw. I was not only allowing the
sounds to be free – I was also liberating the performer. I had never thought of the
graph as an art of improvisation, but more as a totally abstract sonic
adventure.”141 During the music festival of Darmstadt in 1958, Cage presented
compositions like his Variations and Variations I. Thomas thinks that these
compositions were “the most indeterminate he had ever written.”142 The
indeterminacy and the factor of chance started a discrepancy between John Cage
and the music scene in Europe. In his lectures at Darmstadt in September 1958 he
openly criticised composers such as Boulez and Stockhausen as well as the
European audiences. Cage’s criticism must have exerted some influence inside
the circle of European composers. Cage was himself influenced not only by
music but also by painting and architecture. In the latter the German Bauhaus
movement, founded by Walter Gropius in 1919, “made a deep and lasting
impression on him.”143 Gropius inaugurated an institute with the objective of
experimenting with education and architecture, industrial art and handicrafts.
Bauhaus, he said, wishes to educate a new type of worker…who simultaneously
has the command over techniques as well as form. This line of thinking together
with influences from Duchamp’s “predilection for chance operations
140
141
Quoting Morton Feldman liner notes to Feldman/Brown, Time Records 58007/S8007 (1963).
142
143
Shultis (2002) p. 22.
61
and…refusal to distinguish between ‘life’ and ‘art’…”144 and the unconventional

compositional ideas from Satie, inspired Cage in the elaboration of his
“Composition as Process” and the fundamental composition concern of
indeterminacy. In 1957 Pierre Boulez published in La Nouvelle Revue Française
his article “Aléa”. He presents a deep preoccupation with the matter of chance in
music, deploring approaches he judges as irresponsible. He tells us, “I like to call
this an experiment – if experiment is the right word where an individual, who
feels no responsibility for his work, but out of confessed weakness and confusion
and the desire for temporary relief, simply throws into a puerile mumbo-
jumbo.”145 Boulez then proposes a “guided chance” saying that those constraints
are necessary because in total freedom it is impossible to obtain invention. 146
After Darmstadt 1958 we can find a variety of compositions that offer to the
interpreter more participation in the compositional process. This meant a big step
towards an improvisational behaviour of the interpreter. Pieces like Solo and
Spiral of Stockhausen, Bussoti’s RARA (for solo tenor recorder), Cardew’s
Treatise, for example, present mainly graphical indications in the score giving to
the interpreter a great deal of decision taking in structuring the piece as well as in
choosing the musical material. Stockhausen’s Aus den sieben Tagen (1968)
represented also the new and unique and a composition in which Stockhausen
attempts to find musical answers to such fundamental questions regarding the
conditions of a harmonious interplay of spirit and matter, which correspond to his
serial process thinking and to the maxims of the experimental production of the
sound material by composing temporally ordered pulses (Peters 2003, 226). Aus
den sieben Tagen stimulates in the performers a certain attitude, which should
overcome self-control and provoke creativity.147 Also a composition by
Stockhausen, Solo is a graphical composition based in the interaction between a
144
Shultis (2002) p. 28.
145
Stocktakings from an Apprenticeship (Oxford, 1991) Alea pp. 26 – 38, originally published in
La Nouvelle Revue Française, 59 (1957).
146
Ibid.
147
Kutschke (1999) p. 49.
62
melodic instrument and computer feedback. Solo presents abundant possibilities

for organising the musical material and many indications so that the performers
can elaborate a version of the composition. Other examples of compositions,
which provide a framework for improvisation, are the graphical compositions
made for the e-recorder – Daniel Landau’s COR (Composition Organ Recorder)
and Erik Stalenhoef’s Yidaki – and my own work entitled Modulus II for six
players.148
British composer Cornelius Cardew was Stockhausen's pupil and attended

the concerts and lectures given by John Cage at Darmstadt in 1958. John Tilbury
recalls “The radical content of Cage’s music…made a deep impression on
…Cardew” and continues saying that, “In fact Cardew’s subsequent application
of aleatory was highly idiosyncratic and his admiration for Cage had little to do
with Cage’s compositional techniques; what impressed him was Cage’s rejection
of the commodity fetishism that had invaded musical composition, his liberation
of the performer from the constraints of the oppressive notational complexities,
and the democracy (at least in theory) in Cage’s scores.” 149 Here it becomes clear
that the new aesthetics in music proposed by Cage were firmly based upon
revolutionary socio-political ideas. In the following description of Cardew’s
graphic composition Treatise (1963) we can clearly understand his radical change
of interest in music. “[Treatise is] a continuous weaving and combining of a host
of graphic elements…into a long visual composition, the meaning of which in
term of sounds is not specified in any way…. Any number of musicians is free to
participate in a ‘reading’ of this score…and each one is free to interpret it in his
own way…. I now regard Treatise as a transition between my earlier
preoccupation with problems of music notation and my present concerns –
improvisation and a musical life…15th January 1966.”150 Cardew joined a group
called AMM in 1968. Cardew is of the opinion that “Informal ‘sound’ has a
148
See appendices.
149
Tilbury (1982) p. 8.
150
Ibid. p. 9.
63
power over emotional responses that formal ‘music’ does not, in that it acts
subliminally rather than on a cultural level. This is a possible definition of the
area in which AMM is experimental. We are searching for sounds and for the
responses that attach to them, rather than thinking them up, preparing them and
producing them. The search is conducted in the medium of sound and the
musician himself is at the heart of the experiment.”151 The maturity in the
intersubjective communication process that I witnessed at an AMM concert at the
UEA, Norwich152, in the winter of 2005, in which Prévost and Tilbury played,
was flawless, constantly clear in intentionalities and transparent in direction and
form. The main impression for me was the clarity of this performance. Waters
says that, “Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the experience for me was its
immediate memorability.” And he continues: “…replaying the tape I found
myself anticipating the musical development with an eerie accuracy.”153 If we
look deeper, passing through the layers of the aesthetic of sounds, paying
attention to the gestures and interactivity between Prévost and Tilbury, the care
with which they treat the music material and the respect and common objective
of collective creation become palpable. I believe that this behaviour represents
the depth of ethics that they embrace for creating music together. It is with no
surprise that Cardew in pointing out to the virtues that a musician can develop
specifies “Simplicity, Integrity, Selflessness, Forbearance, Identification with
nature, and Acceptance of Death.”154 These conditions may predispose
collaborators to perform ethically, allowing the establishment of decorum to
settle.155 Yet, Cardew’s Tiger’s Mind presented another form of music
composition. This piece is a text that is divided into two stories, the Daypiece and
the Nightpiece.
151
Cardew (1971) xviii.
152
A CD was issued by Matchless Recordings entitled Norwich (2005).
153
Notes by Simon Waters on the CD Norwich (Matchless Recordings 2005).
154
Cardew (1971) xx.
155
This point will be expanded later under Ethics and Decorum (Chapter 5.5).
64
Daypiece
The tiger fights the mind that loves the circle that traps the tiger. The circle is
perfect and outside time. The wind blows dust in tigers' eyes. Amy reflects,
relaxes with her mind, which puts out buds (emulates the tree). Amy jumps
through the circle and comforts the tiger. The tiger sleeps in the tree. High wind.
Amy climbs the tree, which groans in the wind and succumbs. The tiger burns.
Nightpiece
The tiger burns and sniffs the wind for news. He storms at the circle; if inside to
get out, if outside to get in. Anly sleeps while the tiger hunts. She dreams of the
wind, which then comes and wakes her. The tree trips Amy in the dark and in her
fall she recognizes her mind. The mind, rocked by the wind tittering in the leaves
of the tree, and strangled by the circle, goes on the nod. The circle is trying to
teach its secrets to the tree. The tree laughs at the 11lind and at the tiger fighting
it.156
In this composition Cardew gives directions to the performers on how to engage

in several interactive processes, giving also the possibility of changing the
sequential organization of the events. “Interpretation of this piece is to be viewed
hopefully as a continuous process. Initially the two texts given above should be
regarded as limiting (ie, play the given actions in the given order), the Daypiece
and Nightpiece being used for performance on alternate occasions. All musicians
should memorize the text to be used. Subsequently new actions and situations
may be allowed to arise spontaneously, concurrent or interleaved with the given
ones; also the succession of events may be altered, more or less at randon1 (eg, a
performance of the Daypiece might open with the tiger asleep in the tree, or the
mind loving the circle, or Amy's mind putting out buds, etc). After additional
experience it may be desirable to devise new texts involving the same six
characters-the new texts should then be memorized as before. Finally it may be
156
Sextet The Tiger’s Mind. Cornelius Cardew. The Musical Times, Vol. 108, No. 1492. (Jun.,
1967), pp. 527-530.
65
possible to play without a text, simply improvising actions and situations

involving the six characters.”157 I see this improvisation/composition as one with
an intrinsic pedagogical intent. Cardew explains that, initially, only one of the
pieces, either the Daypiece or the Nightpiece, can be performed independently.
Although he describes quite in detail the role of each character, Cardew mantains
that “the…notes on the six characters are not limiting or definitive. They are
intended primarily to encourage and assist prospective performers in the
assumption of their roles.”158 Cardew’s indications go as far as to agree with the
performers to assume any of the characters at any moment during the
performance without the need of making the other players aware of the change.
He says “each musician may select his own role and allocate the other five roles
without telling the other players.”159 Perhaps Cardew intended to make the piece
as a concept of “work” vanish at a certain stage, leaving the performers to
interact in the musical creative process, using the elements, strategies and
philosophies that they may have collected from Tiger’s Mind.
Jazz, on the other hand, had a big impact in Europe during the 60s. Many
jazz players from the USA emigrated to the old continent because they were
better paid there than in the USA. In Europe they interacted with the avant-garde
improvisers who had been influenced by the contemporary composed music
aesthetics. One of the differences from the European improvisers was that they
concentrated in the exploration of sound, timbre and texture, and the evolution of
novel instrumental techniques. The American movement also influenced
musicians such as Brötzmann, Dauner, Schlippenbach, Breuker, New Music
Ensemble (US), Nuova Consonanza, Musica Elettronica Viva, AMM, Evan
Parker and Derek Bailey.160 Founded in Rome in 1964 by Franco Evangelisti, the
157
1967), pp. 527-530.
158
1967), pp. 527-530.
159
Ibid.
160
Smith and Dean (1997) p.61-62.
66
group Nuova Consonanza, for example, aimed to unite composition and

interpretation in order to change the separate functions of traditional European
musical practice into a simultaneous creative act. This ensemble followed the
example of another group called New Music Ensemble, which was founded in
1963 in California, USA. Evangelisti mentions that, “The ensemble also receives
important stimulus from jazz and from Indian music, both of which – though
each within an entirely different context of aesthetics and tradition – have
developed somewhat similar principles collective, improvised composition.”161
Also, he tells us that there is a consensus reached between the members of the
Nuova Consonanza on the restriction of staying between the “bounds of the
tempered system” as a necessary limitation for achieving “a distinctive
contemporary style within the traditional system.”162 However, when we listen to
the music of Nuova Consonanza’s LP163 we can immediately identify the
constant application and exploration of extended instrumental techniques, seldom
encountering anything that resembles a tempered system. This seems to point out
to the tendency, or even necessity, free improvisers have in exploring for new
sonic possibilities in the open collaborative environment of FIM.
It seems that breaking with the strict rules of Western European

compositional methods was just one of the factors that conditioned FIM to
develop into the important area of musical expression it signifies today. As we
have seen, the other important influence was jazz. There is, however, the
possibility that great impact came as a consequence of the interpreter’s
experience with FIM. I am of the opinion that the significance of this musical
practice must have been brought about by the performer’s enthusiastic
acquaintance with a practice that restored the natural expressive mechanisms of
performing. Because it is unlikely that only the revolt against the constraints
presented by musical composition would have produced the necessary impetus to
161
Evangelisti (1969) p.1.
162
Evangelisti (1969) p.1.
163
Improvisationen. Nuova cosonanza. Avant Garde LP Stereo 137007 (1969).
67
build something so rich and noble. The advantages and limitations involved in
conceiving and structuring the music in this practice has opened a democratic
space in which the performers have the possibility to deal consistently with their
expressive mechanisms and with those of others. FIM has become a significant
contemporary musical practice that I believe has the potential to present models
for transforming our educational system into one that gathers a more real, non-
dogmatic approach of teaching music. FIM shouldn’t be seen as opposite to
musical composition but acknowledged as a practice that involves different
materials and different dynamics in the creation of music. Yet it is necessary to
devise new manners for establishing a discourse, since the available methods
today do not seem to be suitable for addressing FIM.
3.4 Considerations in the use of Technology
“Today...it seems that the machine has become an important

new instrument in the hands of the improvising musician, granting a
great step forward in the evolution of the tradition of improvisation.
“…But they must learn to speak with them. In the ancient
rhetoric, the art of elevated discourse, a series of formalized
principles and rules were taught as a sort of hyper-language
destined to influence the improvised speeches so as to render it
convincing and aesthetically pleasurable, regardless of the argument
in question.”164
Frederick Rzewski
Soon after the introduction of tape as a musical medium, in the decade of the
1950’s, the first experiments and compositions combining both tape and acoustic
instruments began to appear. This was the beginning of live sound processing.
Today, the technological possibilities are, needless to say, enormous. Computer
technology is constantly becoming faster, more powerful and reliable. Yet, these
qualities do not ensure the quality of musical performances that use electronic
devices. Quite the opposite, they offer such broad possibilities that the danger of
164
Frederic Rzewski’s article “Le Poetiche dell’Improvisazione” (The Poetics of Improvisation).
Presented at the Seminario Internationale di Musica Contemporanea in Montepulciano, Italy,
1983. (The translation is mine)
68
losing consistency is present as it probably never was before. Added to the sonic
universe offered by electronics, there are other factors that condition its use for
musical purposes. One crucial issue is the physicality of musical performance
which Richard Barrett, in a lecture at the UEA, referred as “a central aspect of the
way music communicates in live situations."
When Smith mentions that “Computers can be…. tools of improvisation”165

we have to think also that, in reality, computers are not instruments exclusively
dedicated to the creation of art. This means that a computer machine cannot be
regarded as a musical instrument since its role is not solely dedicated to the
making of music. One point that I regard as problematic in the issue of the
physicality of musical performance in the use of electronics in live performances
is the divergence between what we listen and what we see. There is a lack of
connection between the sound and gesture. Barrett, in the same lecture, said that
this deprives audiences of understanding what is going on between the interpreter
and the computer and creates an illusion that once it takes place, we run the risk
that the perception of the music by the audience loses its connection with reality.
The problematic issue of the separation between sound and gesture is further
enhanced by another factor, which is the paradox of having the interpreter in a
sort of private situation while performing. I am of the opinion that, for instance,
the so-called “laptop performer” sitting behind a computer screen with all the
necessary electronic equipment, gives a biased concert performance. In this
situation there is a physical barrier present between the audience and the
performer, leaving the performer inside a setting that resembles more the private
ambience of an office rather than the atmosphere of a concert stage. I am of the
opinion that we shouldn’t compromise in trying to adjust to this situation by
understanding it as a problem that the audience needs to solve by adopting a
different concept of listening, but rather to find manners to restore the vital
connection natural of live performances.
165
Smith, Hazel (1997) p. 249.
69
When we listen to a violin, for example, we perceive a clear connection

between gesture and sound. Computers don’t have this connection because it is
not a necessity as in the case of the violin. Even if we take another example such
as the piano, for instance, the manners in which its mechanics work are not
comparable to playing computers. Although the performer’s actions are somehow
hidden from the public, it is clear for someone watching the pianist in action, that
there is a complete link between the performer’s movements and the sound. And
why is this connection so important? In addition to the visual issue given by the
congruence between gesture and sound there is another crucial factor: that of the
impulse and expression. If we consider one more time Dewey’s aesthetic view of
the necessity of resistance to transform an impulsion166 into an expression, we
could understand that this resistance may manifest itself by meeting and
overcoming the technical difficulties of an instrument. An outward impulse
without resistance would simply be a discharge. Dewey says that “To discharge
is to get rid off, to dismiss; to express is to stay by, to carry forward in
development.”167
If we consider both concepts, (a) the congruence between gesture and sound,
and therefore, (b) the harmony between impulse and expression, applied into
making music with computer technology, it might be possible to move towards
the direction of making it an experience in reality. I would like to think of music
as something that triggers the intellect and the sensorial system at the same time.
To achieve that, the physical and mental dynamics, during the creation process,
have to be balanced. Dewey explains the opposite: “When artistic objects are
separated from both conditions of origin and operation in experience, a wall is
build around them that renders almost opaque their general significance.”168
166
Dewey tells us that impulsions “are the beginnings of complete experience because they
proceed from need.” Dewey (1934) p. 58.
167
Dewey (1934) p. 62.
168
Dewey (1934) p.1.
70
One possible strategy to make electronic music a physical experience is to

think of whether we can make the computer into a musical instrument.
Approaching a solution to this would be at least an initial model of an instrument
that would allow the development of skills and knowledge creating grounds for
the manifestation of resistance. I developed the e-recorder taking those issues into
consideration. Of course, in the case of the e-recorder, the issue of physicality
was already embedded by the fact that the electronic system had to be
incorporated into an acoustic instrument. The matter of the connection with
gesture had then to be applied to where the sensors ought to be built and what
their function would become. I believe that, in the e-recorder, this was carefully
developed. However, in the course of developing its system, I came to regard the
graphical interface as one of the main obstacles in the communication between
the electronic musician and the public.
When I was preparing a presentation with the ensemble Kreepa169 at STEIM

(Amsterdam 2002) I realised that, although I had taken care of making the
electronic controllers of the contrabass recorder organologically coherent, I still
relied on having the computer and all the necessary peripheral gear in front of the
instrument and me. Having a table with the laptop, the mixer, and the effects
processor on top plus all the cables hanging from it, was not only an aesthetic
problem; it induced me to look unnecessarily at the screen for most of the time
during the performance. At STEIM we found the solution for the problem. I
incorporated a small LCD monitor into the recorder in a position that required a
bit of effort to glance at in order to get just the necessary information. Having no
longer that distractive element put me in a better connection with the audience
and, at the same time, feeling the feedback from the public had a significant
change in the music I played. What changed was actually the amount of time
available so that instead of wasting it in paying unnecessary attention to the
graphical interface, it was being used for concentrating better on the reactivity of
169
Kreepa (Hilary Jeffery, John Richards, Paul Dunmall) is an ensemble with which I played
regularly from 2000-2003.
71
creating music and, as a result, improving the communication process. Evan

Parker in an interview in Wire Magazine explains that Tim Hodgkinson
mentioned that the improvisation approach of The Electro-Acoustic Ensemble,
which was searching for clear soundscapes, couldn’t work “because the
relationship between the signals and the musicians is too slow.”170 We may
consider the possibility that the time-consuming relationship between the
musicians and their computers is responsible for the slow interactivity.
Consequently, based on my own experiences, I think that one of the first

steps to take is finding ways to be independent of the graphical interface because
it signifies a barrier of communication and a very distractive element for the
performer. Also, resistance may manifest itself by building some sort of
instrumental interface that requires practice in order to gain control. If we think
about all those problematic elements in rhetorical terms they signify an obstacle
because they collide with the basic principles of eloquence, clarity and decorum
since they represent issues that interfere in the process of communication.
An issue in some live electronic music today is the way in which strategies
are built for the interconnectivity between the interpreters. It must be clear that
the use of live-processing, in the combination of acoustic instruments with live
electronics for example, presents no assurance that musical depth is going to be
achieved. Relying solely on the material interactivity does not bring
automatically musical consistency. Conceptually, the combination of those
ingredients has to be brought to life giving attention to the musical relationships.
The relation between performers goes beyond the question of combining acoustic
instruments with electronics, or using live sampling or pre-recorded material.
Between the performers, profound levels of interactivity have to exist to create a
consistent relationship. In order to achieve that, the preoccupation has to go
beyond superficial details such as processing live an instrument for example.
There is no guarantee of coherence given by the fact that the sounds were derived
live from a single instrument. According to Barrett, “this kind of prosaic
170
Wire Magazine (May 2007), p. 36.
72
relationship doesn’t necessarily lead to anything in terms of the musical structure

that emerges.” More interesting are the deeper levels of the music, rhythm,
gestures, timbral complementarities and so forth. Once the deeper relationships
are active, the superficial relations are not essential any longer or they work just
as ornaments. Barrett also mentioned that when we listen to a Beethoven violin
sonata, for example, we perceive that both instruments, as incommensurable in
some ways as the combination of a violoncello and electronics, are brought
together not by trying to sound like each other but on the level of counterpoint,
harmonic, and structural relationships.
According to Barrett, three categories of electronic instruments may be

defined by their function:
Active Instrument: The performer causes the musical events. Nothing

happens unless the performer does something. This is the closest to an
instrumental gesture-musical function relationship.
Re-active Instrument: The performer is intervening in an ongoing stream of

events rather than producing those events. The range of real time processing is
restricted to transforming sound coming from an instrument or that stream of
events might be built inside the computer program itself. For example DJing,
where a large part of the musical structure is already going on and what the
performer does is intervene with that stream of events.
Passive Instrument: Using the computer to playback sounds having only the
possibility of controlling the levels through the mixing table.
I would suggest that if we, again, think about Dewey’s concept of resistance, the
performer should consider employing all these possibilities in the electronic
instrument in the same order of magnitude of organization and flexibility as a
player of an acoustic instrument.
Today, it seems that FIM performances which use electronics, rather than
concentrating in deep levels of relationships, are recurrently relying in the
superficial ones. How do we engage in these deeper connections? However
dangerous it is to assess subjective behaviourisms it is necessary to say that
73
performers involved in playing FIM have to keep a level of concentration that

allows the perception of the individual inputs as well as the general result. Also,
it may be useful to premeditate what is going to happen and use those
opportunities to establish a better connection with the co-creators by perceiving,
as Barrett mentions, when a bow is going to change or anticipating the taking of
breath of a wind player or a singer. Another strategy that has worked in bringing
those levels of consistent interactions in the laboratories that I have conducted
consists of bringing to the attention of the players the tactic of speculating the
tenor of the intention that provoked the musical inputs. Even if the perception
does somehow differ from that intended, if any, it generates a much deeper
ground of interactivity than the mere reaction to the sonic outer layers.
A very important issue brought by the use of computer technology in music

is the new concept of time. Lyotard in his book The Inhuman presents a dramatic
new perspective about the developments of our society in which he notes that the
acceleration in life processes is deeply influenced by fast technological changes.
Musical instruments for example, have been transformed throughout history into
more complex, efficient and powerful mechanical machines. But, according to
Lyotard, when progress is taken into the development of machinery for producing
sequential brain processes, rather than just motoric repetitions, we enter a very
different world of problems and possibilities. In music for example, the
introduction of live sound processing software and hardware offers vast means
for the creation of music. Technological developments are making the creation of
meta-instruments viable, bringing an apparently unlimited range of sound
possibilities. Besides a large variety of sounds, technology also brings a crucial
factor into music, which is a new conception of time and space. With the use of
technology it is possible to capture events from the past and project them into the
present. I think that it is of great importance to take this factor into consideration
when applying technological means for the performance of FIM. From a
rhetorical perspective, technology brings a new element related to the figure of
memoria, or memory. Besides bringing the possibility of repeating events of the
past exactly and transforming them accordingly, memoria may help structuring
74
our performances by using the concept of loci (places or backgrounds).171 Setting

up those categories might involve bringing together characteristics of a specific
time during the performance and storing them up by making analogies between
the intentional-structural contexts and the figures of rhetoric.172 Memory is a
figure that was absent in music rhetorical treatises of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. It is very thrilling to note that it is for the first time that the
figure of memoria can be directly used in live music performances.173
171
Herrik (1997) p. 104 calls topoi “places” and Harry Caplan, in his translation of Rhetorica ad
Herennium, refers to them as “backgrounds”.
172
For further details on the idea of loci see Chapter 5.3.1.5.
173
See Memory under Figures of Time, Chapter 5.3.1.5.
75
4 Current Limits of the Discourse on FIM
Usually critics of presentations of FIM describe the performance in separate

parts, focusing on (a) specific sound effects and descriptions of materials –
sometimes embedded in a discussion about structural issues and their relation
with concepts of what is considered improvisation and what can be more related
to musical composition, or (b) enter a metaphorical description related mostly to
an overall sense of the music. As an example of (a) here is a description of a
performance by trumpet player Peter Evans: “he sculpted microtonal lines into a
smashed-up continuum where breathy wheezing, percussive bumps, high pitched
shrieking and cavernous low notes …”174 In this account there are some hints
about the character of the music but it basically remains a description of the
sound materials used during performance without any further discussion on how
these sounds were presented or organized. John Bowers tells us about his
collaboration with sax player Graham Halliwell: “Sometimes I am using long
splices from the buffer to hint at an ‘orchestra of saxophones’. Othertimes, I am
able to use extreme settings to generate highly electronic material...I do not have
to wait for him to give me some material to go on. I can create both sustained
textural and highly punctuate events, rhythmic and arrhythmic productions.”175
Bowers also amuses us with the description of a particular accident in a
presentation, where unexpected sounds he took as musical material were coming
from a table. I am of the idea that the accidental factor in music, as in driving a
car or preparing a meal, results from an unplanned deviation from the activity and
we should be careful not to jump into considering it a factor upon which we
could legitimise the musical practice. However, we could also think of the
“unplanned” as something that needs to be dealt accordingly in order to
incorporate it to the performance, because otherwise the unintentional might
174
Clark, Philip. Letting off steam. Wire Magazine 275 (Jan 2007) p. 12.
175
Bowers, John (2002) Chapter 3, Music as Design Documentation.
76
compromise the balance of the presentation. Bowers also affirms that “it is
improvisation as a practically organised form of music making that is the subject
of his current work.” 176 Indeed he explains thoroughly the strategies taken for
various performances, giving details on the instrumental technical aspects and on
some of the interactivity present in the presentation. He even claims at one point
that he knew which sound he would start with.177 Although I have to recognise
the validity of engaging in this kind of improvisation, as there are many others,
the angle taken by my investigation focuses in a musical practice in which there
is no agreement on which kind of material is going to be used prior to the
performance. Another example of the description of materials comes from a
review that says: “A typical performance may include … disparate elements as
… projecting messages such as ‘Erase memory, scratch disk full’…and sending
out electrical and mechanical drones.” The critic continues saying that “the
climaxes of their performances are more often than not unpredictable affairs,
which is understandable given the improvisational nature of their work.”178 The
immediate question that comes to mind is: why is it understandable? It seems a
recurrent case that very often critics fit into what they hear by finding it
comfortable to say that some aspects are “understandable” solely because of the
improvisatory nature of the practice, not daring to come closer to concepts such
as why it was good or bad or why it was effective or ineffective. The reluctance
of acknowledging that one performance of free improvised music can be better
than the other or that someone could improvise better than someone else, either
indicates the adoption of an “unnatural” ethics, one that assumes all expressions
have equal qualities, or the absence of a model to approach it in a critical manner.
Sometimes I even have the impression that criticism is not easily accepted in
general, probably because of the idea of “original inviolability” of the individual
expression in a “free” art form. But this by no means exempts this kind of music
and the performers from having different qualities and expertise. Edwin Prévost
176
Bowers, John (2002) Chapter 1, Improvising.
177
Bowers, John (2002) Chapter 1, Improvising. Enacting Three Swooshes: Siena.
178
Wire Magazine 268 (Jun 2006). Global Ear by Sophia Ignatidou. p. 16.
77
tells us that, “Some might argue that the kind of music discussed here has been
played since prehistoric time, and needs no explanation. Indeed, I have some
sympathy with the view that its innocence is perhaps its best protection. But of
course just because we perceive a music as ‘informal’ does not mean that it has
no underlying structure to distinguish it from other ways of making music.”179
Because of the lack of discourse on FIM some musicians have declared being
unsure of improvisation. In the liner notes of the CD Episteme Anthony Davis
writes: “I have turned more and more toward precise musical notation to insure
that the improviser is consciously and physically tuned in to the overall structure
of a piece. On first glance this approach would seem to inhibit the improviser.
This is a valid criticism, but I believe that this inhibition is now a real necessity
when one perceives that ‘free’ or ‘open’ improvisation has become a cliché, a
musical dead end.”
Another angle of discourse seems to focus on improvisation as opposite to

composition. In his column Improv, Dan Warburton explains: “much of the
Improv released in 2006 confirmed that there is indeed a distinction to be made
between rough and ready ‘improvisation’ and polished ‘improvised music’ (or, if
you prefer, ‘instant composition’) which itself can de subdivided into discrete
stylistic subgenres …”180 Although this is a step forward into acknowledging the
existence of diverse qualities in improvisation, Warburton somehow links those
“polished improvised musics” to something closer to composition rather than to a
“true free” improvisation. At this point, it might be relevant to mention Franco
Evangelisti’s description of one of the first groups dedicated to improvisation,
Nuova Consonanza. He wrote: “The ensemble also receives important stimulus
from jazz and from Indian music, both of which…have developed somewhat
similar principles of collective, improvised composition.”181 It is interesting to
read that whilst the aim of the Nuova Consonanza was described by Evangelisti
179
Prévost (1995) p. 2.
180
Dan Warburton, Improv. Wire Magazine 275 (Jan 2007) p. 44.
181
Evangelisti (1969). (The italics are mine)
78
as one directed “to unite composition and interpretation”, he presented the Nuova
Consonanza as an improvisation group.
There is also criticism that considers the characteristics of group

interactivity. However, the tenor of the discussion is seldom composed by a
general outline where there is a tacit emphasis on the description of action rather
than the intention. Describing a recording by Evan Parker’s Electro-Acoustic
Ensemble named “Turbulent Mirror”, Borgo says, “[E]ach individual tends to
play less than he might otherwise, allowing space for comment and
transformation.”182 Also, Warburton in his comments about the CD After All,
featuring Uwe Orberg in the piano, Georg Wolf in the bass, drummer Jörg
Fischer and clarinettist Frank Gratkowski, tells us that in the track “Loose All”
“Oberg, Wolf and Fischer tease and fold lines and shapes gently around each
other with grace and space to spare.”183
When critics adventure into using metaphors, things become more

complicated to grasp. An example of (b) is this review of a CD entitled Zafiro by
Evan Parker/Barry Guy/ Paul Lytton. It says: “music, raw, sophisticated, loud
and quiet, often in solo or duo configuration, which nonetheless condenses in the
mind into a crystalline form that is as hard and conductive as any sapphire. …
For all that they play individually it is hard to hear the whole thing as by anything
other than a ‘unit’, if that overworked word still means anything.”184 First, we
could pose the question: How can somebody share the reviewer’s perception by
trying to adopt this so-called hard sapphire-like crystalline condensation in the
mind? I am of the idea that a review ought to be more focused in the informative
aspects based in experience and not in a metaphorical “trip”. Second, in the same
review, we could also ask: What does the ‘unit’ in the group represent? For it
must be clear that unit does not mean anything if the constituent elements of this
perception are not properly presented. I would rather say that Zafiro reveals a
182
Borgo (2005) p. 106.
183
Soundcheck. Wire Magazine 286 (Dec 2007) p. 61.
184
Brian Molton, Jazz & Improv. Wire Magazine 275 (Jan 2007) p. 75.
79
conversational process between Evan Parker, Paul Lytton and Barry Guy in
which one of the main characteristics is the alertness of the performers and their
acute awareness of each other musical materials. They create music which is
initially fast and powerful where sharp interactive moments interweave,
delivering a vibrant execution of musical spontaneity. The performance is
divided mostly into duos and solos. The solo presentations do not only display
the complexity of instruments, which have been stretched to the borders of
extended techniques, but also display a sense of comfort in delivering well
defined musical ideas. One of the most rewarding musical experiences listening
to Zafiro comes from those moments that unite Parker, Lytton and Guy,
delivering three different musical ideas, giving a reach counterpointistic texture,
and, at the same time, having them play short musical interventions based on
someone else’s musical material.
All the kind of inconsistencies I have presented in the discussion of FIM

