Improvising for Social Change

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Across musical genres and research paradigms, musical improvisation has been studied and practiced as a laboratory for social change. Beyond music, human improvisation is a highly complex activity that, when undertaken in a group setting, changes social dynamics. In North American music, movements for social justice have often been at the center of this work. Musicians, activists, and intellectuals who identify as Black, Brown, Queer, and/or Indigenous have often been at the center of such activity, even if they haven’t always been narrated as such. Faith-based and spiritual musical genres and philosophies from Gospel to Afrofuturism have played a central role as well. At the same time, contemporary multi-racial movements for economic justice continue to employ strategies gleaned from musical improvisation. In this research and practice-oriented course, you will undertake in-class improvisation exercises (including a series of improvised recording sessions in the Georgetown recording studio) where you will gain hands-on knowledge of recording technology. You will learn to compose text scores designed to include all levels of musical experience and ability as a way to workshop the various improvisation techniques drawn from our readings and listening. You will also learn about music, activism, and scholarship that consciously seeks to harness the power of improvisation to change harmful social norms. Central to the course will be the following questions: What is the difference between a live improvised musical experience and the production and/or consumption of improvised music recordings? What can that difference tell us about the potential for certain modes of improvisation to co-create meaningful social change beyond what Bell Hooks has called “white supremacist capitalist patriarchy”? You will walk away from the course with a research-creation project that integrates critical inquiry, activism, and artistic practice. This might include a research paper, a series of recordings of improvised music, a performance, a sound installation, or any combination.