Abstract :
This paper1 explores firstly the sense in which improvisation might be conceived of
as an informal music education process and, secondly, the effects of a course in free
improvisation on student teachers’ perceptions in relation to themselves as musicians,
music as a school subject and children as musicians. The results of a study conducted in
two Greek universities are presented. Using a narrative methodology, examples of data
from the reflective diaries or learning journals which 91 trainee teachers kept as part of
their participation in an improvisation module are presented and discussed. The argument
is made that improvisation, as a particular type of informal music learning process, has
an important role to play in fostering the qualities required of teachers to work with
informal pedagogies in music education. Furthermore, we would suggest that such musical
experiences might gradually lead to the development of a critical perspective on bothmusic
education theories and practices. Improvisationmight emerge as amoment and a practice of
rupture with linearity of progress, working against reification of knowledge and glorification
of received information. The findings suggest that improvisation might offer a route for
creating an intimate, powerful, evolving dialogue between students’ identities as learners,
their attitudes towards children and their creative potential, and the interrelationships of
the notions of expressive technique and culture, thus becoming ‘an act of transcendence’
(Allsup, 1997, p. 81). We propose that the issue of connecting informal learning and
improvisation might be resolved by regarding improvisation as an exemplary case of
creating a communicative context where most representations/conceptualisations/struggles
to solve problems are left implicit. Such experiences for pupils and teachers alike
might further extend the social and personal effectiveness of informal learning as music
pedagogy.