seem to point to a need for rethinking the ways we adopt to talk about it. There
might be a difficulty in extracting the elements that compose the aesthetics of
FIM, which is why it is natural that among the several approaches for reviewing
its performances, there are some that adopt a metaphorical and even some sort of
eccentric approach for the discussion. I have seldom witnessed comments that
present a clear general view of a presentation of FIM. Since it must be obvious
that the aesthetic of the music and the interactive dynamics are connected, we
ought to find words that can assess deeper levels on both angles simultaneously.
Edwin Prévost, for instance, directs his book entitled No Sound is Innocent to
“develop ideas about music life and experience”185 giving an assessment based
on a socio-cultural analysis, a personal description of experiences as an
improviser wrapped in AMM’s historical context. In his second book, Minute
Particulars, Prévost claims that it “is a more deliberate attempt to be
analytical.”186 This book also focuses on the analysis of music as a social activity,
185
Prévost (2004) p.1.
186
Ibid.
80
taking into account the process of communication and the transmission of

information rather than the qualities of communication.
Christian Munthe seems to concentrate in his concerns about the lack of

aesthetic acceptation of free improvised music when he closes his article “What
is Free-Improvisation?”187 manifesting a “wishful thinking” that the listener
“would adopt the viewpoint of the improviser” rather than to stick with “aesthetic
ideals and convictions.” Munthe also claims that music experimentation is by no
means a necessity in the practice of free-improvisation and that “Free improvised
music is experimental or innovative only in as much as it is made by persons
whose ambitions are to innovate or experiment.” He also claims, “this way of
looking at innovation, traditions, idioms and rules, I believe to be the key to free
improvised music.” Although Munthe’s speciality is “applied ethics”, it strikes
me that no word makes reference to the collaborative aspect of improvised music
performance and to the dynamics of communication with audiences. His article
rather enters, on one side, into solipsism, acknowledging a particular concept as a
“key” to this practice, and, on the other, manifesting a preoccupation with the
public’s acceptance, which in my view doesn’t help in moving towards an answer
to the question posed in the title of the article; “What is Free-Improvisation?”
If we consider the possibility of talking about FIM investigating its intrinsic

dynamics and analysing its aesthetic results through an observation of the
collective creation, it should be possible to develop guidelines for introducing the
inexperienced to this practice; in other words, teaching FIM. Crossan and
Sorrenti say that “improvisation has received minimal attention from
management theorists and practitioners. In part, this is due to the assumption that
there is no skill or quality to improvisation or at least none that can be taught.”188
They continue explaining, “[In our research] we include intuiting as one of the
187
Article from the European Free Improvisation Pages. On-line source.
http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/. Originally written in Swedish, this text was first published as
"Vad är fri improvisation?" in the Swedish magazine for contemporary art-music, Nutida Musik,
no. 2, 1992, pp. 12-15.
188
Kamoche, K., Pina e Cunha, M., Cunha, J. V. (2002). Making sense of improvisation by Mary
Crossan and Mark Sorrenti. P. 29.
81
four ‘I’s’ of organizational learning, with the other three being interpreting,
integrating and institutionalizing.”189 Charles C. Ford observes that “Teaching
free collective improvisation at Thames Valley University has, similarly,
reminded me more of my experience of drama therapy than of any musical
rehearsal or performance. I reduce my role from teacher to coordinator…. The
only thing I teach…is respect for music for its own sake, linking this respect to
the paramount importance of listening 'as if your life depends on it'.”190 Ford,
however, enters immediately into a paradox when he manifests that “At the
beginning of each session I organise warming-up exercises…Tuning is probably
the best way to open up the sensitivity of the group to its own sound – to listen to
itself. We have held onto sung and played single notes for over five minutes,
listening to the beats that result from slight mis-tunings gradually slow down as
the whole group enters absolute unison. He also says, “I have used Stockhausen's
Stimmung to show students how to extend tuning beyond its customary sense, by
applying it to the unification of vocal timbre. 'Tuning' can also be understood
temporally, as the sharing of a single pulse. Establishing a fast clapped pulse is
easy, but slow it up to less than one per second, and the exercise becomes
fascinatingly difficult. The third exercise I use is like a musical Chinese whispers
game in which students pass a melodic cell around the group, each trying to
reproduce the last version precisely.”191 I am of the opinion that if the role of the
teacher is restricted to that of a coordinator, teaching free collective
improvisation should not impose specific materials or exercises, because it exerts
great influence in the natural development of individual expression, suppressing
the manifestation and development of natural subjective talents while setting
some sort of standardisation. My idea of a restricted coordinative role for a
student FIM ensemble is one that encourages a self-affirmation of the ‘style’ of
the ensemble. Especially at the very beginning of a learning process, I think that
189
Kamoche, K., Pina e Cunha, M., Cunha, J. V. (2002). ). Making sense of improvisation by
Mary Crossan and Mark Sorrenti. P. 32.
190
Ford (1995)
191
Ibid.
82
the application of pre-formulated exercises should be avoided in order to let the

group’s directions gradually set course by itself. Allowing the collective to raise
questions might enhance the activity of collective creation of music. In this way
the collective discusses the “problems” that rise from the group, and the
proposals for an eventual “solution” are agreed cooperatively.
4.1 Concluding Observations
We have learned about a variety of issues that have conditioned the rise and
shaped the characteristics of FIM. It seems however that this practice is in its
early stages of development due to the lack of modes of discussion and criticism
that could embrace all relevant aspects involved in this way of making music.
Criticism seems to avoid adventuring into details by limiting itself to the
communication of ideas with regard to the material used and some individual
strategies. However, generally those remarks make neither a connection with how
they came to make part of the music nor explain how they might be transformed
as the interactive process between the members of the ensemble influences them.
I have pointed out to some modes of discourse in FIM that take polarised angles
and to the need of developing a mode of discussion that allows us to understand
this practice in a holistic manner. I have also presented the hypothesis that
rhetoric is an area with potential for developing means for addressing FIM in a
manner that accounts its different parts simultaneously.
In this first part we have also encountered several views on observing,

practicing and teaching FIM. Since one of the original features of FIM is related
to how materials are brought into a performance through their history of
invention, negotiation, acceptance or dismissal, settlement and change, etc, it is
important to find ways to find a method of inquiry that could give us a manner of
putting those dynamics into words and consequently testing this information
pedagogically.
Furthermore, I have explained how some regard FIM as unsuitable to

audiences or defend encouraging the production of aesthetics which could
possibly be more “listener-friendly” or aimed for acceptance. Also, I have
83
presented some pedagogical lines which I regard as restricting, e.g. approaching

it in a “pupil-friendly” way. This approach is one in which the role of the teacher
remains as in traditional methods, one of imposing specific directions which, as I
have discussed, interrupt the natural evolution of the group’s “personality”. I
have set out to develop a theory that deals with those issues and, although its
form is still in the early developments, it will hopefully retain individual
spontaneous decision taking and, at the same time, encourage the expansion of
dialogue, discussion and the sharing of common initiatives for creating music
collectively.
84
PART II – METHODOLOGY
5 Framework for the Analysis and Operational Study of Rhetoric Applied to

FIM
In order to be able to analyse the characteristics and dynamics of rhetoric in FIM,

both in theory and practice, we might need an abstract-conceptual as well as an
operational framework, allowing us in this study to decompose the concepts of
rhetoric and FIM sufficiently to understand, examine and, where needed, even
“measure” them in actual reality. In this task we can, as in previous chapters,
utilize concepts, typologies and operational categories drawn from old as well as
contemporary literature. These tools for research, including a whole range of
operational figures, will be presented in this Part II. I would argue that these are
useful for their own sake and hence by themselves entail a contribution to this
study. Yet they will also help to establish the necessary basis for Part III in which
I present and analyse a series of practical projects – both individual experiences
and group laboratories – which test this operational framework in practice, and
try to identify pedagogical issues related to teaching the use of rhetoric in FIM.
The aim of this study is to explore the potential of rhetoric for structuring
and analysing form and intentionality in FIM. Form is understood as the
structural organization of musical manifestations into sequences that show
different levels of intensity, the inherent transitions between them, and the
eventual “black holes”.192 Intentionalities refer to the discharge of impulses193
192
I use the term “black hole” to designate those moments in free improvisation where the
performer loses the balance required to perform convincingly. Those moments give you the
sensation that you are being sucked out of energy, that all your creative power is pouring out as a
water out of a bucket full of holes. Tord Gustavsen in an essay (Oslo, 1999, 10) mentions that
“musicians often get stuck in a dilemma between the urge for expressing something and the
necessity of evaluating the music and its effect… and there is a paralyzing alienation between the
musician as an operator and the music as accessible sound for potential listeners.”
193
Dewey calls the first instinctive mechanism of moving outward and forward as impulsion. In
order to transform it into thoughtful action, Dewey says, impulsion has to meet many things on
its outbound course that offer resistance. “In the process of converting these obstacles…into
85
through sound, which might provoke a musical experience in the listeners. Three
aspects of the experience are taken into account: (a) creation, (b) delivery, and (c)
reception. Creation is the invention. Delivery is the manner in which the
invention is organized and it is divided into (a) structural and (b) intentional. In
the receptive angle, two different influential levels are met: (a) the players and (b)
the public’s feedback. Both levels work in diverse ways but belong to one
intersubjective action-reaction process which helps, even if at times
speculatively, in defining the intentionality of the invention. Performers in
general have a way of knowing, or rather feeling, the intensity of the reception by
the listeners. This perception may happen through perceiving the reception of the
listeners by observing their involuntary movements. Not having the feeling that a
balanced positive receptive dynamic has settled down might lead the improviser
to consider changing the course of action. This factor points to the possibility that
the receptive factor in FIM can also be a determinant in the direction the music
takes during a performance. Therefore, the audience can potentially influence the
path that the music follows. Those who are listening to the music produce
involuntary body movements that could be a reflex to impulses that comes as a
reaction to different states and degrees of reception. The point in this matter is
based on the idea that music manifestations allow us the observed individuals to
verify the internal manifestations of the observer and create an intersubjective
connection in order to enhance the power of communication. This approach is
based on Damasio’s following assumptions: that the processes of the mind are
based on brain activity; that the brain is part of a whole organism with which it
interacts continuously, and that we, as human beings, in spite of remarkable
individual traits that make each of us unique, share similar biological
characteristics in terms of structure, organization, and function of our
organisms.194 From the angle of oratory, Perelman and Olbrechts-Tylteca call the
favoring agencies, the live creature becomes aware of the intent implicit in its impulsion.” Dewey
(1934) p. 59.
194
Damasio(1999) p. 85.
86
changes made by the rhetor to tailor the presentation according to a particular

audience audience adaptation.195
As set out in Chapter 2, this study focuses on the understanding of “free”, in

the context of free-improvisation, as one deriving from its meaning as a verb
rather than as an adjective. In other words, linking the freedom to the person
improvising rather than to the music itself. In this way, as described in Chapter
1.3, rhetoric can focus on FIM from a social angle, independent of language,
standardised style or meaning. Given this, rhetoric is used in this investigation as
a discipline to examine the interchange of energies intrinsic in emotion and
thought in the practice of FIM. Since rhetoric seems to be suitable for
establishing a discourse in the creation, reflection, discussion and analysis of the
music produced by free improvisation, this research extends into exploring its
potential use into pedagogy. In order to frame rhetoric for those purposes it is
useful to change the question of what rhetoric is into one of what rhetoric can be.
In this way we have the opportunity to focus on it as a social human activity
where “to be rhetorical [is] a central and substantial dimension of many facets of
the human social experience.”196 Between those experiences lies music making.
The rhetorical treatises of the baroque consider the adoption of structural and
interpretative strategies for delivering a diversity of affections. This concept
seems to indicate to the possibility of communicating a considerable range of
feelings through music. Kivy says that, “It will be desirable to know just what
emotions music can possess as perceptual qualities and, if possible, why just
those and not others. For it ought to be obvious that music alone cannot possess
just any emotive quality at all.”197 What Kivy implies is that emotions manifest in
the creator and in the receptor but not in the music itself. It might be right then to
say that rhetoric represents a good model for establishing a discourse since it
takes into the analysis the dynamics of subjective expression following empirical
195
Perelman and Olbrechts-Tylteca (1970) p. 23-24.
196
197
Kivy (1991) p. 35.
87
methodology that allows reflecting on the intentional aspects in communication

processes
Yet, music seems to deal with the presentation of other kinds of aesthetic
expressiveness outside the direct communication of affections through music. An
example of that is the attempt to examine the idea inherent in a recurrent trope
introduced by electronic music; soundscape.198 Soundscape presents the concept
of creating a musical image, independent of provoking any specific affection. It
can be represented by the musical-rhetorical figure of hypotyposis.199 “Both
music and rhetoric use this figure to reflect an image rather than to express an
affection.”200 Furthermore, the analysis of such image can also become more
substantial by acknowledging the difference between hypotyposis and homoiosis.
Bartel tells us “While hypotyposis is an image of an idea, homoiosis recreates the
idea itself.”201 Now, outside perspectives of the communication of intentionalities
and images, rhetoric could also refer to figures of strategical importance such as,
for instance, the figure of time called memoria (memory). Memoria doesn’t
appear as a musical-rhetorical figure in early music since it was already
represented by technical formal elements in musical composition in the form of
repetitions, fugue, recapitulations and variations. As a consequence, for this
investigation, it was necessary to bring a concept of memory from ancient
oratory. In FIM, the figure of memory captures the same importance as in oratory
given that both practices have strong improvisatory characteristics.202 Memory
implies not only the need to be capable of remembering what your input was at
different stages during performance, but knowing with detailed accuracy how it
was presented so that a reformulation becomes a resulting reaction to what
happened before. “The Ad Herennium author calls memory the ‘treasury of things
198
A sound portrait or a sound environment.
199
For this particular case, soundscape, refer to Hypotyposis. Chapter 5.3.1.3.
200
Bartel (1997) p. 308.
201
Ibid. p. 308-309.
202
Quintilian, Institutio X. vii. 30. “…to prepare by careful premeditation and to trust to
improvisation in emergency, a practice regularly adopted by Cicero…”
88
invented,’ thus linking memory with the first canon of rhetoric, the invention.
This alludes to the practice of storing up commonplaces or other material arrived
at through the topics of invention for use as called for in a given occasion.”203
Furthermore, wrapping the musical-rhetorical figures, the representation of
images, and the strategic elements, we have ethics. Ethics is an intrinsic part of
the decorum, which is the element that allows collaborative dynamics to work.
As it will be explained in Chapter 5.5, ethics represents an area of thought and
behaviour that signifies a vital catalyst to the interactive social-collective-creative
environment of FIM. Therefore, ethics – a fundamental element in rhetorical
theory – becomes influential in defining the sequential organization of musical
thought, manifesting itself as an important force in the characterization of FIM’s
style. If we see this issue from the angle of social relations it is possible to
understand how implicit the value of human communication is in sharing the
creation and development of the music.
5.1 The Bond between Developing and Learning
In the process of playing FIM the performer is concerned with issues that involve
developing the performance. Given that FIM lacks any sort of prescriptive
material, it is perhaps right to say that the development of a performance is
closely related to a learning process. In this matter we ought to think of the
accumulation of knowledge through practice, which – although it probably
happens in everything we do – in FIM has the peculiarity of having the
limitations brought by a lack of discourse. How to exchange ideas for developing
a performance without language? For it must be clear that the commonly used
discourse of social and psychological behaviour is not instrumental or useful in
rehearsal or development of this kind of music. For this investigation I wanted to
work with musicians who were not acquainted with FIM. For that reason I had to
develop a general theory for better understanding the components and dynamics
of FIM and use it to develop guidelines for discovering methods for a preparatory
training. Teaching FIM might be described as a paradox due to the idea of
203
Silva Rhetoricae, on-line source.
89
subjecting the pupil to directions aimed towards making his/her playing “free”.
However, the pedagogical angle taken by this investigation has been shaped so as
to allow for the individual expression to retain its freedom. We might enter here
into another paradox because it must be obvious that such a pedagogical
approach will most definitely exert some influence in some way or another. Then
again, we are at all times being influenced by the environment in which we live,
and I believe that the line taken by this study rather than trying to impose any
specifics, limits itself to suggest strategies for self awareness in the creative
social environment of FIM, which I hope would retain the improviser’s own will.
I am of the idea that when we engage in setting lines for teaching FIM the
approach has to take care of leaving the spontaneous creation of the participants
undeterred, and I believe that for doing that the most appropriate discipline is
rhetoric. Following the principle of expanding the field of materials and
expression, which I have defended earlier as one that I think is natural in this
practice,204 I see the role of the “teacher” as one that concentrates solely on
encouraging, first, the isolation of known instrumental technicalities and, second,
to search for various depths in the interaction with others. The hypotheses is that
by trying to isolate the previous learned instrumental technicalities, the
interpreter can concentrate better in dealing with the “unknown” side of his/her
instrument, gaining a much faster acquaintance and control of the new elements. I
think that having the “standard” technique present at an early stage represents a
distractive component, because it might be taken as a sort of escape from the
harshness of playing just with the unknown new instrumental elements. It can
also lead to some frustration because I believe that the effort of expressing
ourselves through FIM with conventional instrumental technique could be
compared to trying to speak a new invented language with known words of our
daily idiom. By directing students to isolate any similarity with traditional
techniques, and concentrating solely on the organization of musical thoughts with
204
Evangelisti’s paradox of claiming that the Nuova Consonanza ensemble had agreed on playing
inside the “tempered system” and showing a predominant use of extended instrumental
techniques in the result, seems to point that the use of sound exploration comes as a natural
behaviour in FIM. Evangelisti (1969).
90
the collective, using primarily the sounds produced by the exploration of new
sonic instrumental possibilities, all the elements become homogeneous in their
novelty. It is like learning a new language in which the vocabulary, phonetics and
grammar are equally alien.
Borgo writes “George [Lewis] mentioned that he often begins the class [of
improvisation] in much the same way they used to teach swimming – throw them
in the deep end and work with what naturally happens.”205 Lewis also tells us
that, “My evaluation procedure with regard to the improvisation exercises
attempted to frame “quality”, not only with regard to the more intangible factor
of whether or not I found the audible results to be interesting, but as to the
thoroughness of the engagement with the assignment itself.”206 Borgo, who
teaches improvisation at UCSD (University of California San Diego), also tells us
that, “Western educational systems have traditionally relied on a strong
distinction between knowing and doing, tending to value the former over the
latter.” He is also of the opinion that “knowing is a process co-constituted by the
knower, the environment in which the knowing occurs, and the activity in which
the learner is participating.” In conclusion, he points out that, “Learning, from
this perspective, is not so much a matter of what one knows, but who one
becomes. And education becomes less about the transmission of abstract
knowledge and more about helping students to participate in a community of
practice.”207 Teaching improvisation often raises questions amongst students with
regard to the possibility of practicing it, to the existence of a “wrong” or “right”
way of playing it, and to deep emotional considerations such as the humbleness
of the experience and how it helps you to learn about yourself. I believe that
knowing, although it may be divorced from the dynamics of passing knowledge
in a traditional way of teaching, becomes very important in FIM in the sense that
the improviser needs to know himself in order to contribute with the collaborative
205
Borgo (2005) p. 9.
206
Zorn (2000) p. 102.
207
Borgo (2005) p. 170.
91
dynamics of this practice. This self-awareness maybe also become more

“mature” through the dedication and effort made in the pursuit of knowledge –
practical and theoretical – which in turn better equips the individual for engaging
in FIM.
Also on the West Coast of the USA, Susan Allen’s approach to teaching FIM
is based on encouraging the development of the students’ self-awareness as
individuals in a collective activity. She says that free improvising “requires that
each and every member of the group use everything that they have ever
learned”208 pointing out to the idea of expanding sonic and behavioural
possibilities. Allen also is of the opinion that participants “must listen intently,
they must analyze what they are hearing, they must listen to the whole and to the
individual, they must be aware of dynamics, timbres, rhythms, intervals, and
harmonies - all simultaneously”209 and that the teacher “must encourage the
development of each individual voice within that ensemble, and subsequently
proceed to facilitate the group process.”210 She sets out many strategies for the
development of a consistent interactivity in large ensembles by first making the
student aware of possible directions he/she might take in order to build awareness
of their already existent musical knowledge, encouraging for exploring new
extended instrumental techniques addressing “blockages” as moments to be
confronted rather than feared. Allen’s system is one that encourages the
development of an expanded instrumental technique and at the same time
acknowledges the necessity of training group interactivity by the realisation of
many exercises in order to achieve her idea of “socializing” their music making.
According to Allen, “Students who have participated in the ensemble find that
the experience enhances and informs everything they do – in the other music they
208
International Consortium for the Advancement of Academic Publication website. Susan Allen:
Teaching Large Ensemble Improvisation.
http://radicalpedagogy.icaap.org/content/issue4_1/01_Allen.html accessed on 28/08/2007.
209
Ibid.
210
Ibid.
92
play, in relationship, in life.”211 Susan Allen’s group improvisation projects begin

by valuing the individual and at the same time inducing the sharing of that
individuality. She tells us that, “The first time we meet, I ask the students to
introduce themselves and tell a bit about whatever they wish to the ensemble –
this is their first improvisation.”212
5.2 Revisiting Rhetorical Figures
For this study I have revised the ancient music rhetorical theory in order to
present a compilation of musical-rhetorical figures. Since the objective of being
thorough in reformulating all rhetorical devices from the past is too big a task for
the present study, this selection was elaborated with the objective of carry out
experiences with the groups I have conducted, and for establishing grounds for
using rhetoric for assessing FIM performances. Before attempting to suggest a
conception for the use of musical-rhetorical figures in FIM, I have considered
many descriptions of those figures by a variety of authors. First, the 17th and
18th century’s musical-rhetorical figures present a diversity of descriptions and,
sometimes, there are contradictions among the original sources. This represents,
in my view, the inherent flexibility of rhetoric in which freedom of interpretation
is something that should be cherished, so as to improve the chances of balancing
with the innate flexibility of improvised arts. As a consequence, the concepts
formulated in this study rather than being defined with a fixed meaning should be
regarded as an association that might be subjected to interpretation, to discussion,
and perhaps to further development. For each of the figures here presented, a
concluding concept, one that will be applied in the analysis of the practical
laboratories, is described and set in a table for easy access. Also, since the art of
oratory presents dynamics closer to free improvisation than the music
compositional methods from the past, some of the analogies suggested by this
211
International Consortium for the Advancement of Academic Publication website. Susan Allen:
Teaching Large Ensemble Improvisation.
http://radicalpedagogy.icaap.org/content/issue4_1/01_Allen.html accessed on 28/08/2007.
212
Ibid.
93
investigation were derived from ancient Greco-Roman rhetorical theories – as in

the example of memoria and issues such as kairos.213
Through the chapters in part III, the practical experiences of this

investigation are presented. First, my experiences playing the e-recorder are
analysed. Three different recordings from three different periods have been
examined. First, I study a recording made at the Meta-Orchestra project at the
Summer School in Dartington. This represents my early steps into the practice of
FIM. Second, a trio recorded at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, is
presented. Last, a solo e-recorder performance is examined, which was recorded
at the Sonorities Festival in Belfast. In view of the fact that those three recordings
were made in the years 2000, 2002 and 2005 respectively, I have tried to point to
the differences that might have been brought by the accumulation of experience.
Second, a recording made at the University of California San Diego with David
Borgo and the ensemble “pfr” is analysed. This performance is particular because
I have used an acoustic tenor recorder and also because I had never played,
rehearsed or even met the performers of this group prior to this recording. Third,
the preparation of a guided improvisation with students from the Institute of
Sonology and from the classical department of the Royal Conservatory, The
Hague, is presented. Fourth, five projects that I conducted at the University of
São Paulo (USP), Brazil; the University of Nevada (UNLV), USA; the Mexican
Centre for Music and Sonic Arts (CMMAs), Mexico; and University of Santa
Barbara (UCSB), USA, are evaluated. The analysis of the laboratories will focus
on identifying observed patterns of responses and the factors that shape them. For
instance, to what extent the guidance I provided affected the manner in which
they improvise. To illustrate that, I have made recordings before, during and after
the introduction of the guidelines and compared them to find patterns of
responses. I have also profited from the inexperience of those involved in those
projects to point to some “problems” that free improvised performances may
exhibit.
213
See Figures of Time, Chapter 5.3.1.5.
94
Given that one of the main characteristics of FIM is its collaborative

dynamics, I will examine musical examples drawn from the recordings I have
made of the experimental projects, this in order to investigate the hypothesis that
ethics is very important in determining the sequential organization of musical
events. The participants in the laboratories I have conducted at the educational
institutions in Brazil, Mexico and the USA, were between 18 and 25 years of age.
There was however one exception at the project at UCSB, where one of the
participants was over 40 years of age. Apart from two laboratories (Royal
Conservatory and one group at the UCSD) all participants had little or no
experience in FIM. The great majority were undergraduate male music students.
The dexterity level of the participants was from medium to high, with the
exception of the project at the CMMAs in Morelia, Mexico, where some
participants were dancers playing objects and even a non-instrumentalist playing
percussion was present. All projects mixed jazz performers with classical
interpreters apart from the one at UNLV, which was constituted only by
interpreters of classical music. Curiously, the great majority of instruments in all
projects were wind instruments followed by percussion and pianos, guitars,
contrabasses, cellos and voice. Computers were present only at the Royal
Conservatory and at the UCSD. The only violin present was at the Royal
Conservatory, and violas were absent in all laboratories. All projects consisted of
three days of training sessions (except the Royal Conservatory, which had 24
hours of rehearsals), each of around three hours of duration with the exception of
UCSD where it was constituted by only one session of 2 hours. Concerts were
performed at the Royal Conservatory, USP I, UNLV, UCSD and UCSB.
The e-recorder performance at the Hypermusic and the Sighting of Sound

project was recorded from direct inputs of the live performance of the Meta-
Ochestra project in Dartington, UK, 2000. The recording of the trio with the e-
recorder was made at Studio Bea1 at the Royal Conservatory, The Netherlands,
2002. The solo e-recorder recording was made at the Sonorities Festival in
Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 2005. With the exception of the USP I and UNLV,
for which I used a Sony MD recording device, the other projects were recorded
95
using a Tascam HD-P2 Compact Flash Disc stereo recorder and a mono cardioid
Røde NT1000 microphone.
The experimental projects were generally organised as follows: (i) In order

to allow the players to get acquainted with their own possibilities as improvisers,
they played sets in duos, without any sort of previous introduction or guideline.214
Next, (ii) the idea of exploring FIM by adopting an expansion strategy of
materials was presented. At this point the players were asked to avoid all known
instrumental technicalities to allow a more focused exploration of the new sonic
possibilities. This was followed by a second improvisation session performed in
groups of two and an open discussion. Continuing with the expansion strategy,
(iii) the use of a greater variety of rhythms, densities and microtonalisms was
recommended, isolating as much as possible diatonism and regular beats. Also at
this point, the use of a bigger diversity of silences was suggested. At this time, all
members of the ensemble were told to play. Next, (iv) some characteristics
already present in some parts of the music played during the previous sets were
identified and explained through a rhetorical prism. In that way the rhetorical
elements and strategies became clear since rhetoric is directly related to music
activities which have been already performed by the group. The introduction to
rhetoric was done by identifying the elements played at the very beginning of the
sets with rhetorical elements typical of the exordium, or prologue. In this way, the
elements used by the performers became identified with musical-rhetorical
figures and ethical principles proper of the introduction.
For each of the playing sessions the duration of ten to twelve minutes was
suggested. Since the natural perception of time – without using a watch – is
something useful for better structuring musical ideas,215 time had to be taken with
flexibility so that the spontaneous interweaving of events were not constricted.
214
Two exceptions were made at the USP II and UCSB projects. Those projects began by making
everybody play together and dividing the group after in subgroups of two.
215
The use of a device for mesuring time would mean an element of distraction.
96
5.3 Rhetoric in Music. Intention and Structure.
Certain seventeenth and eighteenth century composers like Bernhard, Burmeister,

Mattheson, Kircher, Heinichen, Quantz, and Scheibe, among others, concentrated
in theorizing the use of rhetoric in music. These composers wrote extensively
about this subject. The baroque composer searched for gaining control in
provoking emotions through the use of harmonies, the construction of phrases,
the tempo, and with the use of an arsenal of the so-called music-rhetorical
figures. The documents left by those composers bring a diversity of analogies
made from the figures of rhetoric proper of ancient oratory.
For example, Quintilian mentions a strategy for structuring compositions

using the figure of gradatio. He mentions: “The gradatio, also called
climax…repeats what has already been said and, before proceeding to something
else, dwells on that which preceded.”216 Making a musical analogy, Scheibe says:
“The ascension (gradatio) occurs when one progresses by step from a weak
passage to stronger ones, thereby gradually increasing the importance and
emphasis of the expression of music…”217 In this description of the figure
gradatio, the analogy is quite direct and it is given an affective and a structural
quality.
Burmeister presents another interpretation: “The climax repeats similar notes

but on pitches one step apart, as indicated in the following
example:”218
Figure 1.
216
Quintilian, Institutio IX. iii. 54.
217
Scheibe (1745) p. 167.
218
Burmeister (1606) p. 63.
97
Burmeister’s description of climax doesn’t fit today common understanding that

it indicates an upward movement parallel to an arousal in intensity. His theory
includes the possibility of having a downward movement focusing on it as a
figure of structure rather than of affection.
In a more complex structural case, the figure of metalepsis is described by

Quintilian as:
“The metalepsis or transumptio is the last of the [tropes] involving a

change of meaning and signifies a transition from one trope to
another…. It is the nature of the metalepsis to form a certain
intermediate step between a transferred term and that to which the term
is transferred, taking on no meaning itself, but only providing a
transition. The most common example is the following one: if cano is
replaced with canto, and canto with dico, then cano can be replaced with
dico, the intermediate step provided by canto.”219
This figure is adapted into music by Burmeister. He writes:
“The metalepsis is a double fuga in which one voice partially introduces

the subject of another, namely its second part, into the fuga, which it
thereupon completes through repetition of the whole subject. The range
of the voices [is] similarly limited through the ambitus of their common
modus.”220
Portraying a musical representation of an image is described by the figure of

hypotyposis (to sketch). Quintilian explains this figure as: “a presentation of a
thought which is expressed through the oration in such a fashion that it is
perceived as though it were seen rather than heard.”221
Vogt explains “[The composer] ought to understand how to further intensify

