"A composer who writes on paper is still improvising to begin with (if "only" mentally), then taking the products of the improvisation and refining and applying technique and theory to them."[1] "Composing is a slowed-down improvisation; often one cannot write fast enough to keep up with the stream of ideas."[2]
Regarding composition as being only available to the theoretically astute, I was excited when I began to understand/breakdown the compositional practice for myself, unraveling and demystifying the process. Composition is improvisation, just written down.
But then, there's improvisation that stays far from the page; existing only in sheer outline or a glance right before the piece begins. Here, I love how Tiffany Lee Brown articulates the heart of her art; improvisation:
"Working in moment-based, site-responsive, improvisation-based practice allows me to embrace the inevitable random factors and fully inhabit my body and my site. It allows honesty to slip past my own elaborate defenses and suggests points of connection with any audience who might be present. Working this way, I'm not afraid that the weather, an unpredictable audience, or a technical glitch is going to ruin my work; the work doesn't truly live without these random factors. For me, improvisation techniques provide a genuine way of working. With my emotions, intellect and years of experience at the ready, improvising is the height of being in the moment as an artist and as a person."[3]
I too, have experienced putting myself out there. Only to be met with all the material needed; bumping up against my own genetic history, education and past experience, which I believe, saved me from what could've been a grievous performance. Perhaps I'm a thrill seeker...or better yet, have a professional death wish! Why else would a sane somebody be so interested in what would happen if you approached a venue completely unprepared? My point...exactly. Am I really unprepared? I believe that my question revolves and resolves around the three qualities just mentioned: genetic history, education and experience. It's from these places, that I am most interested in drawing my newest works. These, my spontaneous compositions.
"The moment at which a composer’s experience is projected on his unconscious mind is an archetypal encounter of external and internal, of ‘life’ and ‘art’; this encounter is experienced at its most concentrated form within the process of composition itself, where the composer’s ’innate‘ inspiration collides with his learned’ technique."[4]
[1] Free Play, Nachmanovitch, S. (1990), Tarcher/Putnam, NY. NY., pg. 6
[2] Style and Idea, Schoenberg, A. (1950), University of California Press, Los Angeles, CA.
[3] The Curious Adventures of Princess Igneosa or, Traversing Intimate Space In Interdisciplinary, Brown, T. L. (2008), MFA-IA Portfolio. Goddard College, Port Townsend, WA. pg. 254
[4] Music and Inspiration, by Harvey, J. (1999), Faber and Faber London, UK.
pg. 71
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