Returning to the Continuum: On the Value of Typological Distinctions in the Analysis of Improvisation

Abstract

Improvisatory musical practices are often characterized as lying on a continuum between complete prior determination and complete in-the-moment novelty. Continua allow music analysts to avoid problematic absolutisms and enrich their comparative analyses, but their construction ultimately relies on typological distinctions. The poles or dimensions of the continuum must be defined, and this is where much of the theoretical work actually lies—including in constructing new typological distinctions. To this end, I discuss and demonstrate how a typological distinction between embodied and propositional improvisation—a distinction primarily motivated by (but not limited to) a performance practice called Live Coding—predicates a music-analytical research program. I show how this typological distinction forms productive connections with cognitive-scientific research that helps refine the distinction and its application to music analysis, and then use it to discuss the relative contributions of typologies vs. continua in the analysis of musical improvisation more generally.