[the composition] imaginatively through the musical-rhetorical figures of
219
Quintilian, Institutio VIII. vi. 37,38.
220
Bartel (1997) p. 322.
221
Quintilian, Institutio IX. ii. 40.
98
hypotyposis and prosopopeia and, like a painter, place the beautiful or frightful
images lifelike before the eyes of the listeners through the music.”222
A representation of hypotyposis can be the image of an aura created by the

sustained notes played by the strings in J S Bach’s St. Matthew Passion when
accompanying Jesus’ recitatives.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 1 – Bach (hypotyposis)
Another musical example of the use of figures of rhetoric can be found in the aria
Erbarme dich (Have Mercy) from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mathaus Passion
(see appendix). The aria comes after Peter’s denial in which the Evangelist closes
the recitative declaring: “und weinete bitterlich” (“and wept bitterly”).
 AUDIO SAMPLE 2 – Bach (Aria: Erbarme dich)
This passage is one that expresses despair, regret and uncertainty, which are
enhanced next in the aria, Erbarme dich, by the use of a diversity of elements. It
is important to note Bach’s choice for the key of B minor, regarded as
melancholic.223 The strings play mostly long notes in a specifically noted piano
sempre accompanied by the continuo playing an unremitting pizzicato in a
descending line, or catabasis.224 The part of the violin solo is composed by many
appoggiature, the figure of exclamatio (the first notes of the violin), saltus
duriusculus225 (e.g. bars 3, 5, 6) and the use of anaphorae226 (e.g. end of bar 3
until middle of 5).227
222
Bartel (1997) p. 310.
223
Charpentier refers to B minor as melancholic and lonely while Mattheson thinks of it as bizarre
and morose and Rameau finds it of sweet and tender character. Tarling (2004) p. 77.
224
A descending musical passage which expresses negative affections.
225
A dissonant leap.
226
Or repetition, occurs when subsequent phrases begin in like manner.
227
Analysis taken from Luis Otavio Santos’paper “Música e Retórica: uma aproximação através
da análise do Combatimento di Tancredi e Clorinda de Claudio Monteverdi e da ária Erbarm dich
de Johann Sebastian Bach.” (São Paulo – 2007).
99
One possible way to come closer to understanding a musical passage is to

reach the field of the inherent intentionalities by isolating it from the qualities
that are not present in that field. For example, to find the “place inhabited” by the
active intentionalities, while listening to a presentation of FIM, it is useful to
isolate those places which could not be the “home” of those intentionalities. For
instance, at the beginning of the recording of Coltrane’s Alabama228 it is apparent
that “joy” is not a “place” which those intentionalities might “inhabit”. In this
way it is possible to continue by further isolating the basic elements of human
expressive universals such as love, tenderness, anger, sorrow, etc, until we land
on the intentionality that we think predominates. In the case of Alabama it seems
to be sorrow. Sorrow, in our specific case, is linked to certain musical structures
such as low dynamic levels and short recitative-like interventions upon a low
bass, static and rumbling. It may of course be possible to transmit other kinds of
affections using the same sonic ingredients and form. This is why the analysis of
FIM should also consider that, parallel to a theoretical angle, it is important to
focus on the music through the empiric methodology given by perceptive
subjective impressions. Once the variety of structures has been identified with
their parallel intentionalities we can come to an idea about the macro-structure of
the music. In the example of Alabama, there are very clear structural divisions
given by the change of musical material. The end of the prologue, for example, is
announced by a general pause – called in rhetoric aposiopesis.
Bartel in his book Musica Poetica affirms that: “With Kircher the musical
expression of the affections became more closely linked to rhetorical structures
and devices. It was Kircher who introduced the rhetorical steps of inventio,
dispositio, and elocutio (elaboratio, decoratio) into musical compositional
theory, linking them to text expression.” 229 There is the one angle that is
microstructural, composed by the figures of rhetoric that are related to “what to
say?” The other angle is macrostructural, composed of inventio, dispositio, and
228
See Table 1.
229
Bartel (1997) p. 52.
100
ornare, pointing to “how to say it?” and “how to organize it?” Furthermore, the
dispositio itself is divided into exordium, narratio, partitio, confirmatio,
refutatio, and peroratio. These parts were taken analogically by some composers
of the baroque period in order to structure their compositions. This division was
taken also as a model for the structure of the graphical composition Modulus II,
which I prepared for the project at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.
Again, the aria Erbarme dich from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Matthäus
Passion230 presents the qualities of an exordium (bars1-8) (see appendix), where
the elements of the inventio are shown in their instrumental version. The
exordium is followed by the narratio (bars 9-22), having the singer describe the
facts through the text “Erbarme dich, mein Gottt, und meine Zähren willen”231
using similar elements of the exordium. Next, the confirmatio (bars 23-26)
presents a middle instrumental section where the main theme of the inventio is
again presented. Follows the confutatio (bars 27-46), where new text is presented
(schaue hier, Herz und Auge weint vor dir bitterlicht)232 with many harmonic
modulations and ornamentations (decoratio). Last, the peroratio (bars 1-8) is
represented by the da capo that concludes the aria, again, with the initial
instrumental introduction (memoria).233
As I said, it seems possible to understand part of the dynamics of FIM by

isolating non-relevant intentionalities. However, we have to be aware of the
“dangers arising primarily from implicitly or explicitly identifying the music with
the words describing it; and in the next step in dogmatizing these identifying
approaches.”234 For that reason, the approach proposed here considers that the
interpretation of intentionalities should maintain a flexibility of interpretation to
230
See score in the appendix.
231
Have Mercy, Lord, on me, regard my bitter weeping.
232
Look at me, heart and eyes both weep to Thee bitterly.
233
Analysis taken from Luis Otavio Santos’paper “Música e Retórica: uma aproximação através
da análise do Combatimento di Tancredi e Clorinda de Claudio Monteverdi e da ária Erbarm dich
de Johann Sebastian Bach.” (São Paulo – 2007).
234
Gustavsen (1999) p. 1.
101
allow different perspectives to co-exist. As I will explain later, musical

disagreement can be a positive constructive strategy not only when speaking
about it but also at the time of playing. When musical disagreements are
explored, they might, if decorum is observed, contribute with establishing more
resistance and consequently improving the chances for achieving consistency and
depth.
One way of directing an analytical methodology based on rhetorical

guidelines is by concentrating, first, on identifying musical structural and
intentional materials. Second, musical materials such as dynamics and activity
need to be recognized. Third, understandings of affection and intentionality have
to be set out. Fourth, by extracting and linking all those elements from the music
it may be possible to reveal possible intentionalities, emergent behaviours, and
the structures of the music. Next, I will give an example on the application of this
method by analysing Coltrane’s composition Alabama recorded in Ralph
Gleason’s Jazz Casual TV program (December 7, 1963)235.
235
Jazz Casual. Live Music Performances and Interviews. DVD Video. Rhino Home Video
(Los Angeles, 2003).
102
JOHN COLTRANE – ALABAMA
Jon Coltrane – Sax

McCoy Tyner – piano
Jimmy Garrison – bass
Elvin Jones – drums
Time Material Dynamic Activity Rhetoric Section

1-------7 0------7
09:32 Sax: Recitative Sax: 1 3 Proper of EXORDIUM OR

Exordium.
Piano (Pn): Bss: 2 INTRODUCTION
Anaphorae
Low continuous
Piano: 3
rumble Musical phrases
Drum: tacet introverted, like
Bass: Recitativ
heard from a
distance. Sound as
someone’s thoughts
rather than voice.
Solitude, sorrow.
10:44 Pause 0 0 Aposiopesis
10:45 Tutti: 3 2 Anaphorae, TRANSITION (epilog

Syncronised suspiratio of introduction)
rhythm
11:06 Sax: Melodic Sax: 5,4,3 Development of DISPOSITIO

ideas.
Pn: Chords Pn: 5,4,3
Drum, Bass: Drum, Bass:
Fixed rhythm 5,4
12:54 Trio 4
13:15 Sax: Recitative Sax: 2 3 Memoria CONFIRMATIO

Piano: Low Bass: 2 Recapitulation of
rumble beginning.
Pn: 2
Drum: Rumble
Drum: 4, 3, 2
Bass: Free
rhythm
14:19 Pause 0 0 Aposiopesis
103
14:24 The same as in TRANSITION

10:45
14:48 Sax: recitative 5 Sax: 3, 4 Sax plays the PERORATIO

highest notes of the
Pn, Drum: Low 6 Pn, Drum: 6
piece.
rumble
Pathos, Climax,
Bass: 4
Anabasis
Table 1.
In the table above, the first column shows the time in the recording. The second
column gives the materials used by each instrument. The third column gives the
dynamic levels of each of the instruments represented from total silence (0) to
maximum volume (7). The fourth column represents the activity of the ensemble
from no activity (0) to very active (7). In the fifth column, conclusions about the
possible rhetorical content are presented based on the materials from the previous
columns. Finally, the sixth column illustrates the macrostructures or sections of
the piece. Alabama consists of a theme made up of soft, short phrases, with many
silences, in which Coltrane’s playing resemblances a recitative. Those elements
seem to suggest that the intentionalities are carrying forward an emotional
content opposite to positive, happy or comical ones. As written in the table, I felt
an immediate connection with solitude and sorrow. Coincidentally or not, it was
only after doing some research on what the conditions that influenced Coltrane in
composing this piece were, that I learned that he had composed this number as
his musical interpretation of how he felt when he found out that four young black
girls were killed by white supremacists in a church bombing in Alabama.
However, this music is partly written and the ethics in the group are informed by
respect for Coltrane’s status as a composer and director of the ensemble. Also,
the amount of musical material in compositions may be easier to discern than
understanding the music produced by an ensemble playing FIM.
If we move to the sound aesthetics presented by Evan Parker’s particular way

of playing the saxophone, for example, in which it is not necessary to have such
104
obvious sectional transition points,236 someone could ask: how can rhetoric
explain what goes on when Parker plays? When Evan Parker engages in playing
with his virtuosic technique, he demonstrates, according to Borgo, “the ability to
seamlessly keep three or more distinct musical layers ‘in the air’ at the same
time.”237 First, we have to think about the ideas that generate such musical
manifestation so as to understand that the primary objective of Parker may be
achieving multilayers of sound, trying to characterize each of them by giving the
impression that they are somehow independent. In this matter I think we could
compare it to a fugue, where the structural clarity becomes the primary intention
of the playing and not the concatenation of intentionalities or transmission of
affections as, for instance, in a melodic line. It is possible then that in a period
marked by contrasts such as the baroque, the aim of the prélude & fugue or the
fantasie & fugue was to expose both the free and malleable nature of the first and
the more exact, almost mathematical, character of the second. It might be useful
for understanding FIM to switch our perception according to the intentionalities
of the music being played. However, both characteristics can be focussed through
a rhetorical angle since they primary objective is one inherent in a
communication process.
Next, a selection of figures is presented. Most of them will be used in the

chapters where the musical results of the laboratories are analysed. However, for
proposing the analysis of FIM through a rhetorical approach it is necessary to
retain parameters that are open for interpretation so that the flexibility of the
method harmonises with the natural freedom of the practice. A rhetorical method
for FIM ought to encourage profitable discussions to allow it to develop into a
consistent theory. To achieve this objective, both an empirical methodology and
time are required, together with the disposition of improvisers to establish a
healthy interchange of ideas.
236
Smith and Dean (1997) p. 73.
237
Borgo (2005) p. 95.
105
5.3.1 Rhetorical Figures and their Analogy in FIM
The re-interpretation of rhetorical figures brings us a set of tools which will be

used in this study for understanding FIM. The process of generating useful
concepts from the rhetorical figures consists of abstracting from various
definitions. To address FIM analytically, however, we ought to bear in mind that
FIM is a practice that involves heuristic discovery and dialogue in which the
products of invention are flexible of interpretation and, consequently, resistant to
conceptualization. Nonetheless, the meta-musician – borrowing Edwin Prévost’s
terminology – engaged in FIM is “sensing, evaluating and acting”238 and, at the
same time, trying to find ways to put through intentions while immersed in
collective musical debate. In order to apply theory objectively, circumstantial
conditions have to be taken into consideration so as to avoid the creation of
unnecessary standardisation. It seems possible to combine this conceptual
flexibility with the process of making analogies between the music and the
figures. To illustrate that, I present practical examples such as my composition
titled Modulus II, which is a concatenation of rhetorical figures inside a classical
rhetorical structure.239 Also, I have used excerpts from the projects that I have
conducted as practical examples for most of the figures here presented.
In the process of re-visiting the music-rhetorical figures from the 17th and 18th
centuries I have encountered many that cannot be applied to the aesthetics of FIM
since they have been developed for music that relies upon pre-conceived
compositional methods. However, some of the figures and rhetorical concepts
here presented are a direct interpretation from ancient Greco-Roman sources.
Some of these figures were intrinsic in the compositional theory of rhetorical
music.
238
Prévost (1995) p. 3.
239
See the score of Modulus II in the appendix and the recording in the DVDR.
106
5.3.1.1 Figures of Intentional Imitation
a) Anaphora or Repetitio A repetition of a musical line.
b) Antithesis or A musical expression of opposing affections,

Contrapositum harmonies or thematic material.
c) Auxesis or Incrementum Where the material is enhanced by exaggeration, by

making its dynamics and/or articulations stronger or
by mocking.
d) Emphasis Enhancement of a phrase or musical idea.
e) Mimesis, Ethophonia or An approximate rather than strict imitation of a subject

Imitatio at different pitches.
Table 2.
a) Anaphora or Repetitio:
Gottsched says: When numerous passages of an oration begin in like manner. It can
give greater emphasis to the passage been repeated. 240
Bartel mentions that, “In most cases authors choose only one of the two terms,
anaphora or mimesis for their Figurenlehre.”241 Bartel also says that “Scheibe and
Forkel mention that the repetitio is best used when combined with paronomasia, a
figure of repetition which alters passages it repeats, supplying additional material for
the sake of emphasis.” He continues writing that Scheibe considers the repetitio a
figure that belongs both to “the musical dispositio as much as to the decoratio.”242
Burmeister refers to it as an ornament used in the “false” fugue only, which means
that it is repeated in various voices but not in all of them.243
240
Redekunst p. 279. Quoted in Bartel (1997) p. 186.
241
Bartel (1997) p. 184.
242
Bartel (1997) pp. 185-186.
243
Burmeister (1606) p.185.
107
Kircher says that “it is often used in vehement affections such as ferocity or scorn,
as exemplified in a composition based on the text: To arms! To arms!”244
Other music concepts are intimately related to compositions and/or to words in

which the text is supported by the music, especially in cases of repetition. In the
context of this research, I suggest its use as:
Anaphora is the approximate repetition of both the musical material and its
intentionalism with the objective of fixing it in the performance. The length can
vary from short musical interventions, such as ornaments, to big sections, like a
repetition of the exordium.
Table 3.
In the example of Telemann’s quartet in e-minor we can listen to a theme repeated in

all voices in a “false” fugue:
 AUDIO SAMPLE 3 – Telemann (anaphora)
From the recording I made with the group “pfr” and David Borgo at UCSD, I used a
strong anaphora by repeating a motif coming from one of the laptop performers:
 AUDIO SAMPLE 4 – UCSD (anaphora)
For concepts of repetition that enhance the copied passage, I suggest the use of other
figures such as auxesis or paranomasia. Also, in FIM we can consider the idea of
having an imitation which is linked not to the sonic result but to the speculative
interpretation of the intentionalism carried through the sound. See under Mimesis.
b) Antithesis, Antitheton or Contrapositum
Quintilian writes: “Antithesis, which Roman writers call either contrapositum or

contentio, may be affected in more than one way. Single words may be contrasted
244
Kircher (Rome, 1650) L.8 p.144.
108
with single, as in the passage recently quoted245…or the contrast may be between
pairs of words, as in nostri ingenii, vestri auxilii est,246 or sentence may be contrasted
with sentence, as in dominetur in contiobunis, iacebat in iudiciis.”247
Bartel explains that “[antithesis] may refer to opposing affections (Kircher,

Janovka, Scheibe), harmonies (Walther’s antithesis, Spiess), or thematic material
(Vogt, Walther’s antitheton, Scheibe, Spiess).” He continues saying that “The aspect
of musical opposites receives particular attention in Mattheson’s discussion of the
confutatio. Just as the confutatio serves to refute objections to the principal argument
in rhetoric, so too can it be used to resolve “opposition” to the theme in music,
particularly in fugal composition.”248
Mattheson tells us, “Opposites can be expressed in various ways in music, be it

through certain notes which oppose each other, through sudden changes of the key or
the rhythm, etc.”249
Antithesis, Antitheton or Contrapositum will be focused as means to identify

different angles of opposition. Firstly (intentional), to point to contrasting
intentionalities. Secondly (structural), to identify contrasting musical material.
Table 4.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 5 – Modulus II (antithesis)
The start of the narratio of Modulus II is composed for the piano, electronics and
contrabass. Whilst the first two are mainly in the high register using fast phrases and
emphatical gestures the contrabass plays in antithesis by using slow moaning low
sounds that seem to drag in tempo.
245
Quintilian, Institutio IX. iii. 62. Vicit pudorem libido, timorem audacia, rationem amentia.
(Lust conquered shame, boldness fear, madness reason.)
246
Quintilian, Institutio IX. iii. 82. “This is beyond my power; it is your support that is required.”
247
Quintilian, Institutio IX. ii. 51. “Let it prevail in the public assembly, but be silent in the courts
of law.”
248
Bartel (2007) p. 197.
249
Quoted in Bartel (1997) p. 199.
109
 AUDIO SAMPLE 6 – C.Ph.Bach (antithesis)
In the example of Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach we have the introduction of the
Symphony for strings No. 5 in B minor. It begins in a manner that tricks the listener
into believing that the symphony is going to develop into a direction of smooth upper
lines accompanied by sequences of repeated notes in the continuo. However, already
around the ninth second the violins, via a saltus duriusculus, jump a seventh interval
downwards changing the whole intention that I refer as the antithesis.
c) Auxesis or Incrementum
Quintilian: “The incrementum is a most powerful form [of amplification]:

insignificant things are made to appear important.” 250 Walther (Lexicon): “The
auxesis occurs when a passage or a melody is repeated twice or three times, while at
the same time, however, always rising higher.”251
This research will apply auxesis as:
Auxesis is a strategy that intensifies the power of the musical passage by

imitating it in several ways: for instance, by making it stronger dynamically, or
by giving it a caricaturesque character.
Table 5.
d) Emphasis
Quintilian refers to emphasis as “… when some hidden meaning is extracted from

some phrase”252 while Mathesson mentions that “emphasis always falls on an entire
word, not according to the sound of it but according to the meaning contained therein;
whereas the accent only deals merely with the syllables.”253
250
Quintilian, Institutio VIII i.v. 3 f. 8.
251
Quoted in Bartel (1997) p.211
252
253
Mathesson (1739) p. 370.
110
So an emphasis is different from just accents put in musical passages. The use of
mere accents seems to me categorically more suitable to ornamentation, or for the
sake of structural clarity through the accentuation of rhythm.
Emphasis in FIM could involve the enhancement of a phrase or musical idea.

As a sort of mimesis that increases and strengthens the intentionality.
Table 6.
e) Mimesis, Ethophonia or Imitatio
Mimesis is referred to by many (Burmeister, Thuringus, Whalter and Mattheson) as

being linked to fugues. However, the imitation is encouraged to present a freer form,
for instance at different intervals or reducing the duration of the notes. Vogt254 and
Spiess255 express a concept that lies out from concerns on voices or intervals of
imitation but rather on the effect provoked. E.g. women’s voices imitated by men. Let
us not to forget that imitation is the basis for all human learning, a fact that is very
present in the musical literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth century. Imitation,
rather than being seen as plagiarism, was regarded as an honor to the creator of the
original.256
Mimesis in the context of FIM is regarded by this study thus:
Mimesis points towards imitating only the intentionalities inherent in the

musical inputs of other players rather than copying the musical material
produced by them.
Table 7.
254
Bartel (1997) p. 329. Vogt (Conclave p.151) Ethophonia, vel Mimisis. Cum aliquis alterius
vocem imitatur, ut mulieris.
255
Bartel (1997) p. 331. Spiess (Tractatus p.156) Ethophonia, oder Mimisis, Imitatio,
Nachahmung, wird alsdann genennet, wann einer des anders Stimm imitirt. v.g. eines Weibs.
256
Mathesson (1739) p. 637 “ [imitation] is quite a good thing so long as no actual musical
thievery is accomplished in the process.”An example of that are the Vivaldi’s violin concertos
adapted to harpsichords by J. S. Bach.
111
5.3.1.2 Figures of Structural Imitation
a) Anaphora When the repetition of a phrase is always at the beginning of

the passage.
b) Epistrophe When the repetition of a phrase is always at the end of the

passage.
c) Symploce It is the combination of both, the anaphora and the

epistrophe.
d) Epanodos or A repetition that happens backwards.

Regressio
Table 8.
a) Anaphora
Although anaphora has an intentional connotation it can also be used in a structural

manner. Many authors refer to it as such:
Bartel mentions in his book that Gottsched says that anaphora is: “when numerous
passages of an oration begin in like manner.”257
Mattheson asks “what is more common in melodic composition than the anaphora,
in which an already introduced melodic fragment is repeated at the beginning of
various following phrases, thus establishing a relationship?258
Anaphora, besides its intentional character, can become a structural device by

repeating it every time before making a new statement.
Table 9.
257
Redekunst p. 279. Quoted in Bartel (1997) p. 186.
258
112
b) Epistrophe
Scheibe mentions that “[epistrophe] occurs when the ending of one melodic passage
is repeated at the end of other passages.”259 Walther tells us that “the epistrophe is a
rhetorical figure in which one or more words are repeated at the end of numerous
phrases, elaborations or similar passages.”260
Epistrophe is viewed as the repetition of the conclusion of a musical passage at

the end of subsequent passages.
Table 10.
c) Symploce or Complexio
Walther: “The complexio occurs when the beginning of a musical passage is repeated
at its end, in imitation of the poets, who frequently begin and end a verse using the
same word.”261 Burmeister explains that “Symploke is the actual or potential
juxtaposition of the disparity signs b or + with #, thereby perverting the nature of
perfect consonances and complicating the nature of one consonance with the nature of
another.”262
Symploce or Complexio is understood as a combination of anaphora and

epistrophe.
Table 11.
d) Epanodos or Regressio
Walther mentions that the “epanodus…from epi and anodos, the returning route, is a
word figure that occurs when the words of a sentence are repeated in reverse
259
Scheibe (1745) p. 696.
260
Walther (1732)
261
Ibib.
262
113
order.”263 Another view is presented by Susenbrotus (Epitome p.86): “The regressio

or epanodos occurs when the repetition os a previously stated thought assumes a
different meaning through its division into different parts.”264
Epanodos or Regressio indicates a repetition, or imitation, in retrograde.
Table 12.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 7 – AMM Norwich (epanodos or regressio)
5.3.1.3 Figures of Illustration
a) Anabasis or Ascensus An ascending musical passage that

carries a parallel intentionalism of
exalted affections.
b) Bombus Identical notes in rapid succession.
c) Catabasis or Descensus A descending musical passage, the

opposite of Anabasis, carries lowly or
negative affections.
d) Climax A gradual increase in sound and pitch.
e) Dubidatio An intentionally ambiguous progression.
f) Emphasis A musical passage that heightens the

meaning of the text through various
means.
g) Exclamatio or Ecphonesis A musical exclamation.
h) Hypotyposis, Prosopopoeia A vivid musical representation of

images.
263
Walther (1732)
264
114
i) Interrogatio A musical question.
j) Loginqua Distancia When voices become apart of each other

by more than an octave.
k) Parenthesis A musical representation of a

parenthesis.
l) Parembole A voice that complements what already

existed before.
Table 13.
a) Anabasis or Ascensus
Bartel explains that “the anabasis is used to musically recreate the effect of an
ascending image or thought found in the text…For example, in Bach’s setting of the
text “Et resurrexit” (Mass in B minor).”265
Walther says, “Anabasis, from anabaino, ascendo, I ascend into the heights, is a
musical passage by which something ascending into the heights is expressed.”266
265
Bartel (1997) p. 179.
266
Quoted in Bartel (1997) p.180.
115
Anabasis or Ascensus will be regarded as the concept involved in creating an

upward musical movement with the intention of provoking an arousal in the
communication of intentionalities. It is, however, not proper to pre-establish the
tenor of affections inherent in such a figure, since this will have to be further
explored. The question is whether this figure remains only as mean to
communicate positive affections.
Table 14.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 8 – Bach, B-minor Mass, Et resurrexit (anabasis)
 AUDIO SAMPLE 9 – Modulus II (anabasis)
b) Bombus
Bartel mentions that, “The bombus and its grammatical/musical derivatives are
considered ornaments or Manieren rather than musical-rhetorical figures. A series of
bombi is referred to as bombilans.”267
Bombus will indicate the repetition of the same note in a manner that produces
some rhythmic regularity.
Table 15.
This excerpt is from the Dartington 2000 recording. The e-recorder repeats a figure of
Bombus several times in the low register.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 10 – Dartington 2000 (bombus)
267
Bartel (1997) p. 212.
116
c) Catabasis or Descensus
The descending musical passage can communicate a diversity of intentionalities.

Kircher and Janovka refer to this figure as a musical passage which expresses
affections opposite to those of the anabasis, like servitude, humility, humbleness, or
also affections linked to the significance of descending into hell. Walther also says
that “the catabasis, from katabaino, descendo, is a musical passage through which
lowly, insignificant, and disdainful things are presented”268
Catabasis or Descensus in FIM would be related to a descending musical

passage. However, as in the case of the anabasis, the intentionalities attached to
such a structural device remain to be explored in practice. At this point I may
say that depending on the sound material (intervals – from microtonalism, big
harmonic jumps or even noises – and the dynamic level in which they are
performed) this figure may express affections such as those described by
Kircher, Janovka and Walther but also might express other things related to
more positive affections.
Table 16.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 11 – USP05 (catabasis).
d) Climax
Climax has had different definitions throughout the seventeenth century. It also refers
to a stepwise construction, either upwards or downwards. Bartel mentions even “the
verbal root of climax (klino: to bow, turn away) suggests a downward rather than an
upward or intensifying motion.”269
268
269
Bartel (1997) p. 221.
117
Because this term is very much associated with an increase in the musical
passage, closely related to the concept of crescendo, I think it will be confusing to try
and taking it out of this concept. Consequently, the notion suggested by this study is:
Climax is represented by a gradual increase or rise in sound and pitch, creating

a growth in intensity.
Table 17.
e) Dubidatio
Bartel tells us that “A musical ‘doubting’ can be used by ambivalence or unclarity in

either harmony or rhythm.”270 Also Quintilian says that “hesitation may lend an
impression of truth to our statements, when, for example, we pretend to be at a loss,
when to begin or end, or to decide what especially requires to be said or not to be said
at all.”271 Intending to create this figure musically, Scheibe asserts that “however, the
dubidatio must not confuse the composer’s own arrangement or the proper coherence
of his music, thereby creating doubt in his own mind; rather he must only
meaningfully lead the listeners astray so that, becoming uncertain regarding the order
of the music or the notes, they cannot easily guess his intent.”272
Dubidatio in FIM can refer to the use of musical devices that have the objective
of capturing extra attention from the audience making them to come closer to
the music. This figure can also become very helpful in the case of “real” doubt.
If the improviser, for some reason or another, becomes dissatisfied with his/her
musical contribution, the “real” doubt arising from this action can be
transformed in a “performed” doubt so as to transform it into musical material
and therefore, isolating the problem that could lead to inconsistency.
Table 18.
270
Bartel (1997) p. 242.
271
272
Quoted in Bartel (2007) pp. 243-244.
118
f) Emphasis
Quintilian mentions that “emphasis maybe numbered among figures also, when some
hidden meaning is extracted from some phrase, as in the following passage from
Virgil: ‘Might I have not lived, From the wedlock free, a life without a stain, Happy
as beasts are happy?’273 The emphasis on the word happy communicates another
meaning.
In explaining the difference between accent and an emphasis, Mattheson tells us

that “the mentioned distinction…consists primarily in the following characteristics.
First of all the emphasis always falls on the entire word, not according to the sound of
it but according to the meaning contained therein; whereas the accent only deals
merely with the syllables, namely with their length, brevity, raising or lowering in
punctuation.”274
Emphasis for this research points to the accentuation of a whole musical phrase
making it stand in front of other material been played.
Table 19.
g) Exclamatio or Ecphonesis
Mattheson tells us that there are three types of exclamatio: “The first type comprises
astonishment, a joyous acclamation, or a rousing command. E.g.
Hurrah! Hurrah! Live eternally,
flourish eternally Hamburg!
The second type of outburst or exclamation comprises all wishes or heartfelt

yearnings; all entreaties, appeals, laments; also fright, dread, and terror, etc. The last
ones require melodic vehemence, which is best expressed through rapid or fast
sounds: though yearnings and the other traits always have grief as their mother. E.g.
273
274
Mattheson (1739) p. 370.
119
Heaven! Hast thou still compassion
for this poor wretch,
Oh! Then help me know.
The third type of exclamation is a true scream, which often originates from extreme
consternation, astonishment, or from frightful horrible events, which often ascend to
the hights of desperation. As when Cain is represented as exclaiming:
Vengeance, open yourself, to densely smoking hell!
Draw me to my thy fire!
I deliver onto thee my desparing soul! etc.”275
Walther says that: “The exclamatio or ecphonesis is a rhetorical figure which signifies
an agitated exclamation. This can be realized very appropriately in music through an
upwardleaping minor sixth.”276
Scheibe explains that the exclamatio “is commonly expressed through an

ascending passage, using consonances in joyous events or affections and dissonances
in sorrowful ones.”277
Exclamatio or Ecphonesis will be considered as a musical exclamation. It is

more suitable to discuss it from the perspective of delivery rather than through
the angle of invention. This figure can comprise other figures, as in many
cases.278 For instance, the manner of expressing an auxesis may have to go
through the “filter” of exclamatio before arriving to the audience.
Table 20.
275
Mattheson (1739) pp. 400-401.
276
277
Ibid. p. 269.
278
Deliberating what kind of musical-rhetorical figure might be active in a musical passage, for
example, can point to a compilation of figures. E.g. An imitation can be in the form of anabasis
which at the same time can structurally represent an anaphora, which at turn can also be an
auxexis.
120
h) Hypotyposis or Prosopopoeia
Quintilian says: “With regard to the figure which Cicero (de Or. III. Liii. 202.) calls
ocular demonstration, this comes into play when we do not restrict ourselves to
mentioning that something was done, but proceed to show how it was done, and do so
not merely in broad lines, but in full detail.”279
Burmeister writes: “Hypotiposis is that ornament whereby the sense of the text is
so depicted that the matters contained in the text that are inanimate or lifeless seem to
be brought to life.”280
Vogt in his Conclave mentions: “[The composer] ought to understand how to

further intensify [the composition] imaginatively through the musical-rhetorical
figures of hypotiposis and prosopopoeia and, like a painter, place the beautiful or
frightful images lifelike before the eyes of the listeners through the music.”281
Hypotyposis or Prosopopoeia will be considered as a musical-rhetorical figure

that portrays a musical image such as, for example, a soundscape.
Table 21.
Example:
The sustained notes played by the strings in Bach’s Matthäus Passion when
accompanying Jesus’ recitatives.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 1 – Bach (hypotyposis)
i) Interrogatio
Scheibe poses the rhetorical question: “After all, who does not recognize the necessity
and charm of the question in all musical compositions?”282 This figure in music was
279
280
281
282
121
closely related to the representation of a question by the use of harmonic artifices

such as stopping at the dominant chord in an imperfect cadence.
Quintilian asks: “What is more common than to ask or inquire? For both terms are
used indifferently, although the one seems to imply a desire for knowledge, and the
other a desire to prove something.”283
Mattheson is of the opinion that “Many composers are rigid in the idea that the
question mark would always have to be expressed in singing through some type of
raising of the voice; but one must in no way think such a proposition is infallible. It is
true that in everyday speech and pronunciation the voice is always raised more or less
with a question; but in melody there are many circumstances which not only permit
an exception to this but often require it. Besides, one encounters many figurative
questions in verses where there would be no doubt at all as to whether it is this way or
that. Yet doubt is the true indicator of a real question. For this reason a composer of
melody must rightly distinguish the one from the other and organize his notes
accordingly.”284
We can see that while Scheibe makes a clear distinction between interrogatio and
dubidatio, Mattheson acknowledges the later to be intrinsic to the first. Mattheson
also is of the idea that there is no necessity to have a question to raise doubt.
Interrogatio in this investigation will point specifically to the rising of musical

