1. National Association of Schools of Music 2001-2002 Handbook. Reston, VA: National Association of Schools of Music, 2001: 83.

2. Steve Larson, " 'Integrated Music Learning' and Improvisation: Teaching Musicianship and Theory Through 'Menus, Maps, and Models'," College Music Symposium 35 (1995): 80-81.

3. Kate Covington, "Improvisation in the Aural Curriculum: An Imperative," College Music Symposium 37 (1997): 54.

4. Ibid., p. 54. A more detailed discussion of "real-world" music learning activities, and the philosophy that lies behind them, can be found in Kate Covington and Charles Lord, "Epistemology and Procedure in Aural Training: In Search of a Unification of Music Cognitive Theory with Its Applications," Music Theory Spectrum 16/2 (1994): 159-170. Earlier articles by Covington and Lord apply these ideas to aural skills instruction and computer-assisted instruction. See Kate Covington, "An Alternative Approach to Aural Skills Pedagogy," Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy 6 (1992): 5-18; and Charles Lord, "Harnessing Technology to Open the Mind: Beyond Drill and Practice for Aural Skills," Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy 7 (1993): 105-117.

5. Maria Sagi and Ivan Vitanyi, "Experimental Research Into Musical Generative Ability," in Generative Processes in Music ed. by John Sloboda,

6. Gary Wittlich and Deborah Martin, Tonal Harmony for the Keyboard, New York: Schirmer, 1989; Sol Berkowitz, Improvisation Through Keyboard Harmony, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1975.

7. Steven Block, "Pitch Class Transformation in Free Jazz," Music Theory Spectrum 12/2 (1990): 181-202; Tom Darter, "Piano Giants of Jazz: Cecil Taylor," Contemporary Keyboard (May 1981): 56-57. For other transcriptions and analyses of Taylor's improvisations see Matthew Kiroff, "Caseworks as Performed by Cecil Taylor and the Art Ensemble of Chicago: A Musical Analysis," Jazzforschung/Jazz Research 33 (2001): 9-130; Steven Block, "Bemsha Swing: The Transformation of a Bebop Classic to Free Jazz," Music Theory Spectrum 19/2 (1997): 206-231; Lynette Westendorf, "Cecil Taylor: Indent -- 'Second Layer'," Perspectives of New Music 33/1-2 (1995), 294-326: and Ekkehard Jost, Free Jazz, Graz: Universal Edition, 1974: 66-83.

8. I would like to thank Jonathan Atleson and Danny Jenkins for assistance in preparing the graphic and sound files used in this article.

9. Cecil Taylor, Air Above Mountains, Enja Records, 1992 (recorded 1976).

10. Joseph Straus, Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory, 2nd edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2000; Stefan Kostka, Materials and Techniques of Twentieth-Century Music, 2nd edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1999; J. Kent Williams, Theories and Analyses of Twentieth-Century Music, Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1997.

11. Lars Edlund, Modus Novus, Stockholm: Edition Wilhelm Hansen, 1963; Samuel Adler, Sight-Singing: Pitch, Interval, Rhythm, 2nd edition, New York: Norton, 1997; Michael Friedmann, Ear Training for Twentieth-Century Music, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.

12. Meyer Kupferman, Atonal Jazz. Medfield, MA: Dorn Publications, 1992.

13. Ed Sarath, "A New Look at Improvisation," Journal of Music Theory 40/1 (1996): 1-38.

14. Jeff Pressing, "The Micro- and Macrostructural Design of Improvised Music," Music Perception 5/2, 1987: 153-172. Like Sarath quoted above, Pressing distinguishes between object memory (small building blocks) and process memory (global processes). In contrast to Sarath, Pressing makes no claim that one is more appropriate to improvisation than the other, but suggests that the improviser should develop both types of memory. See Jeff Pressing, "Cognitive Processes in Improvisation," in Cognitive Processes in the Perception of Art, ed. by W. Ray Crozier and Antony Chapman, Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1984: 345-363. Elsewhere, Pressing develops detailed models of the improvisational process that incorporate findings from cognitive science and neuroscience, along with insights gained from studies of improvising musicians and improvisation method books. See Jeff Pressing, "Improvising: Methods and Models," in Generative Processes in Music, ed. by John Sloboda, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988: 129-178; and Jeff Pressing, "Psychological Constraints on Improvisational Expertise and Communication," in In the Course of Performance, ed. by Bruno Nettl and Melinda Russell, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998: 41-67.

15. Anne Carothers Hall, Studying Rhythm, 2nd edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1998; Samuel Adler, Sight-Singing: Pitch, Interval, Rhythm, 2nd edition, New York: Norton, 1997; Daniel Kazez, Rhythm Reading, 2nd edition, New York: Norton, 1997.

16. For more information about student reactions to improvisation, see George Lewis, "Teaching Improvised Music: An Ethnographic Memoir," in Arcana: Musicians on Music, ed. by John Zorn, New York: Granary Books, 2000: 78 - 109.

17. The exercises above come from the following books and article, all of which contain valuable improvisation exercises, from beginning to advanced levels: David Darling and Bonnie Insull, Return to Child, 3rd edition, Goshen, CT: Music for People, 1997; Roger Dean, Creative Improvisation: Jazz, Contemporary Music and Beyond, Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press, 1989; W.A. Mathieu The Listening Book, Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1991; John Buccheri, "Finding Your Own Music - A Case for Free Improvisation," College Music Society Newsletter, September 2002. Another book that easily could be adapted for music theory or aural skills courses, because it gives detailed instructions about working with pitch, is Gerre Hancock, Improvising: How to Master the Art, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. At the other end of the spectrum are two books that list improvisation exercises for children that require little instrumental expertise, which could be used for warmup or introductory activities: Trevor Wishart, Sounds Fun: A Book of Musical Games, SCDC Publications, 1975; and Trevor Wishart, Sounds Fun 2: A Second Book of Musical Games, London: Universal Edition, 1977. The composer Bruce Adolphe has developed exercises that are more conceptual (for example, improvising in the style of a well-known composer, thinking of a sentence and then "playing" it on an instrument, etc.) that could be used in a variety of situations. See Bruce Adolphe, The Mind's Ear, St. Louis: MMB Music, 1991. Saxophonist Larry Ochs discusses devices for structuring improvisations for multiple performers in Larry Ochs, "Devices and Strategies for Structured Improvisation," in Arcana: Musicians on Music, ed. by John Zorn, New York: Granary Books, 2000: 325 - 335. Two sight-singing/ear training textbooks that also contain post-tonal improvisation exercises are Friedmann, Ear Training for Twentieth-Century Music, and Vernon Kliewer, Music Reading: A Comprehensive Approach, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1973. For an overview and discussion of improvisation pedagogy and method books, see Pressing, "Improvising: Methods and Models", 141-145.

18. For a detailed analysis of this work, see Cynthia Pace, "Accent on Form-Against-Form: Ruth Crawford Seeger's Piano Study in Mixed Accents," Theory and Practice 20 (1995): 125-148.

19. Mark Harvey and the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, Aardvark Steps Out, 9 Winds Records, 1993; Willem Breuker Kollektief, Heibel, BVHAAST, 1991; Pauline Oliveros, Stuart Dempster, and Panaiotis, Deep Listening New Albion Records, 1989.

20. For an excellent discography of recorded improvisations, along with discussion, see John Corbett, Extended Play, Durham: Duke University Press, 1994.

21. I would like to thank Michael Reavey and Dave Reminick, who performed the improvisations discussed in this article.

22. Hancock, Improvising: How to Master the Art, vii.

End of footnotes