questions, leaving the intentionalities that provoke doubt through other means to
the figure of dubidatio.
Table 22.
j) Loginqua Distancia
This rule refers to the distance between two voices and it is found only in Bernhard’s
Tractatus. “The voices are not to be placed too far from each other, that is, not more
283
284
122
than a twelfth apart.”285 Bartel also tell us that, “With the dawn of basso continuo era,
this rule of counterpoint is no longer as relevant or as strictly observed as in the
sixteenth century.” He is also of the opinion that, “Bernhard describes the distantia
between the soprano and bass as longinqua (‘distant’, ‘foreign’). This latter term not
only describes the ‘long’ interval separating the voices, but also signifies the
‘foreignness’ or ‘strangeness’ of the resulting interval.”286
Loginqua Distancia is taken by this study as the parallel opposite movements

of two voices in the ensemble, resulting in a great distance between them.
Table 23.
k) Parenthesis
Quintilian mentions that, “The first is called interpositio or interclusio by us, and
parenthesis or paremptosis by the Greeks, and consists in the interruption of the
continuous flow of our language by the insertion of some remark.”287
Mattheson decribes the parenthese saying that, “This caesura is an interpolation

where certain words which are isolated from the rest through an enclosure ( ) interrupt
the course of continuity of performance a little. The thing is not really very musical
and in my opinion might just as well not be used in the melodic discipline. However,
because it occasionally appears in arias, though more often and more fittingly in
recitative, he who may want to proceed correctly with such enveloped words might
only consider whether his interpolation disgresses much or little from the principal
aim of the text: in as much as the melody must be interrupted a little or a great deal
according to the circumstances.”288
285
Bernhard, Tractatus p. 41. Quoted in Bartel (1997) p. 317.
286
Bartel (1997) p. 317.
287
288
123
Parenthesis is a sudden isolated musical thought which allows the previous

thought to come back before losing its clarity in the delivery.
Table 24.
l) Parembole or Interjectio
Quintilian writes, “Again, parenthesis, so often employed by orators and historians,

and consisting in the insertion of one sentence in the midst of another, may seriously
hinder the understanding of a passage, unless the insertion is short.”289
Burmeister says that, “Parembole occurs when at the beginning of a piece two or
more voices carry on the subject of the fugue, and another voice is mingled that
proceeds alongside them without contributing anything pertinent to the nature or
process of fugue. It merely fills vacant spaces in the consonances while those other
voices carry on the fugue.”290
Parembole or Interjectio occurs in FIM when musical inputs become, or are

deliberately made, complements to the overall. Those complementary musical
ideas are made to fit by adopting an also complementary sonic form, either in
the choice of sound or rhythm.
Table 25.
5.3.1.4 Figures of Silence
There is a diversity of opinions with respect to the division in which silences should
be organized. Bartel in his Musica Poetica divides the musical figures of silence into
those signifying a breaking off, or rupture of the musical line, and those signifying
and ensuing silence.291 The problem in taking such a division is that figures such as
pausa and suspiratio, which have totally different objectives, get into the same
289
Quintilian, Institutio VIII. ii. 15.
290
291
Bartel (1997) p. 392.
124
category. Whilst pausa is just a rest with no inherent emotional intention, suspiratio is
the musical equivalent to a sigh, charged with emotional meaning. Thinking about
another kind of division it will be possible to divide the figures of silence into those
used collectively and those used individually. But, by doing so, general pauses such
as aposiopesis would be in the same category as pausa, having both very different
objectives.
After collecting information about the variety of silences used in rhetoric I found
useful to find a way to divide them into two groups: one that appeals to Pathos
(emotion) and others that are not directly aimed to provoke any emotion but just
introduce a rest in the music. The following division was elaborated:
Figures of silence related to Pathos
a) Abruptio An unexpected break in music.
b) Aposiopesis A pause in all voices.
c) Suspiratio A rest that illustrates a musical sigh.
Table 26.
Figures of silence related to rests
d) Pausa A pause or rest in music.
e) Tmesis A fragmentation of a musical sequence by

rests.
Table 27.
At the same time, silences could be divided into three categories:
f) Homoioteleuton General pauses that follow a “cadence”,

finale silentium: Pausa
g) Homoiptoton General pauses in the middle: Aposiopesis
125
h) Homoioarche292 General pause that anticipates the beginning

of the music.
Table 28.
a) Abruptio
Abruptio is strictly an individual interruption. Defined by Virgil as a breaking off in

the middle of a speech,293 abruptio was introduced by Kircher who uses this term
instead of aposiopesis. This term cannot be found in the works of Cicero or Quintilian
for which reason it seems it was invented for its use in music. Kircher explains two
cases of the use of abruptio:
Stylus recitativus: breaking the notes into smaller values
Cadenza: finishing before the bass by placing as last note the fourth of the
dominant (which is the tonic) and leaving the bass to play the tonic alone.
Bartel’s definition is “a sudden and unexpected break in musical composition.”
Abruptio in this research will be referred as an unexpected break in an

individual musical line which has subcategories such as: suspiratio or
stenasmus, tmesis or diacope, parenthesis, anacoluthon, and pausa.
Table 29.
b) Aposiopesis
Aposiopesis, or reticentia, refers to a collective interruption. A general pause closely

related to pathos. Breaking off suddenly in the middle of speaking, usually to portray
being overcome with emotion.294 Burmeister refers to it as “that which imposes a
general silence upon all voices at a specific given sign, as in Orlando’s 5 voice
292
I invented this term to point to the silence before the music begins, which in FIM is of great
importance. It seems to be that the setting of decorum and kairos starts at this point by contacts
made in the group through silence.
293
Cassell’s Latin Dictionary (New York 1968)
294
Silva Rhetoricae – online source.
126
“Angelus ad Pastores”, 5 voice “Surgens Iesus”, 5 voice “Christe patris verbum” and
the third part of his “In principio erat verbum.” Bartel says that it is “usually
encountered in [baroque] compositions whose texts deal with death or eternity….
expressing infinity or nothingness.” He continues saying that, “It can be related to the
figure of interrogatio expressing the silence that follows the question.” 295Walther and
Turingus refer to it as a general silence in all parts and of two kinds, homoioptoton
(general pause without cadence) and homoioteleuton (general pause that follows the
cadence).296
Aposiopesis will refer to the happening of a general pause in the group.
Table 30.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 12 – UNLV06 (aposiopesis1)
 AUDIO SAMPLE 13 – UNLV06 (aposiopesis2)
c) Suspiratio or Stenasmus
Bartel indicates that, “[Suspiratio is] a musical expression of a sigh through a rest.297
Also Kircher tells us that, “through [suspiratio] we express affections of groaning or
sighing with eight or sixteenth rests, which are therefore called suspiria.”298
Suspiratio or Stenasmus is regarded as related to the figure of pathos. It

introduces silences into a musical line to portray emotional states related to
sorrow, anguish, sadness, etc.
Table 31.
295
Bartel (1997) pp. 203-204.
296
Walther (Lexicon), Thuringus (Opusculum p.126).
297
Bartel (1997) p. 393.
298
127
d) Pausa
Kircher thinks that “Pausis is the same as silence. The pausa is appropriately used
when one person instead of many are allowed to speak. It is suitably applied when
someone asks a question or responds to a question, as in the musical dialogues of
Viadana.”299
Also Janovka, Walther, Thuringus and Printz refer to pausa as a silence.300
Pausa is not related to pathos, the pausa refers to the use of rests that allow
breathing, separate phrasing. It is used also to give space to others to perform. It
allows the framing of content rather than having content by itself.
Table 32.
e) Tmesis
Bartel explains that, “Both the musical and the rhetorical tmesis signify a
fragmentation, reflecting the literal meaning of the word as a cut or incision.”301
Tmesis in FIM will be considered as unrelated to pathos, meaning a cut or

incision which divide the music in fragments by placing rests.
Table 33.
f) Homoioteleuton
Quintilian writes that, “The second form occurs when clauses conclude alike, the
same syllabes being placed at the end of each; this correspondence in the ending of
two or more sentences is called homoeoteleuton.”302
299
300
Bartel (1997) pp. 364-365.
301
Bartel (1997) p. 412.
128
Walther says that, “In music the aposiopesis refers to a pausa generalis, or a
complete silence in all voices and parts of the composition simultaneously. This can
occur in two ways: (1) Through a complete silence indicated by a whole- or half-
tactus rest in the middle of a composition following a finalis cadence, which is called
homoeoteleuton; (2) when a similar silence in the middle of a composition through a
whole-, half-, or quarter- tactus rest without a preceding ending or cadence, which is
called homoeoptoton.”303
Homoioteleuton is a general pause that happens after a musical passage that

manifested the intention of coming to an end.
Table 34.
g) Homoioptoton
Thuringus asks the question: “What is homoioptoton? It occurs when a general pause
is simultaneously inserted in all voices of the composition through semibrevis,
minima, or seminima rests. The Italians and French frequently use this figure in
choruses, galliards, madrigals, passamezze, canzonetti, courants, balletti, Auffzügen,
intradas, paduanas, etc., and contemporary composers in dialogues and in
questions.”304
Homoioptoton is a general pause that occurs in the middle of the musical

discourse.
Table 35.
h) Homoioarche
This figure describes the silence previous to the execution of the first sounds in a
session of FIM. I have come with this new figure to describe the active nature of this
302
303
304
129
silence. The beginning of a session of FIM is where the musicians involved are tuned
into perceiving how the first sounds are left to exist, how the initial intentions and
negotiations set up, and how the decorum begins to settle.
Homoioarche is a new figure that refers to the energies present in the silence
prior to the execution of FIM.
Table 36.
5.3.1.5 Figures of Time
a) Kairos To find the appropriate moment for

making a musical input.
b) Memoria The ability to retain many aspects of a

musical input for the sake of latter
access.
c) Prolepsis Or anticipatio, links the gestural

information from the participants to
kairos.
Table 37.
a) Kairos
Kairos is a very complex term with a varied history. Kinneavy tell us that, “it was
Gorgias who made kairos the cornerstone of his entire epistemology, ethics,
aesthetics, and rhetoric.”305 McComiskey says that, “The extant texts reveal that
Gorgia’s epistemology is relativistic, and his correspondent rhetorical methodology
works to seize the opportune moment (kairos) in which certain kinds of language can
be used to unite subjective consciousness into a comunal desire for action.”306 Also,
revealing the intrinsic improvisational character of kairos Erich Charles White writes
305
Kinneavy (1986) p. 222.
306
McComiskey (2002) p. 18.
130
that, “the persuasive force of a speech does not derive from its correspondence to a
pre-existing reality or truth. Truth is relative to the speaker and the immediate context
… The persuasive force of the truth must be renewed at each occasion and cannot
become, therefore, a routine accomplishment.”307
Kairos refers to finding the proper moment to contribute with a musical input
considering the contingencies of a given place and time so that it helps the
group to achieve clarity and eloquence. In this sense, kairos is closely related to
the principles of audience and decorum.
Table 38.
b) Memoria
“Memory is as much tied to the improvisational necessities of a speaker as to the need

to memorize a complete speech for delivery. In this sense Memory is related to
kairos.”308
Talking about jazz, Berliner mentions that “the longer and more complex the
musical idea artists initially conceive, the greater the powers of musical memory and
mental agility required to transform it.”309
Quintilian says that, “… even extempore eloquence, in my opinion, depends on no

mental activity so much as memory. For while we are saying one thing, we must be
considering something else that we are going to say: consequently since the mind is
always looking ahead, it is continually in search on something which is more remote
…”310 Quintilian also says: “For not only what we say and how we say it is of
importance, but also the circumstances under which we say it. It is here that the need
of arrangement comes in. But it will be impossible to say everything demanded by the
307
White (1987) pp. 14-15.
308
Silva Rhetoricae, on-line source accessed on 19/09/2007
http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm
309
Berliner (1994) p. 55.
310
Quintilian, Institutio XI. ii. 3.
131
subject … without the aid of memory.”311 And: “Some regard memory as being no
mere than one of nature’s gifts; … but, like everything else, memory might be
improved by cultivation.”312
One example of a cultivated use of memory was presented by AMM’s concert at

the UEA, the recording of which was released as a CD entitled Norwich.313John
Tilbury’s use of memory is one of the elements that, in my opinion, granted the
eloquence this presentation delivered. To give an example, the music begins with a
careful interchange of minor thirds between Prévost and Tilbury. Next, Prévost, using
a very confirming gesture, makes a resolution playing a semitone downwards from a
note Tilbury first played (Track one; 1:23 – 1:24). The semitone was never repeated
until later on (Track one; 6:56 – 7:06) where Tilbury plays it six times, and four times
more in mirror fashion – epanodos or regressio – immediately after (Track one; 7:20
– 7:26) giving us a sense of structure.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 7 – AMM Norwich (regressio)
 AUDIO SAMPLE 14 – AMM Norwich (memoria)
Memory is then also important for structuring the delivery. In Greece there were
systems called topoi. Herrik tells us that the topoi “probably began as memory
devices and evolved into methods for discovering arguments.”314 In this regard,
Cicero’s concept of loci315 – which means places or backgrounds in Latin – is linked
to the organisation and development of an argument. Herrik informs us, “Mnemonic
(memory) systems involved envisioning physical settings or locations. A rhetor would
311
Quintilian, Institutio III. iii. 2.
312
313
CD Norwich, AMM at UEA, Eddie Prévost and John Tilbury. Matchless Recordings, Essex
2005.
314
Herrik (1997) p. 104.
315
Loci fist appeared in the book Rhetorica ad Herennium. Its author writes: “By backgrounds
[loci] I mean such scenes as are naturally or artificially set off on a small scale…so that we can
grasp and embrace them easily with natural memory – for example, a house, an intercolumnar
space, a recess, an arch or the like. An image is…a portrait of the object we wish to remember.”
Rhetorica ad Herennium, III. xvi. 29.
132
associate arguments in a long oration with locations in, for instance, a familiar public
building, putting each argument literally in its place. Recalling the arguments, then
might involve a mental walk through the building.”316 Loci represent a strategical
device that may help improvisers to link particular moments during the performance
to categories. Frances Yates says that “the commonest, but not the only, type of
mnemonic place system used was the architectural type.317 In this aspect, Quintilian
describes that “it is an assistance to the memory if localities are sharply impressed
upon the mind…For when we return to a place after considerable absence, we not
merely recognise the place itself, but remember things that we did there, and recall the
persons whom we met and even the unuttered thoughts which passed through our
minds when we were there before”318 We may think about the possibility of using
strategies that help us improvisers retain different moments during a performance.
However, we have to keep in mind that, even if Quintilian’s idea of “places” might
become useful as a structuring device, the associations between our memory and
those “places” are to be remembered only through some sort of contextualisation.
Marry Carruthers citing Cicero’s Partitiones oratoriae writes: “[M]emory is in a
manner the twin sister of written speech [litteratura] and is completely similar to it
[persimilis], [though] in a dissimilar medium. For just as script consists of marks
containing letters and of the material on which those marks are imprinted, so the
structure of memory, like a wax tablet, employs places [loci] and in these gathers
together [collocat] images like letters.”319 Although we have to be careful in
contextualising musical moments, I consider this strategy one that is in need of further
investigation to reveal its potential in helping performers with structuring FIM.
Also, in considering memory in the world of today, we need to think about the
changes brought by developments in technology, to which I referred earlier in Chapter
3.4.
316
Herrik (1997) p. 104.
317
Yates (1966) p. 3.
318
319
Carruthers (1990) p. 18.
133
Memoria has to be seen as much more than just memorization of past musical
phrases, motives and melodies. Its concept must extend to helping kairos and
the settlement of eloquence and clarity, and consequently the establishment of
ethical principles such as decorum.
Table 39.
c) Prolepsis or Anticipatio
Quintilian tells us: “Anticipation forms a genus in itself, and has several different
species. One of these is the defence by anticipation, such as Cicero employs against
Quintus Caecilius, where he points out that though previously he himself has always
appeared for the defence, he is now undertaking a prosecution. Another is a form of
confession, such as he introduces in his defence of Rabirius Postumus, where he
admits that he himself regards his client as worthy of cesure for lending money to the
king. Another takes the form of prediction, as in the phrase, ‘For I will say without
any intention of aggravating the charge.’ Again, there is a form of self-correction,
such as, ‘I beg you to pardon me, if I have been carried to far.’ And most frequent of
all, there is preparation, whereby we state fully why we are going to do something or
have done it.”320
Walther in his Lexicon mentions that, “The anticipatione della note or anticipatio
notae, occurs when the upper or lower neighbouring note enters earlier than it
normally would in the ordinary setting. This figure, also called praeceptio and
praesumptio, differs from the accentus duplex only that it is not to be used in leaps,
which the accentus duplex may.”321
Prolepsis can become useful for anticipating what it is going to happen in a group
of FIM by observing the gestures and their connection with producing sound. For
instance, observing the bow of a violin approaching its end or anticipating the taking
of breath by a singer or a wind instrument player, gives the necessary information for
320
Quintilian, Institutio IX. ii. 16-17.
321
134
preparing our playing accordingly. In this sense, this strategy might help in
establishing kairos and therefore the group’s decorum.
Prolepsis or Anticipatio is referred by this investigation as a figure that

influences the musical performance based on the observation of gestures from
other participants.
Table 40.
5.4 The Classical Structure or Dispositio
Quintilian wrote that “the speech consists of five parts, the exordium designed to
conciliate the audience, the statement of facts designed to instruct him, the proof
which confirms our own propositions, the refutation which overthrows the
arguments of our opponents, and the peroration which either refreshes the
memory of our hearers or plays upon their emotions.”322 The author of the
Rhetorica ad Herennium includes an extra part called division which, he says,
makes “clear what matters are agreed upon and what are contested, and
announce[s] what points we intend to take up.”323 For this study, the parts of an
oration are taken as follows:
a) Exordium Or introduction, is aimed to capture the

public’s attention.
b) Narratio Or the statement of facts, exposes the

initial product of the invention.
c) Distributio, Divisio or Partitio Or division, developes what was

exposed in the narratio.
322
Quintilian, Institutio VIII. Pr. 11.
323
Rhetorica ad Herennium. I. ii. 4.
135
d) Confirmatio Or proof, finds in music its parallel by

reformulating what has been presented
in the narratio.
e) Confutatio or Refutatio Or refutation, can be represented in

music by the performance of musical
material of opposite qualities if
compared to the confirmatio.
f) Peroratio or Conclusio Or peroration, points to a musical

“punch line”, which refreshes the
memory appealing to the emotions.
Table 41.
a) Exordium
The exordium is “The introduction of a speech, where one announces the subject
and purpose of the discourse, and where one usually employs the persuasive
appeal of ethos in order to establish credibility with the audience.”324 The
exordium has the objective of preparing the audience for what is about to come;
the narratio. One particular characteristic of the exordium is that it seems to be a
natural manner of performance and that rhetoric acts just as a method to
transform it into a concept. The great majority of introductions performed by
those involved in the laboratories for this investigation demonstrated the
dynamics of the exordium before any musician involved became acquainted with
the meaning of the “rhetorical introduction”. Quintilian wrote, “Some would have
it that rhetoric is a natural gift though they admit that it can be developed by
practice.” And he continues; “Still Lysias is said to have maintained this same
view, which is defended on the ground that uneducated persons, barbarians and
slaves, when speaking on their own behalf, say something that resembles the
324
Silva Rhetoricae, on-line source accessed on 18/10/2007
136
exordium, state the facts of the case, prove, refute and plead for mercy just as an
orator does in his peroration.” According to Burmeister “The exordium is the first
period of affection of the piece. It is often adorned by fugue, so that the ears and
mind of the listener are rendered attentive to the song, and his good will is won
over.” 325 Also, making reference to the importance of the elaboration of a good
exordium, Quintilian writes that “There is no point in the whole speech where
confusion of memory or loss of fluency has a worse effect, for a faulty exordium
is like a face seamed with scars; and he who runs his ship ashore while leaving
port is certainly the least efficient of pilots.”326 In this matter Muffat explains,
“One should refrain from making any noise, and from warming up in too chaotic
a manner. If one fills the air and the ears with this sort of thing before the
Symphony, the distaste which results will nearly overshadow the pleasure which
follows.”327
I would like to give two examples. First, the beginning of Bach’s Mass in B
minor, BWV 232.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 15 – Bach, Kyrie from B minor mass
Bach composed short vocal and instrumental statements around the three
syllables of the word Kyrie, bringing inconclusive phrases until the cadence
resolves with the word eleison.
Next, on the recording of the concert that concluded the project that I directed
at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, an excerpt of Modulus II’s exordium
shows an introduction which was thoroughly rehearsed following the graphical
score (see appendix).
 AUDIO SAMPLE 16 – Modulus II (exordium)
325
326
Quintilian, Institutio IV. i. 61.
327
Muffat (1695) pp. 44-45.
137
Listening to it we can identify elements which in general are short with the
intention of attracting the public closer to the performance. Also, the avoidance
of pathos is evident, since the phrases are played without making the
intentionalities evident.
The next example is of a performance in Dartington where I performed with

the e-recorder with Evan Parker (sax soprano), Hilary Jeffery (trombone and
electronics) and Cléo Palacio Quintin (flute and electronics). In this example
there were no strategies discussed previous to the presentation and none of its
members had played together before in any combination.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 17 - Dartington 2000 (exordium)
In this recording, which is thoroughly analysed in Chapter 7.1, we can perceive a

short exordium in which the elements are also short and sparse. The players are
getting to know each other by sharing the responsibility of elaborating the music
collectively.
b) Narratio
The author of Rhetorica ad Herennium says that, “The Narration or

Statement of Facts sets forth the events that have occurred or might have
occurred.”328 He also tells us that “The statement of facts should be clearly and
plainly delivered, without ‘allurements of style’, but with the charm of variety, or
it will ‘necessarily fall flat’.”329 Mattheson mentions that “The narratio is so to
speak a report, a narration, through which the meaning and character of the
herein-contained discourse is pointed out. It occurs with the entrance or
beginning of the vocal part or the most significant concerted part, and relates to
the exordium, which has preceded, by means of a skilled connection.”330
328
Rhetorica ad Herennium I. iii. 4.
329
Quoted in Tarling (2004). P. 161. Quintilian, Institutio IV. ii. 118.
330
138
The presentation of the main theme in a musical composition may be

compared to the presentation of facts. In FIM it seems that we could consider the
existence of narration after the introduction or exordium, if any, for in some cases
the exordium does not exist and the narration becomes the first part. Also I have
witnessed groups that prior to playing decide how to begin the session and is very
often the case that the reason for this agreement is to avoid the careful “getting to
know each other” by starting directly with some sort of narration. However, since
the only accord was on how to begin, sometimes after a few minutes we perceive
qualities proper of an introduction coming into the performance and developing
towards a second narration. Another issue important to note is that very
frequently the transition between the exordium and the narratio is unnoticeable
due to the gradual expansion of musical material presented from the first into the
second.
c) Distributio
The author of Rhetorica ad Herennium says that, “By means of the Division we
make clear what matters are agreed upon and what are contested, and announce
what points we intend to take up.”331 Mattheson refers to this part as propositio.
He tells us: “The propositio or the actual discourse contains briefly the content or
goal of the musical oration, and is of two sorts: simple or compound, wherein
also belongs the varied or embellished propositio in music, of which nothing is
mentioned in rhetoric.”332 Mattheson next makes a distinction between propositio
simplex, propositio variatam and propositionem compositam. The first reveals a
difference by means of transposition and although the same theme is kept, it
acquires and entirely new strength. The second he calls propositionem variatam
“Whereupon the melody is continued some measures further in [the same] till the
331
Rhetorica ad Herennium. I. ii. 3-iii. 4.
332
139
sense of the text again requires an interruption.”333 The third, propositionem

compositam, is the combination of both the first and the second one.
It is often the case in FIM that, because of the musical debate in which the
performers are involved, some musical “proposals” become denied or do not
succeed in getting a place in the music. Whilst an excess of musical denials may
unbalance the structure, the opposite could help in the achievement of clarity and
eloquence. Therefore, the distributio is referred to by this study as a perception of
the collective engaged in developing musical material previously exposed and in
which the individual roles are collectively building up eloquence. Because of the
collaborative tenor of the distributio in FIM, decorum, kairos, and ethics
represent important factors.
d) Confirmatio
The confirmatio, Mattheson says, “is an artistic corroboration of the discourse,

and in melodies is commonly found in well-conceived repetitions which are used
beyond expectations; this again must not be understood to relate to ordinary
reprises.”334
Proof or confirmation is a figure that is close related to memoria (memory).

One tendency I had during the first stages as free-improviser was to bring the
concept of recapitulation from my classical formal training into the new music I
was performing. This tendency normally manifested itself very strongly towards
the end of the “pieces”. Confirmatio is a structural strategy and is possibly the
easiest figure of memory to achieve since the way we play at the very beginning
of an improvisation is often kept fresh in our memory. In FIM it is possible that
the musical material needs to go through collective confirmation in order to
become an intrinsic part of the performance, which makes the confirmatio also an
ethical device.
333
334
140
e) Confutatio
Confutatio, or refutation, is a strategical structural figure which its strongest

purpose is that of making contrast. In oratory this part is described as one in
which one destroys our adversaries’ arguments.335 Mattheson writes: “The
confutatio is a dissolution of the exceptions, and may be expressed in melody
either through combining, or even through quotation and refutation of foreign-
appearing ideas: For just such antitheses, if they are well stressed, the hearing is
strengthened in its joy, and anything which might run against it in dissonances
and syncopations is smoothed and resolved.”336 The presentation of opposite
musical characteristics can represent a powerful tool for creating structural and
intentional variations. However, it is probably right to say that its use should not
be excessive or otherwise we would enter the territory of vices, more specifically
into Heterogenium, Battologia and/or Bomphiologia.337
f) Peroratio
Quintilian tells us, “The peroration is the most important part of forensic
pleading, and in the main consists of appeals to the emotions.”338 Mattheson says,
“The peroratio is the end or conclusion of our musical oration, which must
produce an especially emphatic impression, more so than all other parts….
Custom has established that in arias we close with almost the very same passages
and sounds with which we have begun: consistent with which then our peroration
is replaced by our exordium.”339
The end of playing a session of FIM is a common agreement between the

performers, which is in general a process subjected to negotiation. However
finishing a set of FIM does not always give the characteristics of a peroratio, for
335
Rhetorica ad Herennium. I. ii. 3-iii. 4.
336
337
See Chapter 5.5.1.1. Stylistic Vices.
338
Quintilian, Institutio IV. ii. 118.
339
141
it sometimes ends in a deconstructive manner fading material and sound into

silence. The peroratio in FIM does not belong to any part in particular. It should
be seen rather as a moment in the music that expresses strong emotions.
5.5 The Virtues of Style: Ethics, Decorum, Kairos and Audience
“Above all it is important that he should never, like so

many, be led by a desire to win applause…”
Marcus Fabius Quintilian
“Give and take on an equal basis is vital to the group’s

existence, the primary condition for its work… A lively mind
and personal modesty in all those taking part are absolutely
vital if a group of composers are to work together successfully.
The result is ensemble playing in which no one participant
overshadows the others, so that common language can found
which is, or becomes, the mode of expression of the group
itself.”
Franco Evangelisti
In order to enter a discussion on issues that involve ethics and, as I have

previously suggested, understand how FIM’s style originates, it might be useful
to grasp the factors that have conditioned this practice to employ the materials it
uses and the intersubjective behaviour it adopts. It is possible that one of the most
important issues that conditioned the advent of this practice was the “liberation”
of the interpreter from the controlling power exerted by music composition. For
making a focus on ethics in this practice, I will present some background
elements which I believe have influenced FIM.
One of the characteristics of changes in art is that it divides people into those
who encourage the change and those who are against it. Jazz, for example, was
not accepted as a true black folk music because the element of commercialism
was seen as “so conspicuous and invasive that one might question whether any
‘folk’ had ever been involved with jazz at all.”340 We should not forget that the
340
Kalaidjian (2005) p. 159.
142
movement of free jazz in the USA was also strongly criticized by defenders of
the black jazz tradition. They saw this new way of expressing through music as
one that was permeated by white European avant-garde elements. But it seems
that always where prejudice arises so does the power of cooperation and
collaboration. Discussing essays by Michael Dessen and Jason Stanyek, Monson
tells us that they “illustrate that, far from distancing themselves from issues of
relationship to African and African-American tradition and history, contemporary
African diasporic intercultural collaborations demonstrate how experimental
projects can lead to more expansive understanding of the relationships among
history, racial oppression, and community building through music.”341 There also
seems to be the tendency of some people to identify themselves with other cases
of abuse of power and discrimination. Daniel Fischlin and Ayay Heble write:
“[William] Parker, an African–American playing in an ensemble integrated
across both racial and gender boundaries, envisions the music of ‘The Peach
Orchard’,342 radically dissonant and improvisatory as it is, as a way of
memoralizing the loss of the Navaho…in a gesture of solidarity and kindship
with that loss.”343 That socio-political aspects have had influence upon music is
well documented, but how much it has influenced improvised music’s remains to
be studied. Although it is certain that they influence FIM, the question remains
how much effect comes from socio-political factors and how much from the
natural dynamics of human collaboration. However, I think it is important to
acknowledge that empathy with collaborative ethical values and the sharing of
those principles between musicians support, in some way or another, the
commitment to establishing ethics as the important element it represents in FIM.
The AACM (The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians),

for instance, was formed by pianists Muhal Richard Abrams and Jodie Christian,
341
Monson (2004) pref/xii.
342
The liner notes of The Peach Orchard writes that this music draws its inspiration from events
that took place on the Navaho land, where the United States Army pushed the Navaho tribe
violently out of their homelands. The Navaho lost everything, including their cherished peach
orchard.
343
Fischlin and Heble (2004) p.1.
143
drummer Steve McCall, and trumpeter Phil Cohran in 1965 with the intention of
“(1) creating a situation where a brand music of their own choice could be
produced, and (2) maintaining self-reliance and control over the music.”344
Douglas Ewart, who joined the AACM in 1967, tells us that the creation of the
AACM was necessary because “the climate of that time was one in which
musicians, particularly those that were being adventurous, were being shut out, in
a sense…. And then on top of it there were a number of things afoot in Chicago
to really prevent certain kinds of music from taking place because of its unifying
aspects…. They had laws in Chicago actually that prevented bands from having
more than a trio or duo.”345 It seems to me obvious that these restrictions
encouraged deeper collaboration between artists with the commitment of
embracing a motto such as “united we stand”.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the advent of the European free
improvisation movement was also conditioned by many conflicts between
defenders of traditionalistic views and those with progressive ideals. Also, events
such as the rise of fascism and the two world wars created the circumstances for
many to strive for the existence of equality, solidarity, and for respecting ethical
principles in the pursuit of liberty and justice. Back in 1916, Dada, for example,
stood as an artistic expression aimed to provoke manifestations in the public to
make them aware of the false morality and all the issues that they thought
conditioned the war to happen. Later on, music went through this liberalisation
process which produced the most radical sort of improvisation as an aesthetic
opposition to a situation seen as suppressed, brought by radical compositional
formalisms from Western European music. The New Phonic Art ensemble
praised, for instance, for the “freedom from the ‘dictatorship’ of the score and the
consequential greater involvement of the interpreter in the musical shaping of the
344
ISIM (International Society for Improvised Music) Newsletter Summer 2007 Vol. 3, No. 2, p.
4. A Word from the Advisory Council, Interview with Douglas Ewart of the AACM, by Karlton
Hester.
345
Ibid.
144
piece.”346 Also, pointing to the important changes brought by FIM, Evangelisti

observes that, “Just as Wagner’s magical chords brought about a crisis in the
tonal system, and as Schoenberg’s twelve-tone technique, with the evolution of
serial music to which it gave rise, formed the extreme limits of the tempered
system and its ultimate syntactic order, so the ‘open form’ – as a logical
development of the idea of variation, which here extends to the variation of the
form itself – brings to fulfilment the system of Western music founded in the
tempered scale and its sources of musical creation…True, the figure of hitherto
known as the composer is completely robbed of the myth which has surrounded
him.”347 Thus, the responsibility for creation shifted from a single human being to
one of collective qualities and responsibilities. Evangelisti continues saying that
FIM is a “free kind of music…made in the spirit of mutual tolerance, whereby
the musical intuition of each individual is entirely responsible for the form the
work takes.”348 On the other hand, Boulez, in his article Alea, states that
compositions which offer the performer with the possibility to deal with the
invention, by following a diversity of choices for schematisation, are “poisonous
and insidious” and even refers to them as “the new ‘diabolus in musica’.” He
goes on to propose a “guided chance” justifying the constraints that might be
implicit as necessary to guide freedom “since ‘instant’ imagination misfires more
often that it fires; and anyway such freedom has less to do with invention in the
proper sense than with the practicalities of invention.” Boulez also presents the
supposition that with his approach to controlled chance he is actually “glorifying
the performer!” and not presenting anything similar to the idea of a “robot-
performer, but one who is interested and free in his choices.”349
What I am trying to imply here is that those conflicts between tradition and
change, plus the political and social issues, represent forces that may have helped
346
Evangelisti (1969).
347
Evangelisti (1969).
348
Evangelisti (1969).
349
Stocktakings from an Apprenticeship (Oxford, 1991) Alea pp.26 – 38, originally published in
La Nouvelle Revue Française, 59 (1957).
145
to the establishment of ethics as the strong element it represents in the practice of

FIM. To establish one’s ethos, James May tells us that the speaker must exhibit
phronesis (intelligence, good sense), arete (virtue), and eunoia (goodwill).350
Moreover, if we focus on the Greek idea of separating time into chronos (of
quantitative nature) and kairos (of qualitative importance), we could think of the
second as dependent on ethics. In the case of FIM, kairos is represented by the
act of finding the proper moment to make a musical contribution, connecting the
practical objective part of the performance with the subjective mechanisms of
social relations. At the same time, kairos is related to the principle of decorum -
which is the ethical attitude that relates behaviour to the situation and the
audience, and which searches for the existence of optimal conditions for the
realization of the activity – and memoria – which allows the storing of objective
elements for structuring the music but, most importantly, permits the improviser
to retain the qualities of social interaction so as to build the performance
ethically.
At this point it is important to make clear that the existence of “good” rhetoric
and ethics in FIM should not be understood as a force that would produce
specific musical aesthetics. Look at the contemporary cultural reactions,
revolutions and transformations through the view put forward by Fischlin and
Heble. They perceive “the world as it has been molded by a restricted, perverse
knowing, one shaped by post-Enlightenment, technocratic, and bureaucratic
systems of governance, themselves based on exploitation, slavery, militarization,
historical amnesia, and restriction of freedoms in the name of order and
progress.” From this point of view, it is then that expressions permeated with
extreme aggressive content can be understood as a logical defensive reaction.
Humans, like any other animal, respond sometimes hotheadedly to the feeling of
being cornered by menacing, powerful forces, combined with the frustration of
feeling powerless to change the situation.
350
Quoted on Herrik (1997). James M. May, Trials of Character: Eloquence of Ciceronian Ethos
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 2.
146
We could also consider as “ethical” the interpretation of compositions in

accordance with their style. Advice given to interpreters of written music such as
“make the piece your own”, or “feel yourself” while performing require, in my
opinion, a previous knowledge of the circumstances in which the piece was
created, and an interpretation of the components of the piece in accordance with a
previous understanding of the style. Furthermore, playing a piano piece by
Mozart, for example, requires not only the technical command of the instrument,
knowledge of the style and clarity of interpretation, but making somehow all that
learning work for you in a quasi-subconscious level, that is, “making the piece
your own”. Borgo mentions that “[Anthony] Davis finds that jazz players can
move from a ‘dependence on articulating the form’ to ‘using the form, realizing
that [the tune structure] is the beginning of something and you have to create
something else…. They have to do more than just keep time, they have to
articulate time…. They can make melodic choices that are at least as strong as the
melody that was there before.’”351 Naturally, there can also be various levels of
consistency in the interpretation of music depending, among other things, on the
fluidity with which this person extemporises using that knowledge, or, in
rhetorical terms, on clarity and eloquence. If we now think about it in terms of
free improvisation, in the context of the absence of elements like a composer,
time of composition and a score, nobody should be capable of recognising
anything particular in this spontaneous way of making music. Indeed, it has
sometimes been argued that FIM is a practice that lacks a recognisable style.352
However, if the “free” does not mean that the performer does whatever he
pleases,353 then there is the need of some kind of understanding between the
performers in order to build something collectively. Consequently, this
understanding between one another seems to suggest that ethics is crucial for
351
Borgo (2005) p. 186.
352
Ford indicates that, “free improvisation, in theory at least, knows no style.” Ford (1995).
353
Benson (2003) p. 167.
147
defining the manners in which improvisers work, and that ethics may be
important in shaping FIM’s musical characteristics, or style.354
It seems that the uniqueness of the style in FIM is generated by the dynamism
created between the res-verba or Logos-lexis355 or, in other words, the relation
between content and form. When the content (res) is pre-composed, the role of
form or style (verba) is to communicate the content with clarity and eloquence.
However, in FIM, the role of verba appears not to be restricted just to the
communication of content, but partly influential in shaping the content (res)
itself. If we now make a comparison between FIM and the practice of rhetoric in
improvised oratory, we could see that whilst in oratory the content is represented
by the meaning of words, in improvised music the content is not fixed by a pre-
composed musical idea. Also, improvising the musical invention does not
provide anything as definite, qua meaning, as the context of a word. This
indicates that due to the lack of fixed meaning, the interplay between res and
verba has a different dynamism in improvised music than in improvised oratory.
Content and form in FIM shape the overall musical result by continuously
influencing and changing each other. Since content is something negotiable
between the members of the group, and also influenced by the manners in which
the delivery is been executed by those members, the style of the music is a
representation of those ethical interactions. Those interactions correspond to the
354
Ford also observes that “Each player listens and contributes to the formation of a collective
sound, which is in a constant state of becoming music, and this sound-becoming-music, in turn,
shows the way for each player to proceed. Like the manner in which cats' eyes constantly reveal
themselves in a car's headlights, this is a provisional style, a way that knows no being, but only
becoming. The movement from individual to collective and back to individual music is not really
cyclic or processual, but I know no other way to express it. At its most successful this virtual
movement is not known as movement at all, for it does not unfold in time. When collective
freedom finds its voice in musical improvisation, the relationship between individual and
collective becomes a static, though modulating unity. Individual freedom may well be lost, but
what is promised is the most extraordinary union of minds in music, a union that dissolves and
assumes ethics, pleasure and aesthetic experience into itself.” Ford (1995)
355
“Aristotle phrased this as the difference between logos (the logical content of a speech) and
lexis (the style and delivery of a speech). Roman authors such as Quintilian would make the same
distinction by dividing consideration of things or substance, res, from consideration of verbal
expression, verba.” Silva Rhetoricae, on-line source accessed on 26/08/2007
http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Encompassing%20Terms/Content%20and%20Form.htm
148
idea of decorum in which the initiatives have to be taken blindly without

knowing if they are going to be reciprocated. Now, if we add to this interactivity
the fluency achieved by training and experience, perhaps the chances of
reciprocity could increase since the musician would have the possibility to know
what and where to place his/her musical interventions more effectively following
the principle of kairos and, therefore, contributing with the establishment of a
consistent res-verba. In other words, the interactive dynamics between content
and form are built through kairos following the group’s decorum through the
intricate ethics of musical debate. Also it is very possible that the decorum may
be subjected to change when negotiations are taking place. It may be the case that
the presentation of FIM’s human interactive dynamics can produce elements that,
in time, become familiar to the listeners establishing what we call a style. In FIM,
if style depends on res-verba then it depends also on the collective elaboration of
the invention and on the collective delivery, which at the same time trigger, as I
discussed previously, potential changes influenced by the audience’s feedback.
However, the world of rhetoric should not be seen as one that through ethics
and decorum provides dynamics solely derived from smooth and agreeable
behaviours. Maybe we can consider ethics as an intrinsic element in creating
music through negotiating diverse understandings. This idea harmonises with a
postmodernist idea in which, unlike the modernist view of order and stability,
knowledge is dependent on interpretation and the idea of disagreement becomes
essential for a meaningful understanding. Fred Frith tells us: “I think conflict is
very valuable. It’s one useful way to progress. ... As long as you proceed with
mutual respect, you don’t have to have identical opinions, feelings, or ways of
doing things. It would be sad if we did.”356 Moreover, inside the negotiations
inherent in the dynamics of FIM, some of the apparent musical reciprocity could
be the result of dynamics derived from the interaction between dominator and
dominated. This interplay of power is necessary to permit individuals the chance
356
Interview with Fred Frith by Charity Chan. http://quasar.lib.uoguelph.ca/in
ex.php/csieci/article/view/293/617 accessed on 17/04/2008.
149
of allowing resistance to emerge, which, as previously explained, could be

beneficial for establishing a dynamic variety and depth in the music being
presented. Initiatives by the members of a group of FIM solidify their importance
after being presented. Some of them might tacitly change the course of
performance regardless of the intention of its creator, which is an indication that
in FIM the “meaning” of individual musical inputs can also be defined by the
collaborators rather than the person who created them. Also, the various
intensities of “musical disagreements” might have positive and negative effects.
While a positive disagreement contributes to necessary resistance, analogous to a
sort of positive discussion, and so helps to reach deeper and richer interactive
dynamics, a negative input can make the music collapse.357
One example of applied ethics through a rhetorical perspective in music is

found in the decorum of the first formal division of the dispositio, called
exordium (prologue). The exordium is commanded by principles of ethos (ethics)
and logos (logic) avoiding the use of pathos - related to human emotions. The use
of the latter would signify trying to build trust by employing artifices directed to
move emotions, which because of being a rather manipulative manner creates an
invalid trust. Instead, the building of trust should be exercised by appealing to the
intellect with the use of logic and, by so doing, complying with the first principle,
ethos. In other words, the role of the exordium is to establish trust from the
audience by using ethics and logic without appealing to human emotions. The
objective is to avoid resorting to using dramatic passionate gadgets in order to
gain trust from the audience, considered as being against the principle of honesty
proper of decorum. From another perspective, one that is closely related to
individual behaviour, Quintilian writes: “But these creatures have another
weapon in their armoury: they seek to obtain the reputation of speaking with
greater vigour than the trained orator by means of their delivery. For they shout
on all and every occasion…panting, gesticulating wildly and wagging their heads
357
An example of musical collapse can be listened in the CDR1, track 18 - bomphiologia.
150
with all the frenzy of a lunatic.”358 The artificiality of delivery is sometimes

explored in music in general as a weapon of persuasion. Examples come in great
variety, from shaking heads and closing eyes to moving the body demonstrating
the greatest ecstasy. Quintilian continues telling us that “the educated speaker,
just as he knows how to moderate his style, and to impart variety and artistic
form to his speech, is an equal adept in the matter of delivery and will suit his
action to the tone of each portion of his utterances, while, if he has any one canon
for universal observance, it is that he should both posses the reality and present
the appearance of self-control.”359 Cicero in De Oratore observes, “No single
kind of oratory suits every cause or audience or speaker or occasion.”360 This
might point to the need of adapting to the environment at the moment of the
activity, and at the same time to the need of ethics for the construction of a
consistent discourse in improvisational practices.
Talking about the audience, Bailey is of the opinion that “improvisation’s

responsiveness to its environment puts the performance in a position to be
directly influenced by the audience.”361 He also affirms that, “Undeniably, the
audience for improvisation, good or bad, active or passive, sympathetic or
hostile, has power that no other audience has. It can affect the creation of that
which is being witnessed. And perhaps because of that…the audience for
improvisation has a degree of intimacy with the music that is not achieved in any
other situation.”362 On the other hand, it is interesting to observe that although
Ford’s view of FIM proposes “a practice that foregrounds an interactionist
ethics”363 that is, however, “not a chaos of individual wills, but a product of
358
Quintilian, Institutio II. xii. 9.
359
Quintilian, Institutio II. xii. 10.
360
Cicero, De Oratore 3.55.210: ‘… non omni causae nec auditori neque personae neque tempori
congruere orationis unum genus.’
361
Bailey (1992) p. 44.
362
Ibid.
363
Ford (1995) pp. 103-112.
151
concentrated listening,”364 he judges FIM as unsuitable for audiences, therefore

closing the doors for discussing the possibility of having artistic appreciation and
eventual feedback from the listeners. He insists that “whilst this [free-
improvisation] is certainly a musical activity it does not accord with our
conception of art as an object intended, at least in part, for another. In this sense,
free collective improvisation is unsuitable for audiences, who will find
themselves unable to 'tune in' to sounds that only become music through
participation. Audiences are likely to feel like eavesdroppers on a conversation in
an unknown language.” Ford seems to deny that FIM can produce products of
artistic value that can be appreciated by listeners in similar aspects to the
appreciation of other kinds of music.
It may be true that there is a close link between behaviour and material and an
intrinsic influence by the audience in the performance of FIM. However,
Quintilian also mentions circumstances that entail a disadvantage. He writes that,
“On the other hand, it will sometimes also happen that an audience whose taste is
bad will fail to award the praise which is due to the most admirable
utterances.”365 I can think of different ways to react to negative audiences. One is
to expose more and more clarity with the hope of overcoming obstacles and
putting through the intentions, as somehow training the audience. Another one is
to increase the levels of intensity taking the risk of entering the territory of vices.
Yet another possibility is to ignore the public and retreat to perceive just the
group interactivity. Then again, we ought to be careful not to engage in the
delivery without compromise, striving solely for a preoccupation to reach an
audience’s acceptation, for that would be the most unethical of all. Quintilian is
of the opinion that, “For my own part I would not hesitate to assert that a
mediocre speech supported by all the power of delivery would be more
impressive than the best speech unaccompanied by such power.”366 So, it appears
364
Ibid.
365
Quintilian, Institutio X. i. 19.
366
Quintilian, Institutio XI. iii. 5.
152
that although rhetoric offers a means to achieve acceptance from the audience it
can become a temptation to some to achieve recognition without being
preoccupied with the elaboration of any consistency in content. I refrain myself
from giving examples of products destined solely to achieve public acceptance
since they abound today.
In this section we have discussed factors that I believe have influenced making
ethics a central element in FIM. I have described the historical and sociopolitical
aspects and how they might affect this practice. I have also set out comments and
descriptions of FIM phrased by early pioneers, revealing how the shift towards a
collective way of making music sponsored a confrontation between tradition and
change. Furthermore, I have shown how the relationship between content and
form (res-verba) in FIM is sui generis, and how a method aimed to discern its
dynamics should be flexible. I hope that by having brought out all those elements
out into the open it becomes clear that it is possible to develop a rhetorical theory
for the analysis of FIM, and – through the inherent flexibility of interpretation of
such a method – to develop deeper grounds for its discussion and practice.
5.5.1 Vices
The intention of Musick is not only to please the Ear, but to

express Sentiments, strike the Imagination, affect the Mind, and
command the Passions. The Art of playing the Violin consists in
giving the Instrument a Tone that shall in a manner rival the
most perfect Human Voice; and in executing every Piece with
Exactness, Propriety, and delicacy of Expression according to
the true intention of Musick. But as for imitating the Cock,
Cuckoo, Owl, and other birds; or the Drum, French Horn,
Tromba-Marina, and the like; and also sudden Shifts of the
Hand from one Extremety of the Finger-board to the other,
accompanied with Contortions of the Head and Body, and all
other such Tricks rather belong to the Professors of
Legerdemain and Posture-masters than to the Art of Musick.367
Francesco Geminiani
367
Geminiani (1751) Preface.
153
One recurrent issue in jazz is the notion of the cliché. Pre-composed patterns
which are taken from respectable performers end up, according to Lewis, in the
classicization and canonization of the practice. Lewis also points that “the
recrudescence of earlier forms of jazz improvisation has received wide support
from corporate print, electronic and recording media conglomerates, as well as
from changes in the curatorial hierarchy at well-heeled high-culture presenting
organizations, such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.”368 So it seems that
parallel to the dogmatization of musical areas, which are above all based on
principles of tradition, there is a by-product represented by the repetition of
known devices, or clichés, explored by the music business companies.
Again, in the example of the student playing spoons at the laboratory at UC

Santa Barbara,369 at a certain point during the performance, one that was to
become a short epilogue, this specific musical input – the spoons – was
responsible for halting the performance. After analysing this episode I concluded
that this intervention corresponded to what, in rhetoric, is called a vice.
Analogically, in improvisation a vice can indicate a habit, or a cliché. In the
particular case of UCSB’s student playing the spoons, his input had no
connection with anything happening, which in principle shouldn’t per se be a
problem. The problem was the lack of expressiveness of such a device being used
as if it were capable of consistent eloquence. In this case, the action fell onto the
use of the so-called macrologia, using more words than are necessary in the
attempt to appear eloquent, and bomphiologia, or the exaggeration done in a self-
aggrandising manner. Both, macrologia and bomphiologia, are figures of excess
and superfluity.370
368
Zorn (2000) p. 82.
369
CDR1, track 18 - bomphiologia.
370
Silva Rhetoricae, on-line source.
154
5.5.1.1 Stylistic Vices
a) Apathy Indifference that results in a lack or

inconsistent participation.
b) Battologia Vain repetition.
c) Bomphiologia Exaggeration done in a self-

aggrandising manner.
d) Heterogenium Avoid developing ideas further by

presenting another idea.
e) Homiologia Tedious repetition.
f) Parrhesia To play candidly can sometimes

represent a vice.
g) Soraismus To mix different styles without skill.
Table 42.
Next I will give a short description of what those vices represent. Some are
illustrated with musical examples from the projects that I have conducted.
a) Apathy
This condition reveals a lack of interest that sometimes becomes the

manifestation of the frustration in finding the necessary “channels” for creating
music. Normally it leads to dullness, impassivity and indifference.
b) Battologia
We could think of this vice as one of smaller scale if compared with homiologia.
It can refer to a repetition which is disconnected from the principle of kairos and
that either happens by repeating our own material or by the imitation of other
performers in the group.
155
c) Bomphiologia
Is a figure of amplification by which an exhibitionist behaviour is put forward

with the sole intention of drawing attention to himself, possibly believing that by
adopting this mannerism conquering the audience’s acceptance is granted.
However, this vice can also be the result of naïveté which can lead to an excess
of experimentation combined with a lack of integration.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 18 – UCSB 2007 (bomphiologia)
d) Heterogenium
This vice is typical of those who have little experience in FIM. Heterogenium
could be the result of the process of continuous abandoning musical ideas for
new ones before they have “served” the performance. This action may come as
an indication of the lack of proficiency or experience of the improviser.
e) Homiologia
It can refer to a constant repetition of the same musical material or to the

continuous imitation of someone else’s musical input only for the sake of
showing interaction.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 19 – Dartington 2000 (homiologia)
f) Parrhesia
This vice might be illustrated by those who out of lack of courage, excess of
modesty, or even shame, refrain themselves to follow eventual places during the
performance that require the adoption of risks where the music is outspoken.
g) Soraismus
“To mingle different languages affectedly or without skill.”371 I could see, and
have witnessed, FIM performances including sometimes “quotes” of recognisable
371
Silva Rhetoricae, on-line source accessed on 22/04/2008,
156
styles. However, if this is not done with artistry and tuned with kairos it may be a
risk to create an undesirable unbalance.
However, we can consider the use of the stylistic vices in a constructive way,
whereby deliberately using them we expose their intentional power in order to
extend variation or increase expectation. For instance, apathy could be employed
to strengthen the desire for a more consistent musical passage or soraismus could
be used in a manner that evokes humour, as in the example from the project at the
University of Nevada Las Vegas.372
372
CDR1, track 30.
157
6 How Rhetoric Addresses the Unspoken in FIM
Descriptions of emotions felt while listening to music are

usually apocryphal and misleading. If they are to be used at all,
they must be analyzed and considered in the light of a general
theory of the relation of musical stimuli to emotional responses.
Leonard B. Meyer
Approaching FIM by acknowledging the existence of a discourse allows us to

focus on it as a human practice that involves a communication process and where
its qualities are defined by judging the effect of its “message”. As we know, the
performer of composed music has already the basic structural and sonic elements
preset in the score. Consequently, the criticism of a performance of composed
music is going to be based upon what could be judged as a successful or
unsuccessful reproduction of those elements. When those elements are absent
from the performance, a critical perception of the music has to be based on other
aspects. This includes, as in composed music, the instrumental dexterity and
fluency of discourse or eloquence of the performers. However, those components
acquire unique characteristics when they are bound to the dynamics of FIM. It
seems that individual eloquence is dependent on the fact that the musical
discourse in FIM has to be built cooperatively. The advantage of embracing
rhetoric for the development of an analysis of FIM is that it allows us (a) to
understand the social characteristics of the group interactivity involved in
collective creation and (b) to learn about the intentions put through sounds or at
least to speculate about the content of the communication. The first considers the
necessity of an individual awareness of the social equilibrium, based on the
rhetorical/ethical principle of decorum, so as to build group eloquence. The
second acknowledges the possibility of understanding the intentionalities through
the use of Figurenlehren. In the performance of FIM, issues like (a) pitch, rhythm
and dynamic complementarities, (b) the interactivity of individual inventions and
(c) the construction of a collective eloquence, are interconnected, dependent on
one another and conducted by an ethical force integrated by positive qualities
158
such as humility, collaboration, good will and positive humour, which represent
the basis for FIM’s decorum. Borgo is of the opinion that being a good
improviser is in important ways the same as being a good citizen - expressing
oneself but also allowing others to be heard; working towards a mutually
acceptable goal; acknowledging that everything will not always go your own
way. In response to my question about eloquence in FIM he referred to it as a
quality of interactions rather than playing. If we focus on FIM from this angle,
rhetoric becomes a suitable area of knowledge to establish a critical examination
because it concentrates on the analysis of materials produced by the spontaneity
of FIM’s performances through the inherent intensity of those materials, how
they are made to interact, and how they are projected to the audience. The sonic
outer layers then, signify just a kind of entrance for deliberating on deeper
interactive levels. When several intentionalities are created, they intermingle so
as to present a collective result. Therefore, we ought to base our judgment not
only on the sound material, but also on a key component that is the pedestal of
any collaborative creation: ethics.
Ethics introduces a parallel observation level to the auditory aspects. It is

possible to examine the dynamics at play between the members of a group of
improvisation focusing on the action-reaction processes and on the physical
movements. Ethics also determines the so-called appropriateness, or kairos,
which is the driving force involved in choosing for the right moment to make a
musical input. “The occasion chosen for saying anything is at least as important a
consideration as what is actually said.”373 As mentioned before, one of the
examples of inconsistent contribution comes from the laboratory I conducted at
UC Santa Barbara where, in a session of music improvisation, there was an
obvious discomfort felt by the members of the ensemble. This discomfort came
373
Quintilian, Institutio XI. i. 7.
159
as result of a musical input made by one of the members of the group who
introduced sound material that caused the sudden stop of the performance.374
If we listen to it adopting a rhetorical angle we can point that this

interpreter’s musical input caused the breaking of the fundamental element of
decorum and kairos, which is to fit to each other, to the circumstances and
occasion. David Borgo mentions that, “Dramatists…frequently argue that
humans are too skilled in suppressing action.”375 He continues giving Keith
Johnstone’s opinion that, “All the improvisation teacher has to do is to reverse
this skill and he creates very gifted improvisers. Bad improvisers block action,
often with a high degree of skill. Good improvisers develop action.” 376 So it
seems that the idea of blocking action presented by Keith Johnstone harmonizes
with the rhetorical action of breaking with decorum.
In FIM, one of the differences from a performance of composed music is that

the improviser is liable to change the course of events dramatically by perceiving
the music he is creating and the effect of it in the audience and/or in the co-
creators. As a consequence, because in the improvised environment there is a
need to develop the invention, there may be the tendency to have a greater
conscious dynamic than in the performance of composed music, where the
invention is set in the score. This makes the musical activity more complex for
the performer since there are more elements to consider in the attempt to achieve
balance between the conscious and the subconscious aspects of performing.
Although the subconscious dynamism can be compared with the one which is
involved in the interpretation of compositions, the conscious aspect represents a
much more complicated issue for the performer of FIM than for the interpreter of
written music, because of the necessity of creating the material, organizing it, and
at the same time expressing it objectively. Borgo is of the opinion that the
establishing the so-called group-flow “can depend on the level of familiarity
374
CDR1 – track 18.
375
Borgo (2005) p. 185.
376
Johnstone (1979) p. 95.
160
between the participants, and it requires musicians and actors to resolve aspects
of conscious and nonconscious performance in order to achieve a balance
appropriate to the moment.”377 This issue of listening/reasoning is crucial for the
development of new strategies during an improvised performance. However,
searching for those strategies should not compromise the balance between both
the conscious and the subconscious levels. It seems that to make this balance
possible it is necessary to deal effectively with time. The less time the performer
spends in perceiving the outside world, the more time is left to engage deeper in
the musical activity. So, the immediate strategy points towards finding a way to
perceive the world around you in a faster way or in a manner that does not
compromise the depth of subconscious expressive activity. Quintilian insists that,
“Further attention of the mind must be directed not to some one thing, but
simultaneously to a number of things in continuous sequence. The result will be
the same as when we cast our eyes along some straight road and see at once all
that is on and near it, obtaining a view not merely of its end, but of the whole way
there.”378 In this respect, I believe that rhetoric can help in saving time at the
moment of sonic perception by allowing the improviser to make use of a
preparatory training of connecting the observations to intentionalities, or even
sequences of them, in order to use time more effectively and therefore increasing
the chances of being eloquent. This may be the natural way it works in many
fluent skilled improvisers anyway. However, if we take this matter and
acknowledge it as part of the improviser’s expressive apparatus, and one that
could be developed by training, we might come to perceive the light shed by it
and consider it as a possible method for better understanding FIM’s intrinsic
components.
If rhetoric is perceived as a flexible system for discussing human

communicative dynamics by acknowledging that language and music are systems
that exist in order to serve a particular purpose in human communication and
377
Borgo (2005) p. 184.
378
Quintilian, Institutio X. vii. 16.
161
interactivity, it would be possible to see it as inextricable from social and political

contexts. “Rhetoric and Society rests on the assumption that rhetoric is both an
important intellectual discipline and a necessary cultural practice that is
profoundly implicated in a large array of other disciplines and practices, from
politics to literature to religion.”379 Haynes affirms: “rhetoric is remarkably
adaptable. It can be applied over a spectrum from writing style to dance. In music
it has several facets. Since it serves as a framework of form (with sections like
dispositio, pronuntiatio, etc.), it is useful in establishing and analyzing structure,
both large-scale (like whole pieces) and small-scale (like figures).” He continues,
explaining: “rhetoric also acts as a kind of hermeneutics or narrative, providing
handles for understanding music’s meaning, in ways parallel to discursive
thought, stories, and descriptions of emotional states. And it provides performers
with a rationale for making emotional contact with their listeners.” 380
Both the notion of creativity and the practice of oratory are primarily
considered individual activities. However, when we engage in the analysis of a
practice such as FIM, we ought to consider a new set of dynamisms caused by its
inherent social collaborative aspects. As has been shown, the creative product in
FIM depends on the collective. Borgo tells us that, “During collective
improvisation, in both theater and music, [ideas] also become externalized into a
group process. When one performer introduces an idea, the other performers may
or may not decide to shift the performance in order to incorporate this new
idea.”381 The elements that I have discussed seem to point out that in order to
develop a satisfactory theory for analysing FIM it is necessary to incorporate
aspects parallel to music analysis, such as the intersubjective conflicts and
harmonies brought by decisions taken by the participants, and the various
possible changes induced by collaborators and the audience. As we saw
previously, there are social aspects inherent in the rhetorical components of
379
Kenneth (1994), foreword by Wayne A. Rebhorn, p. 1.
380
Haynes (2007) p. 166.
381
Borgo (2005) p. 184.
162
invention, arrangement, expression, memory, and delivery. However, how could

we convert a discipline originally intended as an individual practice into one with
the intrinsic collaborative creative dynamics such as FIM? To justify the use of
rhetoric in a collective activity we have to consider, firstly, a focus on the
contemporary concept of rhetoric – which asks the question of what rhetoric can
be, instead of what rhetoric is – secondly, a recognition that the negotiations
between the group of FIM are embedded in ethical issues – such as decorum and
kairos – and, thirdly, an acknowledgement that the ethical issues used for
establishing trust and an effective communication are intrinsic to rhetorical
studies. Also, I find it important to consider the dissimilarity between oratory and
music in terms of meaning and the achievement of clarity. For example, if we
think about simultaneous preachings by orators, the result would be nothing more
than confusion where none of the spoken parts would be understood. In the case
of music, even if communication is made through several simultaneous layers of
sound – in a sort of counterpoint – it can be possible to perceive each of the
layers.
In summary, I believe that rhetorical thinking is of great use for the

processes of creation in which the performers of FIM are involved. The idea is to
consciously develop a manner of playing that moves audiences through mastering
the art of musical declamation, the achievement of eloquence and clarity, and
through the guardians of truth and honesty represented by ethics and decorum.
Rhetoric is presented by this investigation as a theoretical, creative and
pedagogical device for investigating the instrumental and the performative
aspects of FIM.
163
PART III – HEURISTIC DISCOVERIES
7 Individual Experiences
7.1 The e -recorder
The early steps in electronic composition in The Netherlands were taken in the
early nineteen fifties. The first electronic studio was the Philips Physics
Laboratory in Eindhoven where Dick Raaijmakers (born 1930), a piano teacher
who graduated from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, started to work at the
department of radio and television (1954). Two years later he became an assistant
at the new electronic music studio in the acoustics department. At the end of
1960, collaboration between the Philips Lab and the University of Utrecht led to
the creation of the first university Studio of Electronic Music, STEM. After
leaving STEM in 1962 Raaijmakers and the electronic music composer Jan
Boerman opened a private studio in The Hague. Finally, in 1966 STEM became
the Institute of Sonology at the Royal Conservatory that has become one of the
most important centres of electroacoustic music in Western Europe.
Michael Barker, who studied with both Raaijmakers and Boerman in the
period from 1982 to 1987, became my teacher in 1994 and my mentor a year
later, when I asked for guidance in the development of an interactive recorder. He
had already made several attempts in putting electronic devices on recorders. The
one that attracted my attention was a square contrabass instrument made by
Paetzold (Germany) that he modified in cooperation with STEIM (Studio for
Electro Instrumental Music). The size of the instrument and its flat surfaces
offered the possibilities for the installation of electronic components. Soon I
acquired my own Paetzold contrabass and, with the guidance of Barker, started to
apply ideas of my own. Barker referred to these new developments as extensions
164
of the recorder in which any transformation should take care not to destroy the
original possibilities of expression that the instrument offers.382
The idea of a contrabass recorder with an electronic system was born in

1986, when Michael Barker developed an instrument in collaboration with the
Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music (STEIM) in Amsterdam. Due to the rapid
changes in technology, the instrument I have now is very different from the one
Barker created. The instrument consists of a Paetzold contrabass recorder with 30
sensors installed on it. It uses a condenser microphone LCM 70 SD Systems
(Amsterdam) placed in front of the window of the instrument. The way I play
consists of recording musical events live and using them to create a parallel
sound environment to the acoustic instrumental sound of the recorder. With
sliders and the instrument's potentiometer, activated by torsion movement, I can
select and scratch through the buffer respectively. The interactive system was
programmed using the software MAX/MSP by my friend and colleague Johan
van Kreij. It is called PIPO. PIPO started as a composition by him and used
subsequently, by me, as a platform to improvise. Later, van Kreij made some
upgrades that expanded the possibilities but, in reality, I kept playing with the
same “patch” for three years and acquired better control on the interface. On the
other hand, I started to feel limited because of my imagining possible
improvements that could enrich the variety of sound transformation and enhance
the control of the sound output itself. Then, in 2004, van Kreij programmed the
upgrade called PIPOTAN. One very important improvement that came with
PIPOTAN was that it provided a graphical representation of the sound been
recorded in the computer’s buffer. Because of that feature I installed a LCD
monitor on the recorder. This device shows a copy of the computer’s screen so
that it is possible to watch the graphic of the sounds recorded in the buffer in the
instrument itself. With the possibility of seeing those graphics it became easier to
know where the recorded material was located, which made the interaction, and
use of the electronics, more predictable and easier to organise.
382
Anti Qua Musica (1989), Barker The Midified Blockflute p. 14.
165
In order to develop a coherent system for the e-recorder, I found it very

effective to use improvisation. In my experience as a performer, this instrument
represents the most intricate I have ever played. Obtaining a balanced musical
result combining both acoustic and electronic sources is indeed a very difficult
thing to achieve. However, practice has undoubtedly helped me in taming some
wild sides of it allowing at the same time unexpected sonic explorations to occur.
7.1.1 Dartington, 2000
The first recording I made with the e-recorder was in the year 2000 at a project
called The Meta-Orchestra – Hypermusic and the Sighting of Sound – that took
place during the Dartington International Summer School, Devon, England, with
the support of the EC Connect programme. One of the presentations included a
free improvised set were I had the opportunity to play with Cléo Palacio-Quintin
(flute and electronics), Hilary Jeffery (trombone and electronics) and special
guest Evan Parker (soprano sax). The set had the duration of 7:41 minutes.
In general, my impression of this performance was that the whole group had
the tendency to retreat when threatened by possible danger, which made at times
the sections very small in duration. The fact that none of us had played together
before might have also influenced in engaging in careful exploration. However, I
am convinced that the presence of Evan Parker conditioned the order of events in
one way or another. Parker almost constantly used musical material already
present in the performance, rather than coming from scratch with an idea of his
own. This revealed his acute sense for integrating the group and a sense of
decorum based upon respect for the “opinion” of others.
I still keep the memories of my behaviour during this performance. My first

intuition was to avoid playing right at the beginning, instead waiting for
something to happen. I did not have to wait very long for Evan Parker started
playing a combination of sounds coming from the keys of the sax and short notes
followed immediately by Quintin, on the flute, playing a diversity of trills and, at
166
the same time, live-processing them with STEIM’s LiSa.383 The introductory
material was composed by those trills, the sound of the keys of the flute and sax.
Next, Jeffery’s subtle sinewave was taken by Evan Parker as source for
developing a melody using the trills exposed at the beginning. However, I feel
that this performance was mostly polarised into two duets because of the constant
“strict imitation” of the sax musical inputs by the flute. The result at many points
shows the flute interfering rather than collaborating with the sax, leaving little
chance for clarity and eloquence to be achieved, and a difficulty for the trombone
and the e-recorder to interact with them. This is a problem that Borgo recognises
as typical of inexperienced improvisers. He mentions that Anthony Davis is of
the opinion that, “In order to listen, you don’t necessary follow, you respond.
You try to construct something that coexists or works well with something else –
not necessarily this tail-wagging-the-dog thing where you just follow someone.”
Borgo also mentions that, for Davis, “listening is knowing what someone is doing
and using it in a constructive way, as opposed to mimicry, just trying to
demonstrate that you are quote-unquote listening.” 384
383
LiSa (Live Sampling) is a software developed by STEIM (Studio for Electro-Instrumental
Music) in Amsterdam.
384
Borgo (2005) p. 187.
167
DARTINGTON 2000
 AUDIO SAMPLE B – Dartington 2000
Evan Parker – Sax soprano

Cesar Villavicencio – e-recorder
Hilary Jeffery – Trombone and electronics
Cléo Palacio Quintin – Flute and electronics

1---------7 0-----7
00:00 Silence 0 Homoioarche EXORDIUM
00:01 Trb LE: Trb: 1 Proper of Exordium.

Sinewave Short aloof phrases.
Sax: 2 4-5
Sax: keys,
Flute: 2
short notes
playing LE: 2
around G.
00:13 Flute: trills, Sax: 2

LE.
Flute: 2, LE: 2
Sax: keys,
short notes
00:15 Trb: LE Sine 1 Aposiopesis

wave
00:17 Flute: trills, 4-5

LE.
00:18 Sax: Phrase Sax: 2 – 3 – 2 4–5–4 Mimesis, Anaphora INVENTIO I

with trills
Flute: 2 – 3 NARRATIO I
from Trb’s
sinewave. LE: 2 – 3 3
168
00:30 Sax: Sax: 4 3–4 Anaphora DISPOSITIO I

Variation on
Fl & LE: 3
phrase.
00:40 Sax Sax: 3 3 Memoria

Fl & LE. Fl & LE: 3 – 4 (Revisiting
exordium)
00:44 e-rec: long e-rec: 1 – 4 3 Parembole

low note.
Trb: mid
range
00:45 Fl: Follows 2 Anaphora

e-rec.
00:49 Sax: Sax: 4 4 Auxesis

Variation on
phrase.
Continuation
of Flute’s
idea.
00:55 Sax: Sax: 4 – 5 4 Anaphora

Tempted to
follow long
note.
00:57 e-rec: ends 2 Interrogatio

long note
upwards.
Trb: 2 Parenthesis
Trb: LE only
00:59 Sax: Sax: 3 – 4 4 Emphasis,

transposed Pallilogia
01:09
up.
Fl: Imitating
Battologia
sax
01:06 e-rec: long e-rec: 1 – 5 4

low note.
169
01:10 Sax: follows Sax Trb: 3 – 6 3 Anaphora, CLIMAX I

long note Emphasis, Auxesis
going up
Exclamatio
3
Trb: follows
long note
going up
01:13 Fl: follows Fl: 3 – 6 4 Anaphora

long note +
3
variation
downwards Catabasis
in
diminuendo Anabasis, Mimesis
e-rec: ends in
upwards
intervals
imitating
Sax/Trb
01:17 Sax: Picks up Sax: 3 – 6 – 3 4

from Fl
01:18 Trb: one note Trb: 5 – 3 4 Exclamatio

Sax: phrase Sax: 3 – 2 Anabasis
goes up
01:22 Sax & e-rec Sax: 4 – 2 4 Loginqua Distantia

e-rec: 2- 4 Antithesis
Fl & LE: Fl & LE: 3 – 5 Anaphora
repeat
Anaphora
variation.
Trb. & LE:
presents new
elements
(two staccato
notes) Live
sampled
from Sax.
01:24 Silence 0 Pausa, Aposiopesis TRANSITION
170
01:26 Sax picks Sax: 3 3 Mimesis INVENTIO II

back
NARRATIO II
elements
from Trb. &
LE develops
into new
phrase.
01:27 Fl & LE: Fl: 3 Catabasis

repeat
variation.
01:29 Sax: Sax: 3 – 4 DISPOSITIO II

Develops
phrase
further.
01:31 e-rec: Long Memoria

low note
again.
01:32 Fl & LE: 5 Battologia

follow sax.
01:33 Talk between Trb: 6 Anaphora

e-rec and
Trb. Attacks.
01:3401:40 Trb: Long Trb: 4 – 6 4–5 Anaphora, Variatio

note with Decoratio,
vibrato Exclamatio
Memoria,
Parembole
01:35 e-rec: Low e-rec: 5 Anaphora,

attack Exclamatio
reacting to
Trb.
01:3801:41 Fl & LE: Fl: 3 – 4 Battologia (Fl.)

follow sax.
e-rec: Phrase
Mimesis, Anaphora,
with both e-rec: 3 – 5
Variatio
materials: Fl.
& Sax, and
Trb.
171
01:42 Trb: Long Trb: 3 Parembole,

note
01:47 Fl & LE: Battologia (Fl.)

follow sax.
01:5001:53 Sax solo, 4–2 0–2–4 Abruptio

Silence
01:5401:55 Silence 0 Aposiopesis
01:5602:14 Polarised Sax: 5 4 Battologia (Fl.)

into two
subgroups;
sax/fl & e-
rec/trb.
e-rec: 4
e-rec: long
medium note.
02:15 Sax & e-rec, 3 Accentus,

Trb & sax. Anaphora, Mimesis,
Palilogia,
02:17 Trb: new Trb: 3 3 inventio TRANSITION

idea
(Negotiation)
02:1902:23 Fl & LE: Antithesis

Sounds in
repetitive
downward
movement.
172
02:24 Fl & LE: Fl & LE: 4–5 Bomphiologia,

introduces Catabasis
02:28 4–5–6
strong
material
using LE
making the
other 3–2
instruments
to stop
playing.
02:29 Trb: melodic Trb: 4 4

line not taken
by anybody.
The hope
seems to
restore what
began in
02:17.
02:30 e-rec: Just e-rec: 5 Anaphorae, Variatio

LE from Trb
in high
pitches.
02:33 Sax: New Sax: 5 – 2 Sax: 5 – 3 Inventio INVENTIO III

input
02:37 Fl & LE: Fl & LE: 2 – 3 2 Memoria

Sounds in
02:50
repetitive
mode and
diminuendo.
02:39 Sax: Follows Sax: 3 – 4 3 Anaphora

Fl. Creating a
carpet of
sound.
02:40 e-rec: Trill & e-rec: 3 – 5 – 2 4 Anabasis,

development Catabasis, Accentus
5–3
&
Conclusion.
173
02:50 Sax high Sax: 4 3 Mimesis, Anaphora,

pitches. Auxesis (Trb)
03:12 e-rec: 3 – 4 – 5
e-rec: high
Trb: 3
pitches
Fl: 3 – 4
Trb & LE:
Following
FL and sax &
whistleling
high.
Fl & LE:
single notes
03:03 Fl & LE: FL & LE: 4

water sound
samples.
03:04 Trb: high Trb: 3 5

pitches going
03:18
up and down.
03:0904:17 Fl. Following 4–5 4 Inventio (sax),

sax with few Battologia,
3 3
interventions macrologia (Fl),
of e-recorder 4–5 4–2–4 Parembole (e-rec,
and Trb. Trb)
5
04:18 Sax & Trb: 4–6 5 Memoria, Emphasis CLIMAX II

long note. (sax,Trb)
04:2004:59 Trio: 4–5–4–3– 3–4 Emphasis, INVENTIO IV

Sax,Trb,e- 5–6 Antithesis,
rec. Catabasis, (Trb)
Trb & LE: Exclamatio,
embochure Anabasis, Antithesis
samples. (e-rec)
2–4–5
Fl & LE: Emphasis,
water sound Antithesis,
samples. 4 Catabasis,
Decoratio, Anabasis
Fl: long notes
(sax)
and some
imitation of 2 Hypotiposis (LE)
sax. 3–4–6 Battologia
05:00 e-rec: hard e-rec: 7 6 Bomphiologia

LE
intervention
174
05:01 Silence (Just 2 Aposiopesis

the water
sample is on)
05:02 Sax attempts Sax: 2 Anaphorae REFUTATIO

to suggest a
Big contrast by
new quiet
using mostly
sound
percussive
scheme but it
sounds, rather
is abandoned
than the long
to follow slap
notes from the
tonging from
previous section.
FL.
e-rec joins
sputatos.
05:07 Fl & LE: Fl: 3 Aposiopesis

water sound
Sax: 3
samples stop.
Silence
05:09 Tutti of Fl: 3 3–5

percussive
05:20 Sax: 3
sounds.
e-rec: 4 4
Trb: 3 – 4
05:21 Sax & Trb & 4

e-rec: Trio on
05:34
top of
percussive
sounds.
e-rec:
playing only
LE.
05:35 e-rec: very e-rec: 3-4-3 3 Bombus

low
articulated
rhytm Sax: 3 – 5 – 3 Mimesis
Sax: builds
up from e-
rec.
175
05:39 Trb: Trb: 2 4 Mimesis, Catabasis

descending humorosa
musical
comment Sax: 4
Anaphora, Mimesis
Sax: 5
develops
e-rec: 4 – 3 2
Trb’s input
Antithesis,
e-rec: LE Parembole
fast, high
ascending
lines.
05:50 Duet: Trb & 3 3 Memoria, Mimesis,

Sax Anaphora
Sax: fast
4
material
Trb & LE:
embochure
samples.
06:04 Trb & LE: 3 2

regular rhytm
06:08
samples.
06:12 Trb & LE: Trb: 3 2–3

faster regular
06:40
rhytm
samples.
Becoming
gradually
irregular.
06:12 Fl: Copy of 3 2–3 Battologia

melody from
sax and
imitates
several times
in exactly the
same
manner.
06:16 Duet sax & Sax: 3 – 4 4 Mimesis, Anaphora

e-rec
e-rec: 3 – 4 – 2 3
176
06:33 Trb: slow Trb: 2 3 PERORATIO

upwards and
downwards,
low register
gliss.
Fl: 2 2
Fl: Two slow
descending
notes in quasi 1
gliss.
Sax: 3 – 2
Sax:
Recitativ
with grace e-rec: 2
notes.
e-rec: Low
tone in
irregular
slow rhytm.
06:57 Sax: Sax: 2 2 Pathos, Memoria

trembling (similar to
vibrato in a beginning)
single note.
Fl: High Fl: 1
multiphonics
Parembole
e-rec: Low
e-rec: 1
tone in
irregular
slow rhytm.
07:24 Silence 0 0 Homoioteleuton
07:30 Audience FINE

claps
Table 43.
177
7.1.2 The Hague, 2002
I have chosen this recording in order to give an example of free improvisation

that had musical elements typical of jazz, and of how I tried to adapt my playing
with the e-recorder to this environment. I have no experience in playing jazz; a
factor that I still remember made me feel quite insecure. Even today, when I
listen to this recording, I feel some discomfort because of my lack of
acquaintance with this style. However, it is interesting to perceive the strategies I
adopt in the course of the performance to attempt driving the music towards one
with more “non-idiomatic” characteristics. This recording is also a good example
of how negotiations during the performance can become a debate. In this case,
the beginning of the session is characteristically more “non-idiomatic” giving
way gradually to interventions in the style of jazz – e.g. 00:33 and 01:00. At the
same time, I try to avoid bending the music towards a style that I do not
command, making efforts to play music that walks away from that – e.g. 01:06
through 01:30 – provoking some resistance and musical confrontation with
Jeffery. At times I adventure myself into trying to fit my playing by contributing
with a pseudo-jazz style – e.g. 02:39.
The main characteristic of this set is the activity of it. It begins and remains
very energetic until the very end even becoming imbued with humour and satire.
178
THE HAGUE 2002
 AUDIO SAMPLE C – The Hague 2002

Hilary Jeffery – Trombone
Diego Espinosa – Percussion

0------7 0-----7
00:00 Tutti: short 4–5 5–6 Inventio, Mimesis, NARRATIO I

rhythmic fast Parembole,
interventions. Big Anaphora,
intervals. Exclamatio,
Emphasis,
Longinqua distancia
00:12 Trb: single note Interrogatio

arrived at from an
upwards
glissando.
00:13 e-rec: Single note Antithesis

arrived at through
a downwards
glissando.
00:14 Trb: solo in single 3 1 Interrogatio

note.
00:16 Tutti: short 5 5

rhythmic
interventions.
Attacks.
00:20 e-rec: LE sample 3 2 Memoria, Anaphora

from Trb’s single
tone.
00:22 Short Silence 0 0 Aposiopesis DISPOSITIO I

e-rec: solo low 2 1 Memoria
furulato.
179
00:23 Trb: short 3 4

interventions.
00:45
Perc: rapid and
3–4 5
continuous bells,
cymbals.
e-rec: LE
sampling perc.
00:25 Trb: short 5

rhythmic
interventions.
00:29 Trb: short melodic 4 4

line (Arsis)
00:31 e-rec: rapid low 3 4 Parembole

acoustic sounds.
00:34 Trb: short melodic 4 4

line (Thesis)
00:37 Trb: upwards Memoria,

glissando. Interrogatio
00:41 Perc: solo 4 5 Inventio
00:44 Trb: Imitates perc. Anaphorae

e-rec: Imitates
Trb.
00:45 Trb. & e-rec: Duo 4 5 Mimesis, Anaphora

Perc: Filling up 4 4 Parembole
00:54 Trb: long note TRANSITION

approached by
00:58 (Negotiation)
upwards glissando
with furulato.
Per: Short
interventions.
00:55 e-rec: acoustic 4 4 Anaphora,

intervention Catabasis,
imitating Trb. Parembole
Going down.
00:58 e-rec: long low 5 5–6 Incrementum,

note crescendo. Emphasis, Auxesis
01:03
Perc: Begins
groove, more
regular rhythms.
180
00:59 Trb: Hooks onto 4–5 Parembole,

groove making a Interrogatio
phrase. Ends in an
upwards
glissando.
01:04 Silence 0 0 Aposiopesis
01:05 Trb. & perc.

continue
01:07 e-rec: proposes 4 5 Inventio TRANSITION

new material to
(Negotiation)
brake regular beat
of groove.
Trb: Upwards
glissando.
Perc: Continues
groove.
01:11 e-rec: LE trying to 5 6 Parembole,

brake regularity. Antithesis
01:19 Trb: Affirming Parembole,

regularity. Antithesis
01:21
01:21 Perc: rapid regular

rhythms
01:22 Trb: Melodic 4 5–4 Parembole,

regular line Antithesis
01:25
upwards.
e-rec: Mixed
acoustic and LE
interventions
braking regularity.
01:26 Trb: upwards 4–5 4–5 Anabasis, Abruptio

melody followed
by short silence.
e-rec: LE high
intervention
followed by
silence.
01:27 Perc: Leading to 4–5

next episode.
181
01:28 Trb: Same as 7 6 Memoria, Auxesis CLIMAX

00:59 transposed
01:31
up.
e-rec: Same
unregular rhythm
both acoustic and
LE. Stronger.
01:32 Trb: Follows e-rec Emphasis, Auxesis,

irregularity. Catabasis
01:37
Accentuated,
slow, off-rhythm,
descendent notes.
Stop.
01:40 e-rec LE & perc: 3 4 INVENTIO,

Duo TRANSITION
02:04
01:52 Trb: Short Parembole,

upwards glissando Interrogatio
01:53
furulato.
02:00 Trb: Very low Antithesis, Mimesis

tone followed by
02:04
higher short
melody on rhythm
from perc.
02:05 Silence Aposiopesis

02:06
02:07 Trb: Enters 5 6 Memoria NARRATIO

regular rhythm II
02:34
sequences.
e-rec LE: Rhythm
very active and Antithesis, Mimesis
irregular.
Perc: Follows
irregular active
tempo.
02:14 Perc: Stops.
02:19 Perc: supports Mimesis

rhythmic
regularity.
182
02:35 e-rec: Acoustic

attempt of a
03:25
walking bass.
Joins regular
division of time.
Trb: Solo. Jazz
like. Quote on
Bernstein’s
Maria.
03:13 e-rec: stops
03:26 e-rec: Enters with 6 6 Bomphiologia

strong LE sounds
taking over the
Trb’s solo.
Trb: follows e-rec
Perc: follows e- Mimesis
rec
03:40 e-rec: stops. 5–4 6

Trb. & perc.
Continue with duo
and rhythm
regularity.
Grooving.
04:01 Trb. & perc. 3–4–5–3 3–4–5 Anabasis, TRANSITION

–4 Exclamatio
04:18 e-rec: LE sounds 5 5 Parembole

fitting in regular
rhythm.
04:24 e-rec: acoustic 4 5 Mimesis

solo in an attempt
to play jazz like.
04:35 Trb: repeated

notes.
04:38 Perc: imitates 5 Anaphora, Bombus

repeated notes.
04:39 e-rec: imitates Anaphora, Bombus

repeated notes.
183
04:50 e-rec: single low 4–5 3–4–5 PERORATIO

tone.
Trb: picks up
from e-rec tone
and develops it
into another solo.
Perc: fast in the
cymbals.
05:29 e-rec: takes over 4–6 5 Anaphora, Mimesis, TRANSITION

solo with strong Parembole,
attacks with LE. Longinqua
distancia,
Trb: follows with
short, strong
attacks in several
registers.
Perc: playing less
continuous
responding to
attacks.
05:42 Trb: attempt to 3 4 Memoria

bring back
melody.
05:54 Trb: stops.

e-rec (LE) & perc: 5 4–5
duo
3
Some voice
sounds from Trb.
06:12 Trb: Comic vocal 1 1

sound.
06:17 Trb. & e-rec: 3–2 1

Comic dialog.
06:19 Silence END
Table 44.
7.1.3 Belfast, 2005
My participation in this concert was with the UEA Electric Orchestra. The solo
set that I presented with the e-recorder had to crossfade with the end of Simon
184
Waters’ feedback flute presentation. As customary, I tried to avoid anticipating

what I was going to play until I found myself on-stage with the e-recorder. I
recall that I thought about playing in contrapositum or antithesis so as to produce
something opposite and at the same time complementary to Simon’s input. The
opposite to the clean and high sound of feedback meant for me to play a soft low
contrabass recorder sound with a “dirty” throat frullato and wind noise, recalling
the live-electronic processing for short periods of time in an emphatic manner.
BELFAST 2005
 AUDIO SAMPLE D – Belfast 2005

Simon Waters – Feedback Flute (Fbfl)

0------7 0-----7
00:00 Silence 0 0 Homoioarche
00:02 Fbfl: medium Fbfl: 2 – 1 EXORDIUM

sounds with 3
soft vibrato.
00:07 Silence 0 0 Abruptio
00:09 Fbfl: rising Fbfl: 2 1 Exclamatio?

fifth
Longinqua distancia
e-rec: low soft
e-rec: 1
note
00:14 Fbfl: slow Fbfl: 3 1

chromatic
e-rec: 1
interval going
up.
e-rec: soft note
going down.
185
00:22 e-rec: very soft 1 1

low
00:25 e-rec: furulato 2 2

and keys.
00:59
00:30 Fbfl: very soft 1 1
00:34 Fbfl: three

descending
notes
00:38
00:53 e-rec:
Introduces
wind noise.
00:56 e-rec: LE385 2 2

more active

01:05
01:06 e-rec:
continues
01:09 Fbfl: very high

tones
e-rec: rough
Antithesis
furulato, wind
noise low
notes.
01:16 e-rec: LE 3 2 Emphasis

Attack

01:21
01:22 e-rec: Attack e-rec: 4 3 Symploce, Anaphora

Fbfl: single Fbfl: 2
high tone
385
LE=Live electronics
186
01:25 e-rec: short Symploce

soft attacks in
unequal rhythm
using rough
furulato, wind
noise and LE.
Fbfl: soft
gentle notes.
02:12 e-rec: acoustic

attack feeding
the buffer.
02:14 Silence
02:17
02:19 e-rec: same as 3 2 Symploce, Epistrophe

01:25 but less
active
02:26 Fbfl: stronger 4 2 NARRATIO

feedback
02:42
multiphonic.
02:28 e-rec: LE 6 3 Anaphora, Emphasis

attack
02:33 e-rec: acoustic 4 3 Mimesis

sounds in
upwards
interval + LE
wind noise
02:42 e-rec: LE 6 Anaphora, Emphasis

double attack
02:44 Fbfl: Feedback 4 3

with
multiphonics.
02:51 e-rec: joins 3 3

with
multiphonics
02:58 e-rec: LE 2–5 Epistrophe

attack
03:00

03:04
187
03:05 e-rec: soft e-rec: 2 e-rec: 2 DISTRIBUTIO

multiphonics
Fbfl:
multiphonics.
Fbfl: 3 Fbfl: 2

03:17
03:18 e-rec: soft 2 2

multiphonics
03:24 Fbfl: joins with 4 3

multiphonic
with strong
vibrato
03:25 e-rec: reacts to 4 4–5 Mimesis

impulse of
5–6
vibrato
releasing LE 4
activity. Many
3
attacks.
03:40 Fbfl: clean 2 1 Memoria, Antithesis

single tone solo
03:44 e-rec: Very 6–5 4 -5 Antithesis, Anaphora

strong LE
attack followed
by combined
acoustic/LE
counterpointisti
c phrase.
03:51 e-rec: long 2 2 Mimesis, Anaphora

note
developing
multiphonics.
Fbfl: clean
single tone solo
03:55 e-rec: 4–5 3–4 Interrogatio

Counterpointist
ic phrase.
188

04:02 Fbfl leaves
stage.
04:03 Only acoustic, 2 2 Memoria

short notes to
return to soft
multiphonics.
04:20 Counterpointis 4 3
tic phrase.
04:25 Soft 2 2
multiphonics.
04:32 Soft
multiphonics.
04:40 Muli-layering 2–3 2 EXORDIUM II

with LE
05:17 Percussive 2–3–4 3–4 Inventio

layer
5
introduced.
Layers become
irregular
rhythms and
interact with
eachother.
05:40 Silence Aposiopesis, Abruptio
05:42 Variation on 3 3
rhytms.
05:49 Add acoustic 4 4

low drone to
LE rhythmical
soundscape.
05:53 LE add drone

as well
06:01 Acoustic 4 4
drone.
06:05 Anabasis
LE rhythms
become faster
and higher.
189
06:06 Acoustic 4 3
drone.
06:19 Palilogue
LE rhythms
slower. The
same cell
repeated four
times.
06:20 Acoustic drone 4–5 4–5 Anabasis

gives way to
06:31
acoustic
rhythms.
LE rhythms
become faster
and higher.
06:32 Only LE static 6 5 Emphasis, Auxesis CLIMAX 1

electronic
furulato sound.
06:42 Soft LE sound. 2 Abruptio
06:44 Back to 5 5
rhythmic
interactivity.
06:55 Low sounds, 2 – 3 – 4 2 – 3 – 4 – 3 – Anabasis, Caesurae

full of silences. – 3 – 2 2
07:24 Back to 5–6 5–6 CLIMAX II

rhythmic
interactivity.
07:38 Major third 5 3

between e-rec
and LE.
07:46 Major third 6 3 Emphasis

between e-rec
and LE.
07:52 High sounds, Mimesis,

full of silences. Contrapositum,
E-rec and LE Abruptio
in parallel.
190
08:16 Acoustic 3 2
sustained
sound (7th of
dominat chord)
08:20 LE sound 3
comes in with
sustained
sound (3rd of
dominant
chord)
08:23 Most 3
unfortunate
(both intervals
resolve into a
sixth major
chord.)
08:25 Trying to 4
divert the
attention drawn
to the harmonic
cadence by
adding some
elements. (e.g.
a leap of minor
seventh in the
LE and
filtering)
08:33 Medium 2 2 Memoria

acoustic tone.
LE: static
electronic
furulato.
08:39 Low acoustic

furulato.
LE: static
electronic
furulato.
191
08:44 LE: The Memoria

resulting note
of the previous
minor seventh
leap is recalled
and filtered in
many ways.
Phrase in the
low acoustic
register.
09:04 Acoustic low PERORATIO

sustained
sound
09:07 LE: sustained

sound produces
a perfect fifth.
09:15 Again, trying 3 – 2 – 1 1

to divert the
attention of the
fifth I
introduce
disturbance in
the acoustic
sound.
09:45 Silence 0 0 Homoioteleuton
Table 45.
7.2 University of California San Diego (UCSD) (April, 9 – 11, 2007)
The University of California San Diego is one of the few higher education
institutions where the practice of FIM has been incorporated into the academic
curriculum. My visit to this institution consisted on the presentation of a paper,
an experience in a “lesson” on improvisation conducted by Mark Dresser, and the
performance of a short discussion-concert with David Borgo and students of the
music department.
During my visit to the music department of the UC San Diego, USA, I had the
opportunity of playing with two student improvisation ensembles. One of them
was composed by a group of four students, which, in the words of Borgo, “The
group…is somewhat self-contained. They call themselves pfr (short for
192
performer I think--though they pronounce it like "fur").” Borgo was their faculty
advisor for a couple of quarters and would attend rehearsals to offer feedback and
sometimes play with them.
The other ensemble was a bigger one, composed of less experienced

performers and directed by internationally acclaimed bass player /improviser/
composer/ interdisciplinary collaborator Mark Dresser. Whilst playing with “pfr”
and Borgo was an experience in which I could establish musical depth right from
the first moment, in the second group I felt that participants were more
constricted by having to comply with the rules set by Dresser. The rules
specified, in the first block, the manner in which each individual should interact
with a given partner(s) following a “playing chronogram”. In the second block,
Dresser presented us with a written score and ideas for the performance of an
improvised “prologue” and “epilogue”. Whilst the discussion with “pfr” focused
on the collective issues and how the individual processes could change in order to
serve the community, Dresser’s approach was one that concentrated in making
the individuals aware of his concepts of “what”, “how” and “when” to do the
music. This seems to be in tune with Borgo’s concept of a conventional approach
where the “teaching of musical improvisation tend to stress individual facility
through memorization and preplanning, leaving little room for
experimentation.”386
The discussion-concert with “pfr” consisted of two short sets with an open
forum in the middle where the public could ask questions and make remarks. It is
important to say that this group has been playing regularly during two
consecutive years. Consequently or not, the performances revealed more mature
interactivity and deep levels of listening. Playing with them gave me a very
comfortable feeling of cooperation and commitment with the music. As I will
make clear in the analysis of the first set, there was an evident use of memory,
complementarities, consistent imitation – mimesis, antithesis – and a clear
perception of structure.
386
Borgo (2005) p. 185.
193
 AUDIO SAMPLE E – UCSD1
 AUDIO SAMPLE H – UCSD2
UCSD 1
William Brent – Laptop (Lp1)

Jason Ponce – Laptop (Lp2)
Jonathan Piper – Tuba (Tb)
Joe Bigham - e-guitar (eG)
David Borgo – EWI
Cesar Villavicencio - Tenor recorder (Rec)

1---------7 0-----7
00:00 Silence 0 0 Homoioarche EXORDIUM
00:04 EWI, Tb, Rec: key 1,2 3 Intimate, careful

sounds. Small
insect like,
percussive sounds.
00:28 Tb: Low drone
00:30 EWI: low register 3

sound delays
00:37 EWI: low register 3 2 Anaphorae

sound delays
00:41 Rec: wind sound 2 2
00:50 Lp1: percussive 2, 3, 4, 3, 2 1, 2, 1

sound followed by
longer mid range
sound. Decay.
Rec: follows Lp1 2, 3, 2, 1
with wind sound.
01:03 EWI: low register 3 2 Anaphorae

delays.
194
01:08 Lp1: Percussive 4 2 Exclamatio

sound.
Tb: low slow
3 Mimesis
furulato.
Rec: with Tb in
wind. 3
EWI: low
continuous delay.
3
01:13 Lp1: Percussive 3 2

sound.
EWI: low
3
continuous delay.
01:17 EWI: Delays 3 2 Anaphorae

Rec: key and wind
sound.
01:19 Lp1,2: very soft 1 1

continuous sound.
01:22 Rec: key sounds 2 2
01:23 EWI: Delays 3 3

eG: fast soft string 1 4
sound.
01:26 Rec: wind sound. 3 2
01:28 EWI: Transposing 3 2 Anabasis

delays up.
01:31 Tb: low sustained 1 1

sound.
01:37 Rec: key sounds. 2 4
01:38 EWI: Transposing 4 3 Anabasis, Anaphorae

delays up.
01:48 Rec: low tone 2 2

furulato.
01:51 Silence 0 0 Aposiopesis TRANSITION
195
01:53 Lp1: Crackles 2 2 DISPOSITIO

EWI: Transposing 4 4 Anabasis, Memoria,
delays up. Mimesis
Tb: Low furulato
transposed up.
2 2
02:06 Rec: Glissando 2 3

furulato up.
02:12 EWI: Transposing 4 3

up. Longer phrase.
02:19 Rec: Glissando 3 4 Mimesis, Anaphora

furulato up. Longer
phrase.
02:29 EWI: Transposing 4 5 Memoria, Anabasis,

up. Emphasis, Auxesis
eG: Regular
rhythm in delay.
02:30 Rec: Furulato- 3, 4, 5 3 Emphasis

multiphonics-pure
sound.
02:47 EWI: Transposing 4 4 Anabasis, decoratio

up. Grace notes.
02:59 Lp1: Repeated high 4 4

pitch fast.
03:00 Rec: Follows Lp1 4 4 Anaphora, Mimesis

with furulato.
03:06 EWI: Transposing 5 4 CLIMAX 1

up, very high.
Rec: Multiphonics
5 3
Lp2: some irregular
3 3
rhythms.
eG: Irregular
rhythms and short 4 4
phrases.
Tb: Long low tones
Lp1: Sustained
4 2
note.
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03:52 Rec: Follows Lp1 3 2 Mimesis INVENTIO

in unison.
Tb: Low tone ends
3, 2 2 Interrogatio
upwards.
04:00 eG: Fast 4 5

interventions.
Rec: Converstation
3 4
with eG using
various glissandi.
04:12 EWI: Explicit 5 3

delays in
conversation with
Rec.
Lp1:
04:17 Rec: Short 4 5 inventio

interventions in
pointillistic
building of phrases.
04:30 EWI: as in 4:12

Rec:as in 4:17
04:44 eG: Trill. 2 4 Mimesis, Anaphora

Rec: Imitates eG. 2 4
04:50 Lp1 and Lp2: 2, 3, 4 3 Hypotiposis

Soundscape.
Rec: Goes down in
4, 3, 2, 1 3, 2, 1 Catabasis
short intervals.
05:28 Rec: enters 3 3

soundscape of Lp1
and Lp2 with
whistling high
pitches.
Lp1: Waves of
sound coming and
going. 4, 5, 4
05:48 eG: Fades in long 4 4

note.
05:52 Rec: Follows eG in 4 4 Mimesis, Memoria

unison.
06:05 Lp1: Strong phrase. 6 3
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06:08 Almost Silence 0 0
06:10 EWI: Follows Lp2 4, 5, 6, 7 4, 5 Mimesis, Anthitesis, CLIMAX 2

phrase. Then Longinqua distancia,
follows Rec in Auxesis, Emphasis,
active interactivity. Exclamatio.
Lp1: Strong sounds
Lp2: Samples of
Tb played back
very low.
Rec: Whistling in
rapid interventions.
Tb: Low slow
notes.
07:35 Tutti: Decay 6, 4, 3, 2 6, 4, 3 Catabasis

Tb: Phrases with
short notes.
eG: short rhytmic
sounds.
08:15 Lp1 and Lp2: 4 2 Hypotiposis INVENTIO 2

Soundscape.
EWI: Joins
08:34 Rec: Joins with 2 3

finger sounds.
08:43 Lp1: Sequential use 2, 5 3 Emphasis,

of small musical exclamatio
gestures in
crescendo.
09:28 Lp2: Inputs more 5 3

active repetitive
motifs.
09:36 Rec: Short staccato 3 4 Interrogatio

going up.
09:46 Rec: Develops 3 4 Inventio, anthitesis

staccato motifs on
top of soundscape.
10:10 EWI: high pitch 4 3

phrases on top of
soundscape.
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10:35 eG: Regular rhytms 2, 3, 4, 5 3

with accents.
10:49 EWI: Joins 5 3

rhythms
10:52 Rec: Joins rhythms 4 3
10:55 Tutti: Exit 4, 5, 6 5, 6 Catabasis

rhythmical section
in crescendo going
down.
12:32 Rec: Long flutter 4 4, 3

tong note. Calling
for change.
12:48 EWI: Joins Rec. 4, 3 2

The soundscape is
still there. Softer.
13:00 Tutti: Long, low 3 2 PERORATIO

and dense.
Diminuendo.
13:18 Lp1 and Lp2: Long 2, 1 1

and soft.
13:30 Stop 0 0 Homoioteleuton
Table 46.
7.3 Lessons Learned
In particular, what I can draw from the experiences described above is that the
differences that might have been brought by the accumulation of experience have
changed the way I perceive making music in a collective situation in general. I
have become more aware of the intentions embedded in other performer’s
actions, which consequently has helped me tune the manner I use to express
myself with that of the co-participants.
The music performed at the Dartington project gave me the first insight into
the dynamics of FIM’s group performance. It was not only useful, but also a
strong experience playing with someone as experienced and fluent as Parker.
Also, having been exposed to dealing with performing a set that had
characteristics of jazz, with which I am not acquainted, has shown that I felt
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limited. I could also say that, although experiencing playing solo with the e-
recorder was in many ways very enjoyable, the performance in Belfast was in
some aspects also demanding in the sense that the unpredictability of the
electronic controller rendered at times undesirable musical material.
Finally, the performance at UCSD, in which I used a tenor recorder without

the use of electronics, has opened new perspectives for me as an improviser. One
particular characteristic of this recording is that sometimes it is difficult to
perceive the source of the electronic sounds – Laptop (Max/MSP), Laptop
(Supercollider), e-guitar, and Akai’s EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument). Still,
those who are familiar with the sound produced by Max/MSP and Supercollider
could make a distinction between them. However, because of the lack of visual
connection the difficulty of identifying the source of sound is an issue more
present in the recording than in the live presentation. For me, this performance
represents a very good example of decorum, of collective exploration embedded
in good intentions and combined with interactive depth. It seems that this was an
impression shared by many. Recently, David Borgo released a DVD in which he
used both recordings I made with him and “pfr” at UCSD. Also it is important to
say that playing with the tenor recorder rather than with the e-recorder made it
easier to communicate with the other performers and with the audience. This is
perhaps an indication that the instrumental control achieved by the performer
helps attain a connection with the other participants because the performer can
respond to his expressive impulses with more accuracy and speed.
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8 Group Laboratories. Prescriptive and Pedagogical Strategies.
8.1.1 The Royal Conservatory, The Hague.
The following describes the improvisation project that I conducted at the Royal
Conservatory in The Hague, The Netherlands, in the months of March and April
2004. The ensemble was composed by four musicians from the Classical
Department and two from the Institute of Sonology. There were acoustic and
electronic instruments involved. I developed a piece, entitled Modulus II (see
score in the appendix), which guided the interpreters through graphics and figures
of rhetoric. Whilst the micro-structures of the piece were obtained by making
each musician follow specific rhetorical figures, the macro-structure of the piece
was schematised according to a classical division of oratory: exordium, narratio,
dispositio, refutatio, and peroratio. The score of Modulus II refrains from
suggesting any specific musical material (notes and rhythms). The only
indications are those of dynamics that have a direct connection with the rhetorical
context, and the range that the instrument should use in specific places. Also, the
organization of time in this piece is divided into minutes that were to be taken
with flexibility.
This project was directed to provide a new musical challenge to the

participants in following a rhetorical guideline in order to express emotions
through organized thoughts, without the need of preconceived sounds or rigid
musical structures. Another objective was to present a process of learning
through exploration aimed at developing interactive capabilities between players
of acoustic and electronic instruments. Although some parameters are specified
in the score, and rules do exist, the objective was to keep the spontaneous
creation free. This was successful to a certain extent, as will be shown later in
this chapter. For the development of the score, I applied rhetoric as a structural
device for guiding form and for making the communication of emotions more
objective. The hypothesis was that if structuring a medium for the
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communication of emotions is absolutely central to human cognition and activity,

an improviser, by training the development and communication of musical events
without the existence of pre-specified music formulae, could provide the listeners
with a fulfilling musical experience. Consequently, embarking on the discovery
of how to produce and organize new sounds with the collective would hopefully
represent not only extending the technical possibilities but also improve their
instrumental abilities.
The ensemble was composed by six musicians:
Aslaug Holgersen – contrabass

Krista Vincent – piano
Diego Espinosa – percussion
Julien Chauvin – violin
Johan van Kreij – electronics
Juan Parra – electronics
The three-hour rehearsals took place at the Royal Conservatory, The Hague on:
March 7th, 13th, 18th, 26, 28. April 9th, 14th, 22nd. The concert was at Studio I on
April 23rd at 19:30.
Modulus II was the middle part of the concert program. The opening was a
set of FIM with tenor recorder, played by myself, Diego Espinosa on percussion
and Johan van Kreij and Juan Parra with the electronics. The third and last set in
our one-hour presentation involved everyone, including myself with the e-
recorder, in a set with no pre-specified rules or materials. It was a surprise to
witness structures of Modulus II emerging in the third set. The effectiveness of
previously rehearsed structures appeared in different shapes and orders and the
musicians seem to feel very comfortable when this sort of thing happened. The
last set seemed as if Modulus II was put into a blender and some extra ingredients
were added. Since the instruments were kept with no amplification, the
electronics needed to be careful to adapt into a more chamber music sound. The
sound of the electronics came from two localised amplification systems instead
of a general hall system. This mode of amplification was chosen so as to avoid
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blurring the source of sound, which happens when the electronics are connected
to four or more speakers around the audience. Using a “localised” amplification
for each of the electronic performers made it possible for the other players to
identify the source of the sounds, which I think contributes to the establishment
of clarity in the interactivity.
The results of this project prove that the theory of developing an

intersubjective consciousness in an improvisation ensemble through the
application of interactive rehearsed formulae is valid. Although this probably
indicates just the obvious change brought about by training, it is very important
to show evidence that this change is also valid in FIM, which has been a subject
for many discussions in the past.387 This early project represented a great impulse
in developing further ideas for “guiding” FIM groups because I sought that it
should sponsor integration, control and flexibility in the search for establishing
deep levels of expression in this collective artistic activity. On the individual
level, this artistic form encourages the musician to search for the combination of
his/her “standard” technique with new possibilities of creating sound, enabled by
alternative or extended techniques. It must be clear that for searching and
developing some control upon these alternative techniques, time and dedication
are required, but at the end, when mastered, they become just a part of the sound
possibilities of the instrumentalist.
All players of acoustic instruments were students of the Classical

Department of the Royal Conservatory. Both musicians with electronic interfaces
were from the Institute of Sonology of the Royal Conservatory. The only
performer that had no acquaintance with FIM was the violin player. He was a
very skilled intrumentalist in the classical repertoire. However, his flexibility
seemed from the very beginning to be compromised by scepticism. He was
absent from three rehearsals and reacted with surprise to my calls which inquired
as to the reason of his absence. Also, it seemed, he would not endeavour to search
387
In conversation with Jonathan Impett, Vinko Globokar said that he believed improvisation
should be done only once with a person with whom you have never played before.
203
for alternative techniques at all. I did insist upon the strategy of isolating the
classical technique, succeeding in making him play “some” sounds from
extended techniques, but he gradually returned to exploring the standard sonic
palette. His presence in the group started creating some unrest and several times I
had to stress to the other members the importance of seeing this project as
experimental and regarding the violinist as part of it. Borgo describes the
discomfort felt by the group: “if a musician initiates a pronounced idiomatic
gesture in freer improvising setting, perhaps something with a wrong tonal or
metric character to it, it can have the effect of limiting the options available to
others.”388
The score was relatively easy to follow. Generally, the performers were told
to base their musical material on some relation with a specific source. At the
beginning, for example, the violin is responsible for the invention and all the
other instruments should relate to it by performing different kinds of imitation.
Later, other figures are suggested, some that go contrary to the source. However,
the changes between sections written in the score seemed to interfere with
fluency. It was indicated that the exordium ought to come to a climax, and after a
crescendo, mainly in the dynamic and not in the amount of musical material, a
sudden stop should leave the piano performing the beginning of the narratio. The
caesura at the end of the crescendo sounded, in my opinion, constricted,
unnatural and clearly imposed. Next, in the course of playing the narratio the
musical material starts developing leading to the dispositio. The change between
those sections was performed in a very natural manner since they were given by
cues from instruments playing or stopping to play. A second crescendo is
presented in the confirmatio, which also gives the feeling of uncertainty,
followed after by a decrescendo in the refutatio. The last section indicates the soft
performance of a long anabasis with elements that increase the drama inherent in
the concept of peroratio. The last section finishes with the instruments reaching
the highest registers possible in combination with an equally extreme pianissimo.
388
Borgo (2005) p. 59.
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The next musical example shows several places were the violin is
performing.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 16 – Modulus II (exordium)
During this section, the violin mostly uses regular technique in contrast to the
other players who are concentrated in performing primarily with extended
techniques. At the same time, there is a palpable lack of connection between the
violin part and the others.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 20 – Modulus II (distributio)
 AUDIO SAMPLE 21 – Modulus II (peroratio)
It seems to me that the performance of the violin during the whole piece was one
suitable for the peroratio. It might be due to the recurrent use of romantic
elements such as vibrati and expressive glisandi in full “real” violin sound.
8.1.1.1 MODULUS II, THE HAGUE 2004
AUDIO SAMPLE A – Modulus II
Exordium
This is the introduction of this piece. It is formed by the combination of rhetorical

figures such as anabasis, mimesis, anaphora, auxesis, decoratio, transgressio,
climax or gradatio, and abruptio. Anabasis is a musical ascending motion “…a
musical passage through which something ascending into the heights is
expressed.” (Walther – Lexicon). In this passage a sense of expectation should be
created where at first only shadows of the main invention fill the atmosphere as
to provoke curiosity for what it is to come. The violin has a strong role in this
part and should be the point of reference for all the other members of the
ensemble. The violin starts the musical ideas (inventio), the contrabass imitates
(mimesis) the violin gradually adding anaphorae (repetition of one single musical
idea before any new musical input) and, later, auxesis (an exaggerated imitation).
Electronics 1 and electronics 2 are sampling the violin and the contrabass
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respectively. They are devoted to the creation of ethos and later add grace
musical interventions (decoratio). Next, the piano imitates (mimesis) single
musical ideas either from the violin or the contrabass in a slower heavier tempo
with plenty of silences. The climax arrives where the use of expressions increase
in intensity. This will be evident in the last minute because of the use of auxesis
and the indications of higher dynamic levels and pitches. Finally, a sudden
decrease in sound density happens (abruptio) giving way to the second part; the
Narratio.
Narratio
This part is essentially contrapuntal. The piano continues developing the

exordium’s climax as a bridge between the exordium and the narratio. The
electronics are muted. After about 30 seconds contrabass and the electronics 2
joins in refutatio to the piano’s idea. The piano gradually gives up and stops to
come back with the electronics 1 in auxesis, exaggerating anaphorae taken from
the contrabass. After some seconds the violin and percussion join with figures of
decoration.
Distributio
This is the narratio further developed into a more elaborated discourse. Also in
counterpoint, the contrabass begins having its discourse complemented (kairos)
by the violin. The percussion and the electronics 2 join complementing (kairos)
the counterpoint. The dynamic levels should be according to Logos; clarity
should prevail rather than saturating the sound.
Confirmatio + climax
The piano and the electronics 1 join in appealing to the figure of memoria by
using the same material as in the exordium. The first 2 minutes should develop a
climax and, this time, activity and dynamic levels should increase. The climax
ends by breaking up in pieces by the insertion of many silences.
206
Refutatio
Its fragmented texture is filled with silences and opposite dynamics. However, it
remains an active section that presents a result of opposition to the textures
existing in the confirmatio.
Peroratio
This is predominantly a soft section in which the direction should be concentrated

on provoking emotions with the use of phatos. The violin plays in catabasis
(downwards movement) and the contrabass in anabasis (upwards movement).
The percussion plays several surprising emotional events as a sort of memoria
and decoratio. Both electronics 1 and 2 should move in anabasis. The end is
reached when the softness and quietest sounds as presented and the performance
disintegrates in thin air. This was always reached by both the electronics.
8.1.2 Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
The improvisation project at the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) took place in
June 2005. The project was realized in three days with sessions of three hours on
the first two days and a concert on the third day. After an introduction presenting
what I understood of free improvisation, specifically referring to the
understanding of the word “free”, I suggested questioning the meaning of it
rather than solidifying it into a fixed idea. I asked the students – all
undergraduates – to consider thinking about the possible diverse connotations the
word might have or acquire according to their experience.
The following instrumentalists were present: three pianists, a trombonist, an

electric guitarist, two percussionists, a flautist/pífaro, a clarinetist, a cellist, and a
contrabass player.
I started by asking them to play in duo formation for ten to twelve minutes.
So far, no direction to the realisation of specific techniques was given apart from
questioning the meanings of “free” in FIM. During the performance of the duets
it became very apparent that the musicians came from different backgrounds and
207
had diverse technical abilities. The first set was a pianist and a percussion player.
Both were very much acquainted with the style of jazz. Also, when the clarinet
and the trombone played together, the results showed very clearly their
experience in Western European music tradition.
Following my scheme, after everyone had had the chance to perform, I gave
information regarding the use of the broadest possible understanding of “free”,
asking them to abandon their traditional playing technique and concentrate on
looking for new possibilities from their instruments. The idea was to encourage
the musicians to explore the full potential of embracing FIM as a practice; to
divorce from any possible notational idea, to play melodies and rhythms that
could not easily be written, to produce effects that could not be notated, and so
forth. I also presented the idea that free-improvisation might signify more than
just a practice that came partly as a reaction to the status quo, but it actually
expands the status quo itself. All the interactivity became more carefully done
due to the difficulty in searching for new sound qualities and at the same time
thinking aesthetically while playing together.
After this second cycle was finished, there was a discussion about how to
rationalize the interaction between the members. Why does it happen the way it
happens? I approached them this time with something that made an enormous
change in the music of the next block. I asked them to play in groups of four and
told them to see behind the sounds so as to speculate on the source that produced
a particular aesthetic. This could be an emotion, for example. At this point I
pointed out that the “style” of free-improvisation might be the result of ethics.
The discussion went on at this point in trying to separate the ideas some of the
students had which mixed the concept of ethics with a moral meaning. The
trombone player especially entered in a long discussion about it.
The second day began with a free session in which the whole group plays.
The beginning of this session is clearly an introduction, or exordium.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 22 – USP05 (exordium 1)
208
After this set was finished, I asked the students to describe what had happened at
the beginning. There were some attempts to describe it, making reference to the
interactivity, the dynamics, etc., but nobody could simply make the analogy with
that of an introduction. Next, I presented rhetoric and the concept of exordium
and asked them to play another set, taking the concept of exordium into
consideration.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 23 – USP05 (exordium 2)
Although the sound material is different, since there were some changes in the
instrumentarium, the second set has also strong characteristics of an introduction.
One possible thing to say is that the second recording shows at the beginning a
more substantial inner tempo than the first, which suffered from the interference
of a piano practicing next door. Another possible remark about the second set is
the use of complementary material that gives the feeling that the parts are more
independent and contrapuntal (from 01:14 onwards) while the first shows a
texture resulting from more direct imitation.
Compared to the day before, the music played was more isolated from the
jazz and classical backgrounds of the performers. There was one exception; the
trombone player. He seemed either incapable or unwilling to use new techniques,
sometimes unbalancing the whole ensemble. An example of that is in the climax
played here:389
 AUDIO SAMPLE 24 – USP05 (climax)
In this climax we can observe a loud, active and saturated part where at a point
(00:59) the trombone’s input resembles music of composers such as Mahler or
Wagner.
389
The examples taken here are cuts from whole sets. The only part which had its characteristics
described was the exordium. The Climax and the Catabasis happened naturally during the
improvisation.
209
Another example comes later in the same set. After a section that resulted in
a successful performance of a catabasis, the trombone begins a melody (00:24)
that transforms the music into something that resembles Stravinsky’s Petrouchka.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 25 – USP05 (catabasis)
It is important to say that the performers were not acquainted with the rhetorical
terms at this stage. First, the trombone was in a “collaborative mood” helping in
the achievement of clarity for the catabasis. However, after he decided to use the
whole ensemble as background for playing a melodic line, he unbalanced the
performance in such a way that it almost came to a halt.
 AUDIO SAMPLE F – USP 2005 – Closing concert
The performance of the presentation is eleven minutes long. Its primary

characteristic is the saturation of sound, probably brought by the constant high
activity and the absence of silences. However, the introduction presents itself
clearly, as well as some other subsections (01:42, 03:40, 04:56, 06:46, 09:18).
The music does not resemble other styles such as jazz or classical music. There is
one exception though; the trombone player plays a tune (06:20), which seems to
set the whole ensemble into negotiating again. Many of them stop playing and
gradually the trombone ends up playing by himself. Peculiarly, towards the end
of the “piece” our trombonist ends the music playing with the sounds of his
instrument filled with water.
8.1.3 Universidade de São Paulo II (USPII)
The project was realised in September 2006, during three consecutive days. The
duration of the sessions was of two hours per day. The following interpreters
were present: Two pianists, a recorder player, a guitarist, an electric-bass player,
a percussionist, an oboist, a trumpet player, a clarinettist, and a sax player.
As usual when I start a new project, I asked all students to play and find
something to do. In the performance, there was a predominance of long notes,
short melodies, ornamentation, trills, and repeated thirds – especially in the
210
trumpet and recorder. Initially, some performers searched for unisons and direct
imitations. There is some lack of general sonic awareness by members for long
periods of time, like a strong dissatisfaction with their musical contributions,
which leads to a stronger concentration on the individual rather than on the
collective.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 26 – USP2006A
If we compare this very first session with the last take on the third day,390 we can
immediately perceive the changes brought by the pedagogical guidelines.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 27 – USP2006B
This set’s beginning seems to follow principles of conversation and division,

creating a general musical outline between the members of the ensemble, which
is permeated with variation, and a comfortable tempo. It is possible that the
rhetorical idea of exordium was in some way influential. I explained that the
exordium aims for preparing the audience by using logic and ethics. Also in this
set, there is a clear change of section at 04:35, which, after gaining some speed,
rapidly disintegrates. There follows a period, from 04:53, in which the sound can
be perceived as a transition. This section produces collective rhythmical
structures that, apparently due to the satisfaction felt by the interpreters, moves
from shy to daring, from unclear to defined, and, through an increase in activity
and enthusiasm, it becomes even sensual. After that, at 06:20, a broken
rhythmical part starts amid a clear conversation between the performers. At 8:05,
there is an epilogue, which disintegrates before the listener gains a sense of
ending.
8.1.4 University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV)
I conducted this project in April 2006. It was divided into sessions of two hours
during three days. Also, a concert was performed inside a full program of
390
This project at USP did not have a conclusion in the form of a concert.
211
contemporary music organised by the Department of Music of the university. As

usual, I adopted the strategy of letting them play first . The following interpreters
were present: a soprano, a pianist, a bass-trombonist, a cellist and a percussionist.
All musicians were from the classical department. The pianist and trombonist
besides being performers were also composers. I started dividing them into
groups of two. First the soprano and the pianist performed music that seemed
written. It sounded like a lied written by Schoenberg. Next, the trombonist and
the violoncello performed in quite a chaotic way to begin with, getting more
organised after the second minute. Last, I played the recorder in duo with the
percussionist who was using the marimba. As I expected, my influence was
strong and I felt that the percussion player was following my lead for most of the
time.
The second round, after the same explanations I made at USP, encouraged
them to search just for new possibilities. Fluency of interactivity started to appear
in the ensemble. I put the subject of insecurity up for discussion in order to give
them some ways to express concerns and concentrate better on the process of
improvising. I mentioned things like feeling lost, ashamed, and referring to all
this as perfectly normal for somebody that is trying to speak without yet
mastering the language. This language, I explained, they had to build for
themselves. The musical results in the second round showed a fine commitment
from the interpreters
The second day they began directly with playing.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 28 – UNLV2006A
This session shows simple interactivity based on direct imitation and an element
that recurrently repeats itself – a strong short attack – as an attempt to build a
structure. The tempo is slow and the music does not seem to gain momentum at
any time. I proceeded with the introduction of concepts of ethos, logos, and
pathos and their role in building the introduction, or exordium. This was followed
by applying those principles into practice.
212
 AUDIO SAMPLE 29 – UNLV2006B
During the first 4 minutes of this session we can perceive that great care had been
taken in building up the performance. There is an abundance of silences which
points to their attention in listening to each other. After this, the music starts to
develop carefully, presenting lots of interactivity at 06:45. New proposals happen
at 08:00 in the percussion, and at 08:56 in the trombone. A return to the
beginning seems to happen at 09:35, and what sounds like an epilogue begins at
11:00.
If we now compare the first session (UNLV06A) with the recording of the
concert there is with no doubt that the ensemble demonstrates deeper interactive
processes, a more solid inner tempo, and more fluency of discourse, contrasting
episodes and even humor.
 AUDIO SAMPLE G – UNLV 2006 – Closing concert
 AUDIO SAMPLE 30 – Humour - UNLV2006
8.1.5 Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras (CMMAs)
In April 2007 I conducted the FIM project at the CMMAs. This new center for
sonic arts is situated in the city of Morelia, state of Michoacán, in an old
monastery from the Spanish colonial period built in 1582. Among the
participants: one accordionist, a guitar player, two percussionists, an electric
guitar player, two guitar players, two dancers/actors playing objects. This project
was composed by two sessions of 3 hours each.
On the first day, I divided the group into several subgroups of two. From
those subgroups, I have chosen one to demonstrate how it is difficult to free
improvise when defined styles are followed. The first example shows the electric
guitar player performing in the style of rock. The percussionist could not find
room to play, or was unable to do so:
 AUDIO SAMPLE 31 – CMMAS2007A
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Later in the same session, the guitarist performs sounds that are a bit more distant
from a specific style.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 32 – CMMAS2007B
In this example it seems that there is more space given by the guitar player so that
the percussionist was able to engage into some interactivity.
After the duets, I presented the idea of isolating known materials and
techniques and paying attention to the collective character of performing and to
the ethics that this involved. This was followed by a session in tutti. I joined this
session that had a duration of more than 27 minutes. The beginning reveals
typical dynamics of the rhetorical introduction – exordium:
 AUDIO SAMPLE 33 – CMMAS2007C
On the second day, however, ethics and care for collective creativity did not seem
to work. The people playing a variety of objects (typewriter, megaphone,
scissors, marbles, and paper) began to explore sounds that could be produced by
hitting the floor, furniture and windows. Although the improvisation was loose
and chaotic, it maintained a firm commitment to explore new ways of producing
sound. Also, during almost 36 minutes, the preponderance of rhythmic regularity,
absence of silences, and superficial imitation was very evident. It is very likely
that these elements contributed to the lack of clarity, integration, and variety
shown during this long session. Here is the whole recording.
 AUDIO SAMPLE 34 – CMMAS2007D
8.1.6 University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB)
At the invitation of Clarence Barlow I conducted a project at the UCSB in April

2007. Among the participants: two sax players, a violoncellist, two pianists, a
percussionist, and an electric guitarist. The project was divided into sessions of
two hours during three consecutive days and a closing concert in the evening of
the last day.
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As in some of the previous projects, the result of the first session produced
tonal music with strong hints of jazz. Rather than beginning by making them play
in groups of two, as in some of the other projects, I asked everyone present to
perform. I changed the strategy because it seemed to me possible that the
observance of other colleagues improvising for the first time would interfere with
the natural first engagement with the practice. The playing began with one of the
pianists, who had previously affirmed very confidently that he had experience in
free improvised music. His input was very much in the style of jazz and was
followed by both sax players and the violoncello playing long notes. The guitar
started to input some extended techniques followed by the violoncello in a shy
manner. The pianos remained in the jazz mood throughout the whole session,
which lasted about seven minutes.
Next, I proceeded to present the strategy of isolating known instrumental

techniques. This was followed by the performance of nine minutes of music. As
in all previous projects, the group played a beginning that clearly exposed a
rhetorical introduction (exordium). Possibly, the eagerness for exploring the
unknown made the members perform with a complete absence of silences, paying
little attention to the interactivity. However, a more cohesive interactivity began
to appear towards the end.
Next, the use of a diversity of silences (see 5.3.1.4) and the explanation of
the concept of exordium was presented. Also, ideas about the use of a bigger
palette of rhythms, densities and dynamics were communicated followed by a
twelve-minute improvisation session. The result was a confident exordium, rich
in silences and provocative uncertainties. Some conscious collective use of
densities was played amongst several “lost” musical episodes.
The concert was divided into two sections. First, the performers presented a
set which I composed. The composition had no score but a verbal explanation of
how to proceed. I explained that after the exordium, a climax should be reached
in which the sound volume and density become saturated. After, following the
idea of the refutatio, silences ought to appear together with a great variety of
irregular rhythms. The rehearsal of this piece showed the tendency of having
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doubt on when and at which speed to proceed to the climax. This was solved by
adding the element that I called “the waves”. Following “the waves”, the
performers should gain momentum by performing two crescendos before the
crescendo which would end in the climax. In the recording, the first “wave”
begins at around 6:40, the second at 7:45, and the third starts at 10:00 followed
by the refutatio that begins at 12:20. The end follows the natural path of fading
out after the refutatio. Here is the recording:
 AUDIO SAMPLE I – UCSB1 – Closing concert
The second section of the concert presented the complete ensemble,

including myself. For this set, no prior plan was presented.
 AUDIO SAMPLE J – UCSB2 – Closing concert
8.2 Lessons Learned
Revisiting the tools offered by rhetoric and applying them to evaluate the musical
results of the projects has produced mixed results. I think that the connection
between the concepts of the figures with the practice of FIM remains open for
interpretation and further development. Some of the interpretations arrived at by
this study are clear while other figures, when used in FIM, can be unclear. For
example, while catabasis retains a strict and unquestionable interpretation – as a
descending musical passage – and the musical representation of a climax is also
indisputable, the difference between figures like dubidatio and interrogatio can
become blurred. Other figures that are discussible are emphasis and exclamatio
since both present the qualities of a musical superlative. Furthermore, another
angle of rhetorical analysis that has revealed very interesting results is to focus on
the group’s dynamics through ethics. This can allow us to understand deeper
levels of the collaboration intrinsic in this practice as well as an idea of the level
of expertise of performers. It was also possible to bring to light many of the
problems of consistency and balance by comparing some of the performer’s
behaviours with rhetorical stylistic vices. The combination of both angles of
rhetoric provides the possibility of gaining insight into the material and human
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creative dynamics. One example of that is the analysis I made of the music
recorded at the Dartington Summer Festival in the year 2000. In this recording’s
beginning, Evan Parker brings about the first concrete musical idea – giving
content to form – by putting together sounds coming from the other three
performers in the group. If we focus on this through a rhetorical angle, we could
perceive that Parker’s invention (inventio) was created through the assimilation
(anaphora, mimesis) of material that was already present, which he transformed
into a consistent musical phrase (eustathia391, emphasis, auxesis). The fact that he
opted to listen to every musical contribution made by the other participants can
also be regarded as ethical and in compliance with decorum. Last, listening to the
recording it is clear that Parker thought very carefully about the right moment to
start his invention, act that harmonises with the idea of kairos. We have to take
into consideration that this kind of achievement might only be produced by an
experienced improviser.
On the other hand, inexperienced performers that disregard the group and
resort to isolation have produced examples that unbalance the music and the
ensemble to an extent that the music stops. We have actually two examples of
this from the project at the University of São Paulo, in 2006, and from the
University of California Santa Barbara, in 2007. The first case comes from a
trombone player who at a point during the performance suddenly changes his
musical behaviour from one that was in harmony with the ensemble to another
which apparently had the objective of attracting more attention to his musical
contribution by using a self-agrandising manner or a vice known rhetorically as
bomphiologia. In the second, the performer responsible for unbalancing the
ensemble was engaged in playing spoons in a way that could be rhetorically
referred as the vices of bomphiologia, battologia, and homiologia. It is possible
that the low musical expertise of most of the participants in the project at the
CMMAs in Mexico might have contributed to the lack of integration and for the
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Promising constancy in purpose and affection. Silva Rhetorica on-line source. Accessed on
12/04/2007.
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unbalanced musical result. Another recurrent issue that is possibly typical of the
young improviser is that in most of the projects silences were almost absent
during the first two or three sets.
Outside the music, the participants presented some concerns. At the UNLV
the students showed some apprehension, even if in a joyful way, about what their
colleagues would think about the presentation. The trombone player, who is also
a composer, said, “I am going to be cast out from the trombone department.” The
performers at the UNLV even asked me to elaborate an explanation for the public
prior to the concert, which shows that they thought it necessary to prepare the
audience in order to increase acceptance. The comments that students made
during the projects were in general related to describing the sensations felt during
the first musical session – one that had no prior guide or presentation. It was
described as an experience that was humbling, surprising, confusing, which
provoked some degrees of shame, curiosity and even scepticism. None of the
performers manifested any sort of undeterred excitement. Quite the contrary,
there was always a sense of responsibility and an impetus for sharing and
discussing ideas. I felt that the seriousness of the commitment represented at
times a burden for the group. In those occasions, in order to refresh the ambience,
I presented the possibility of giving to the music more humoristic qualities. The
best example of humour in the projects was in my opinion the quotation of the
Queen of the Night’s aria "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen"– from
Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute – by the violoncellist during the performance of
the final concert at the UNLV.
It may be possible that the experience accumulated by directing the projects

has taught me how to change status – from teacher to coordinator – in a more
effective way. In the last project at the University of California Santa Barbara it
seemed as if I had managed to achieve the role of co-participant already during
the first day. It is important to note that this project presented the possibility of
explaining aspects of rhetorical thought that in previous projects could not be
presented due to a lack of time. At the UCSB it was feasible to give an idea of the
whole classical structure of rhetoric while in other projects time and conditions
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allowed me to refer just to the first and second divisions, exordium and narratio.
Also in Santa Barbara, it was possible to apply a new experiment for structuring
the music. During a session, I rehearsed the ensemble by giving the group some
structural and intentional guidelines. The “score” was transmitted orally rather
than in a written piece of paper. Another encouraging factor of this project was
the enthusiasm of one of the performers for the study of rhetoric and its
connection with music. Since then he has graduated from the UCSB and now
follows studies in rhetoric at the University of Pittsburgh.
After having conducted the projects, I am convinced that a fixed set of

strategies cannot be applied to teaching FIM. It is necessary to develop a system
that adapts to the technical and social circumstances of each group. However, I
have learnt that the results that I have considered of inferior quality are generally
produced either by the lack of proficiency or inflexibility of the performer.
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PART IV – CONCLUSION
9 Results and Roads for the Future
Now though we gladly leave to orators their classifying and do not

even want to undertake precise investigation of how they are firmly
grounded with their high, middle and low styles in the true art of
classification; still our musical style cannot accrue any indisputable
rules from such oratorical precepts: since music has many more parts
than the art of poetry and oratory. Hence it is quite certain that a
completely different product would result if one would carefully
consider and precisely analyze everything.
Johann Mattheson
In a recent ISIM conference (International Society for Improvised Music), during

December 14-17, 2007, in Chicago, the theme was Building Bridges:
Improvisation as a Unifying Agent in Education, Arts and Society. The narrative
of the event tells us that reflecting the melding of diverse cultures, ethnicities,
disciplines, and ideas that shape society at large, today’s musical world is
increasingly characterised by creative expressions that transcend conventional
style categories. Professor Bennett Reimer, in the opening ceremony of the ISIM
conference, told us how he believed that the music educational system was in
need of reform. He asserted the importance of acknowledging all dimensions of
intelligence, affirming that the physiological dimension of intelligence is
universal. Intelligence, he said, develops in roles, personality and opportunity,
and involves the body, the emotions, communal direction and the use of
technology. The bottom line is that creativity is not different than intelligence
which is the fundamental reason why Reimer thinks our actual music educational
system is generally obsolete. During the three snowy days I spent at the
conference in Chicago I had the chance to participate in round tables, paper
presentations and music concerts. I believe that the changes brought by free
improvisation and the use of computer technology in combination with the
myriad of experiences that have been brought by the new concepts of time and
space, present such a drastic change that meeting great resistance is
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understandable. During the conference of ISIM, most of the directions and

thought given to improvisation were permeated with principles of permanence in
the form of exercises, formulae and ideas to make it “fun” and accessible to
newcomers. Some of the music played during the event also reflected this
preoccupation. It seems that at times people feel incapacitated to understand FIM
for what it really is, building around it an array of “recycled” traditional concepts
so that it becomes comfortable to understand. Free improvised music, as we have
seen, it is not a practice that can be considered simple either to make or to listen.
Since the observation has to go beyond the music that is being played into the
observation of human interactivity, any system for coming close to its contents
ought to take both levels into consideration. Rather than thinking about the future
of improvisation, I think it would be a better strategy to surrender to change and
let the multiplicity inherent in this practice help to build up human expressions
through the paths it comes to meet in the course of development.
During the years of research I spent at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague
creating an electronic system to manipulate sounds through a bass recorder, I
embraced improvisation as a tool to test and develop the interactive system of the
instrument. Since then, the central areas of this study – rhetoric and free
improvisation – have been very important in my development as a performer and
have truly expanded the way I appreciate music as a whole. The great potential
that I found in the connection between rhetoric and improvisation gave me the
determination to develop it further, which I hope I have accomplished in this
investigation. I sought they could produce a very harmonious hybrid system for
better understanding the dynamics of this kind of music making, and also for the
elaboration of guidelines for the inexperienced so that it could eventually become
part of the curricula of music educational institutions.
This research reveals that those who are dedicated to the performance of
FIM can develop through experience the connection between the simultaneous
creation of musical material and its inherent communication qualities –
intentionalities, meanings, etc. Although experience and the predisposition for
change might by itself increase the chances of attaining tangible results, rhetoric
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is an area of thought and practice that can help in understanding the organization
of structures simultaneously with the concatenation of intentionalities. Rhetoric
has been presented, tested and accepted in this investigation as an ad hoc area to
assist in distinguishing successful and unsuccessful musical/interactive moments.
Rhetoric facilitates distinguishing those moments, allowing the improviser to
react more quickly to the musical environment. However, from this experience it
is clear that rhetoric in connection with the practice of FIM is too large a subject
to be thoroughly investigated in all its aspects in a single volume. This subject is
very much in need of further academic and practical exploration in order to
reveal the full potential of the application and elaboration of rhetorical figures,
strategic aspects, the full depth of concepts such as kairos, decorum, res, verba,
and the importance of memory and audiences.
As we have seen, one of the qualities introduced by FIM is the expansion of

the musical material brought by the extended acoustic instrumental techniques
and the use of electronic technology. As a consequence, new ideas for organizing
sequential musical events have to be developed. It must be clear that the great
variety in improvised creation brings perhaps richness in material but also a more
complicated manner of obtaining clarity in the delivery. Whilst there is more time
available for organizing the music when dealing with few elements, playing with
abundant amounts of material, which is part of the modus operandi of FIM,
requires a different set of mind in order to deal with the risks and the exploration
of dynamisms produced by coming closer to the edge of losing control. In that
equation it is arguable that each improviser, or improvisation group, would profit
from acknowledging that to explore fully the medium of FIM one should
experiment in finding various balances between the use of a very broad palette of
sounds in combination with different levels of intensity and control. It might be
useful to engage in developing control of how much lack of control you want to
achieve at different moments during the performance. FIM allows for the
exploration of limits, which is possibly a very interesting strategy to follow since
the exploration, if dealt with artistry, becomes a particular element of this way of
making music.
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This study has dealt with issues that conditioned the development of FIM.
One of the characteristics that I have presented is that of freeing the interpreter
from the constraints of musical composition. We should see that it is possible that
in the process of “emancipation” the performer became somehow over-sensitive
to issues that might represent constraints or signify oppression. As a
consequence, any attempt to devise a system to approach FIM analytically risks
being associated with limiting forces. One of the consequences of such a dogma
may have influenced the development of a proper mode of discourse. A mode of
criticism possibly will question individual musical decisions which, according to
the dogma, are not supposed to be questioned but rather respected as they are. We
have also seen that in the process of FIM’s development radical thinking took
place such as Bailey’s idea of non-idiomatic improvisation or Vinko Globokar
considering improvisation only as “pure” when it is the result of the first time you
improvise with someone. Supposedly, the factor of getting to know one another
jeopardises the original stance, diminishing the “natural” collaboration of
extemporizing through this kind of music.
Taking a closer look at the issues that are involved in creating music
collectively made me reflect on ways to present the importance of cultivating the
angles of social experience. To build a discourse in FIM it is perhaps necessary to
reflect on understanding the social issues inherent in this practice and at the same
time the influence of those issues on the elaboration of content and its relation
with form. Since this practice is considered by this study as one in which
communication processes are inherent, content must be also intrinsic. However,
we need to formulate modes of discourse that can address content and form
developed cooperatively. Since existing models of examination do not seem to
offer this potential, I have proposed using rhetoric because it is a field that deals
with content and form simultaneously while, at the same time, it considers the
influence of social relationships via concepts such as kairos and decorum. This
study has also considered that rhetoric could be useful to devise proper models
for teaching it. As much as FIM needs a suitable system for discourse, it also
represents a paradigm of challenge for music education. Teaching FIM would
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profit from the elaboration of a method of inquiry that takes the content and form
into account, linked to the dynamics of social relations intrinsic in collective
creation.
With regard to the issue of teaching FIM, we have seen a diversity of

approaches. Most of them I regard as too restrictive because they maintain the
traditional relationship between pupil and teacher. This investigation defends the
view that for establishing a method of teaching FIM, the role of the teacher has to
be one that sponsors the natural development of issues through establishing a
decorum that permits debate and heuristic discovery. One issue that I would like
to clarify is the idea that the educated performer is inflexible during the initial
stages of experiencing FIM. John Stevens, a pioneer in teaching improvisation,
quoted in Bailey’s book On Improvisation, says, “When somebody is a
professional musician it often means that his involvement is a bit limited.” To my
mind come the numerous occasions I heard comments with respect to the
inflexibility of educated musicians when confronted with improvisation.
Probably, if there is something to blame, it is perhaps the methods used in some
educational institutions that result in directions that are dogmatic and inflexible,
as a consequence rendering the performer incapable of free improvisation.
However, in the course of this investigation I came to see this problem from
another perspective. I think we should examine the educated performer’s
“inflexibility” by considering the questions: Why would a trained musician be
less spontaneous if he deals with expressive mechanisms on a regular basis?
Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that the inflexibility we witness in the early
stages of free improvisation comes as result of aesthetic self-criticism and the
new relation between the performer and his instrument? For the experienced
musician, playing free improvised music for the first time is almost like learning
a second instrument. The frustration and consequent stiffness that derives from it
might come from the expectation of achieving consistency and failing to
accomplish it. I think that it is natural for the experienced musician to deal with
some frustration during the first experiences with FIM. The manifestations of
these frustrations may come as a natural result in an environment where the
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interpreter is involved for the fist time in formulating, organising and delivering
the music by himself. Since this would not have existed if he had received any
preparation prior to the activity, he feels unprepared and, at the same time,
because he is a proficient musician, he still strives for accomplishing unity and
balance and, by mostly failing to achieve it, he becomes frustrated.
In order to look at it from a rhetorical perspective, we have to go back a bit

and begin to analyse it from the characteristics of oratory. As I stated before,
rhetoric was made part of the so-called Trivium together with dialectics and
grammar. Dialectics is the philosophical side of rhetoric which deals with logical
methods of cross-examination. Rhetoric is the pragmatic side that deals with
objective presentation. We also have grammar which is the set of rules governing
language. If we now make the analogy between oratory and music, vocabulary
and grammar would be represented by a pre-formulated set of sounds and
combinations of them respectively. However, in FIM neither are the sounds fixed
nor the musical “grammar” set. As this study has shown, the relation between
content and form in FIM is symbiotic and variable. So for the trained musician it
is odd to get involved in an activity that puts him right in the middle of the field
of music-making without the tools he would use in a “normal” situation. The
trained performer taking his first steps into FIM has to manage the frustration of
dealing with the ambiguity of having the expressive apparatus tuned and mature,
and having to invent the ABC plus its grammar, with an instrument with which
he used to perform with smoothness, grace and agility, but which now, because
of a new concept of control, represents an obstacle. So we could expect that when
the stage of becoming acquainted with this practice has passed, most certainly the
performer will be capable of using his trained expressive apparatus plus his
knowledge about music in general in the performance of FIM. It is relevant to
note that in the project in which most of the participants were not proficient
performers, at the CMMA’s in Mexico, the results produced were inconsistent.
The performers did not show enough dexterity in searching for extended
instrumental techniques, and – also –my pedagogical guidelines failed to make
the performers develop any skill in elaborating music as a collective. In
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conclusion, we could also say that those who do not have their expressive
mechanism matured by training and experience will not perform FIM as well as
those who do. Although this seems a pretty obvious thing to say, I think it is a
necessary statement because of some ideas I had come to learn which disregard
the necessity of proficiency to achieve artistic quality in FIM. One recurrent issue
in the projects was that those who manifested that they had experience in
improvisation were normally those who engaged in long discussions on the
subject. Coincidentally or not, I noted that these performers were amongst those
who were paying too much attention to themselves, compromising their
development inside the community.
Although the re-interpretation of the musical-rhetorical figures represents a

contribution in itself, this study demonstrates that the application of the existing
musical-figures in FIM presents some inconsistencies. This is basically for two
reasons. First, due to the fact that some figures are only useful for the application
of rhetoric in composed forms of music such as cathachresis (successive sixth-
chord progressions), antistaechon (substitution of a consonance with a
dissonance), fuga (fugue), etc. Second, as I have mentioned before, it is difficult
to perceive the differences between, for instance, emphasis and exclamatio when
these are applied in FIM. However, as I have said before, the reformulation and
creation of new devices for the analysis of FIM remains a field to be explored. I
have rather concentrated on presenting the idea of connecting rhetoric to free
improvised music as a harmonious and very profitable combination for achieving
better insights into its dynamics. More important than the presentation of a
mature set of new figures are the deep concepts that connect the manner which
performers use to construct the environment for the creation of this spontaneous
musical art. Those deep concepts are represented by the ethical principles
embedded in the notion of decorum. I now consider decorum to be the root of
FIM. Knowing how to behave – decorum– in combination with when to act –
kairos – signify the foundations upon which all the other elements are developed.
We have seen the necessity of decorum for building the musical discourse
collectively. Therefore, decorum ought to be created in an environment in which
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egalitarian conditions exist. In teaching FIM I realised that the presence of the
traditional figure of the teacher unbalances the decorum because the structure of
the group is one that is commanded by one person rather than by the community.
I cannot deny that my presence during the realisation of the projects exerted some
influence. However, I tried to change my role from that of a teacher to one of a
coordinator. The aim of this strategy was to allow the ensemble to acquire its
own momentum in the search for expanding the music material (sounds, rhythms,
silences) and developing an awareness of collective creation and intersubjective
relations. So, at times I fulfilled the role of either a co-participant or just that of
an observer or audience.
After reframing rhetoric for the purposes of this investigation, I came to the
conclusion that there has been a significant change in the purpose of rhetoric in
its adaptation for its application in a discipline like FIM. FIM, in being a
collaborative practice, has inherent dynamics of collective creation. If we
compare the improvisatory practice of oratory to FIM, we should try to
understand the differences between the individual qualities of the first and the
cooperative dynamics of the second. Since persuasion is intrinsic in the practice
of rhetoric, it is very important to understand how it changes when applied to the
collective environment. Persuasion then, rather than aiming for the acceptance of
a preconceived idea, might refer in FIM to the energies involved in the
exploration and mutual inquiry, while performing in such a way that the audience
engages in a parallel perception to that of sounds; the dynamics of personal
engagement in the decorum of creative activity. I can conclude that to achieve a
more holistic understanding in the observation of FIM, analysing the sonic results
should be done parallel to the observation of the process involved in the musical
interactivity. In the latter, it should be possible to observe the qualities of
communication between the members in order to understand the character of the
first. Although there is an obvious subjective variety in the reception, it may be
said that to a certain extent members of a group and audiences can be persuaded
to adopt a homogeneous angle of perception. The process fulfils itself only when
both the intention and the reception are as solid as the circumstances allow for.
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Today, it is common to encounter the combination of several branches of

learning fields of expertise. Questions that had been central in the traditional
disciplines are gradually being replaced or radically transformed. These
transformations are mainly due to the technological developments that have
affected practically every area of knowledge today. Chaos and indeterminacy
theories in the sciences and mathematics plus the developments in technology
and changes in travel and communication affect a general questioning of
teleology (Lochhead (2002) p. 6.). We have also learned how time has been
transformed with the use of computer technology. Together with time, the
concept of space has also changed. Physical distances do not represent the same
as they did in the past, since social and cultural distances have become
dramatically shorter. These factors have had a strong influence on
epistemological thought. Knowledge has ceased to be absolute and has become
dependent on interpretation. Consequently, in the dynamics of thought based on
non-absolute truth the act of perception has become a creative act. It does not
take a great effort to identify the new role of audiences and the principle of
creative reception in the practice of FIM. In FIM the creator and receiver together
form the ‘meaning.’ Roland Barthes’ essay, The Death of the Author (1977), for
instance, locates the source of meaning from the author towards an interaction
between the creator and the receiver (reader, listener, viewer), each of whom is
understood as part of an intersubjective context that confers meaning (Lochhead
(1992) p. 7.). We could say that because of the new concept of time, space and
meaning, knowledge is dependent more on a process than on fixed concepts. We
have seen that the process in FIM does not develop along pre-defined lines. As a
result, a traditional notion of time, as a continuous and linear progression
(chronos), is insufficient for the analysis of this practice, since it only marches
forward in a predictable path; we must now articulate a qualitative sense of time
represented by the concept of kairos.
I am confident that the lines I have set out are in tune with those who think it
necessary to develop this artistic field further by elaborating grounds upon which
discussion can be promoted. Evan Parker, in the liner notes of the LP The
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Topography of the Lungs, from 1970, acknowledges, “We operate without rules
(pre-composed material) or well-defined codes of behaviour (fixed tempi,
tonalities, serial structures etc.), and yet are able to distinguish success from
failure.” In this aspect, I hope that this study represents a contribution to the
discussion of the conditions and characteristics that result in either failure or
success in FIM. For it must be clear that if a common agreement on those
qualities can exist, it this must be based on something that people can share and
that can be, to a certain extent, communicated verbally.
One of the characteristics of FIM is that it brings an inherent drive for

change. As I have argued earlier, change frequently meets a contrary force which
holds onto tradition and values of permanence. And, since those changes are
happening very rapidly, perhaps even those who a few years ago were considered
the avant-garde have now become reluctant to accept – or most possibly
incapable of understanding – FIM in its full context and importance. One
controversial issue in FIM might be the fact that never before in Western music
was the interpreter cut loose completely from the idea of the composer as the
creator. This may be a sensitive matter for those who regard the realisation of
musical invention in improvised practices not as serious as in music composition.
As I have said earlier, commercial business still depends on the existence of the
artist-centred performance as an object of adulation, and there is (still) no
business potential in exposing an egalitarian, democratic, ethical, collaborative
manner of creating music such as FIM. However, I have witnessed through my
experiences as improviser, people learning how to value and understand FIM. In
this regard, I hope that the contribution I have made through this study
encourages a positive debate so that this practice can spread the music it creates
together with its intrinsic values of justice, democratic relationships, pluralism,
and that it helps to restore the natural connection between performers and
audiences, which due to egocentrism, individualism and monetary interests that
profit from the artist’s adulation, has deteriorated.
Analysing the Seconda Prattica and the contemporary movement called

Historically Informed Performance (HIP) Haynes accepts that it would be
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pointless to force the analogy between them too far. He considers that the
similarity between both practices is striking because of qualities such as the
rejection of the dominant style and the resort to history (Haynes (2007) p.122.)
However, Haynes’s concern with not carrying the analogy too far seems to be
well put. Whilst HIP moves forward with the preoccupation of recreating the
style and thought of rhetorical music, the Seconda Prattica believed it was
recovering a tradition that had been lost in antiquity, but there was no intention in
restoring any particular style of making music. If we now think of FIM, we could
also draw significant similarities with the Seconda Prattica. Like FIM, the
Seconda Prattica radically rejected the mainstream. We could also consider that
FIM seems not to have emerged as a rejection of the dominant style but as a
reaction to the domination of the performer by the score and that somehow it is
not only concerned with the future but also intrinsically willing to restore the past
by trying to bring back the natural connection of the performer’s expressive
apparatus. Perhaps Monteverdi was not intending to create such a great stylistic
shock. Perhaps he was only endeavouring to create new music – moderna musica
– because the change presented itself as inevitable. Perhaps the implications of
the Seconda Prattica were unintentional. The full significance of free improvised
music is still unrevealed and it will probably mean a transformation in the
manner we create and perceive music in the future.
230
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237
11 APPENDIX
11.1 AUDIO SAMPLES – DVDR
A. Modulus II 2004 – Improvisation Project at the Royal Conservatory, The Hague. Aslaug
Holgersen (contrabass), Krista Vincent (piano), Diego Espinosa (percussion), Julien Chauvin
(violin), Johan van Kreij (electronics), Juan Parra (electronics). Direction: Cesar
Villavicencio. 18:46
B. Dartington 2000 – The Meta-Orchestra – Hypermusic and the Sighting of Sound. Evan Parker
(sax soprano), Cesar Villavicencio (e-recorder), Cléo Palacio-Quintin (flute and electronics),
Hilary Jeffery (trombone and electronics). 07:41
C. The Hague 2002 – Cesar Villavicencio (e-recorder), Hilary Jeffery (trombone), Diego
Espinosa (percussion). 06:20
D. Belfast 2005 – Sonorities Festival. Simon Waters (feedback flute), Cesar Villavicencio (e-
recorder). 08:13
E. UCSD1 2007 – William Brent (Laptop), Jason Ponce (Laptop), Jonathan Piper (Tuba), Joe
Bigham (e-guitar), David Borgo (EWI), Cesar Villavicencio (Tenor recorder). 13:31
F. USP 2005 – Closing concert. 11:05
G. UNLV 2006 – Closing concert. 09:50
H. UCSD2 2007 – William Brent (Laptop), Jason Ponce (Laptop), Jonathan Piper (Tuba), Joe
Bigham (e-guitar), David Borgo (EWI), Cesar Villavicencio (Tenor recorder). 08:51
I. UCSB1 2007 – Closing concert. 16:12
J. UCSB2 2007 – Closing concert. 26:15
11.2 AUDIO SAMPLES – CDR 1
1- Hypotyposis – J S Bach Matthew Passion, BWV 244 – NR. 11 Recitative. La Petite Bande,
Gustav Leonhardt, 1990 BMG MUSIC.CD1 Track 11.
2- Aria: Erbarme Dich – J Bach Matthew Passion, BWV 244 – La Petite Bande, Gustav
Leonhardt, 1990 BMG MUSIC.CD2 Track 10.
3- Anaphora – G. Ph. Telemann Quator in E minor for flute, violin, violoncello & b.c. Musica
Amphion, Pieter-Jan Belder,2003 Brilliant Classics. CD4 Track 9.
4- Anaphora – UCSD1, 2007.
5- Antithesis – Modulus II, 2004.
6- Antithesis – C Ph E Bach Symphony for strings No.5 Wq. 182 in B minor. Orchestra of the
Age of Enlightenment, Gustav Leonhardt, 1990 Virgin Veritas. CD1 Track 13.
7- Regressio – Norwich, AMM at UEA – Eddie Prévost and John Tilbury, 2005 Matchless
Recordings Track 1.
8- Anabasis – J S Bach Mass in B minor – Collegium Vocale, Philippe Herreweghe, 1998
Harmonia Mundi CD2 Track 6.
9- Anabasis – Modulus II, 2004 – Royal Conservatory, The Hague.
10- Bombus – Dartington 2000 – Devon.
11- Catabasis – USP 2005 – São Paulo.
238
12- Aposiopesis 1 – UNLV 2006 – Las Vegas.

13- Aposiopesis 2 – UNLV 2006 – Las Vegas.
14- Memoria – Norwich, AMM at UEA – Eddie Prévost and John Tilbury, 2005 Matchless
Recordings Track 1.
15- Exordium – J S Bach Mass in B minor – Collegium Vocale, Philippe Herreweghe, 1998
Harmonia Mundi CD2 Track 1.
16- Exordium – Modulus II, 2004 – Royal Conservatory, The Hague.
17- Exordium – Dartington 2000 – Devon.
18- Bomphiologia – UCSB 2007 – Santa Barbara.
19- Homiologia – Dartington 2000 – Devon.
20- Distributio – Modulus II, 2004 – Royal Conservatory, The Hague.
21- Peroratio – Modulus II, 2004 – Royal Conservatory, The Hague.
22- Exordium 1 – USP 2005, São Paulo.
23- Exordium 2 – USP 2005, São Paulo.
24- Climax – USP 2005, São Paulo.
25- Catabasis – USP 2005, São Paulo.
26- USP 2006 A, São Paulo.
27- USP 2006 B, São Paulo.
28- UNLV 2006, Las Vegas.
29- UNLV 2006, Las Vegas.
30- Humor – UNLV 2006, Las Vegas.
31- CMMAs 2007 A, Morelia.
32- CMMAs 2007 B, Morelia.
33- CMMAs 2007 C, Morelia.
34- CMMAs 2007 D, Morelia.
239
11.3 AUDIO SAMPLES – CDR2
1- Daniel Landau. COR (Composition Organ Recorder) (1998)

2- Erik Stalenhoef. Yidaki (1998)
240
11.4 Daniel Landau – COR (Composition Organ Recorder) (1998).
“COR” is a piece realized after a long process of exploring and developing these
two bizarre instruments: The MIDI-Recorder and a midi controlled microtonal
organ. These instruments carry a long tradition of baroque music which made the
challenge and motivation even greater in incorporating this acoustical signatures
into our current technological environment.
241
11.5 Erik Stalenhoef – YIDAKI (1998).
Yidaki is the Australian aboriginal word for didgeridoo. The piece is based on the
sounds of this instrument and the mentality of the aboriginal people. Their
concept of time and space is incomprehensible to us. Time and space are non-
linear and much related to each other. This means that what happens now will
always be related to the place where it happened, and not to the time when event
is taking place. Eventually this will drive a western mind into chaos, while the
aboriginal soul accepts the chaos as part of the dream that is time and space.
The piece is collaboration more than a composition and is especially written for
Cesar Villavicencio.
242
11.6 Cesar Villavicencio – MODULUS II (2004).
243
11.7 Aria: Erbarme Dich, Johann Sebastian Bach
244
245

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The Discourse of Free Improvisation: A

THESIS · FEBRUARY 2009

Available from: Cesar Villavicencio

A Rhetorical Perspective on Free Improvised Music

Cesar Marino Villavicencio Grossmann

School of Music, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

Truly free, yet in constant obligation:

PART I – CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................. 9

1.1 Modes of Discussion ........................................................................................... 12

1.2 Education ............................................................................................................ 14

1.3 FIM and Social Dynamics .................................................................................. 20

1.4 Programme of the Study ..................................................................................... 28

2 Objectives. Why is it Difficult to Analyse Free Improvised Music? ......................... 31

2.1 Instrumental Techniques – “Free” of what? ....................................................... 42

3 Historical Considerations ........................................................................................... 46

3.2 Jazz ...................................................................................................................... 55

3.3 Late 20th Century Western European Music ....................................................... 60

3.4 Considerations in the use of Technology ............................................................ 68

4 Current Limits of the Discourse in FIM ..................................................................... 76

4.1 Concluding Observations .................................................................................... 83

PART II – METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................... 85

5.1 The Bond between Developing and Learning .................................................... 89

5.2 Revisiting Rhetorical Figures ............................................................................. 93

5.3 Rhetoric in Music. Intention and Structure. ........................................................ 97

5.3.1 Rhetorical Figures and their Analogy in FIM ........................................... 106

5.3.1.1 Figures of Intentional Imitation.......................................................... 107

5.3.1.2 Figures of Structural Imitation ........................................................... 112

5.3.1.3 Figures of Illustration ......................................................................... 114

5.3.1.4 Figures of Silence ............................................................................... 124

5.3.1.5 Figures of Time .................................................................................. 130

5.4 The Classical Structure or Dispositio ............................................................... 135

5.5.1 Vices .......................................................................................................... 153

5.5.1.1 Stylistic Vices ..................................................................................... 155

6 How Rhetoric Addresses the Unspoken in FIM ....................................................... 158

PART III – HEURISTIC DISCOVERIES ................................................................. 164

7 Individual Experiences ............................................................................................. 164

7.1 The e -recorder .................................................................................................. 164

7.1.1 Dartington, 2000 ........................................................................................ 166

7.1.2 The Hague, 2002........................................................................................ 178

7.1.3 Belfast, 2006 .............................................................................................. 184

7.3 Lessons Learned ................................................................................................ 199

8 Group Laboratories. Prescriptive and Pedagogical Strategies. ................................ 201

8.1.1 The Royal Conservatory, The Hague. ....................................................... 201

8.1.1.1 MODULUS II, THE HAGUE 2004 ................................................... 205

8.1.2 Universidade de São Paulo (USP) ............................................................. 207

8.1.3 Universidade de São Paulo II (USPII) ....................................................... 210

8.1.4 University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) ................................................ 211

8.1.6 University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) ....................................... 214

8.2 Lessons Learned ................................................................................................ 216

PART IV – CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 220

9 Results and Roads for the Future ............................................................................. 220

10 Bibliography ........................................................................................................... 231

11 APPENDIX ............................................................................................................ 238

11.1 AUDIO SAMPLES – DVDR ......................................................................... 238

11.2 AUDIO SAMPLES – CDR 1 ......................................................................... 238

11.3 AUDIO SAMPLES – CDR2 .......................................................................... 240

11.5 Erik Stalenhoef – YIDAKI (1998). ................................................................. 242

11.6 Cesar Villavicencio – MODULUS II (2004). ................................................. 243

11.7 Aria: Erbarme Dich, Johann Sebastian Bach ................................................. 244

PART I – CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

In the course of my life I have dedicated special attention to aspects of music

I view the simultaneous conception and performance of free improvised music