Improvisation: Bringing Performer and Instrument Closer Together

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1990
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Sturm, Jonathan
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Sturm, Jonathan
Morrill Professor Emeritus
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Music and Theatre
The Department of Music and Theatre is committed to a philosophy of education that draws its goals from the larger purposes of liberal arts education and from the guidelines of its accrediting agency, the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). The primary aims of the department are to prepare students for a variety of professions in music, theatre, and the performing arts, to provide all students with educational experiences that will enhance their understanding of and aesthetic sensitivity to music, theatre, and the performing arts, and to serve as a vital force in the cultural life of the university, the community, and throughout the state and nation. The activities of the department reflect the university's commitment to excellence in teaching, creativity, and service.
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Abstract

If we accept that musicality in its highest form can arise in a n instrumentalist only when unity with the instrument is achieved, then one of the larger problems facing applied music teachers becomes how to make the student feel at one with the instrument. Proposed solutions to this concern are numerous and include tension-releasing programs such as the Alexander Technique and Kato Havas's remedies for the basic "fears" of violin playing. Yet a different way to achieve a unity between musician and instrument exists, one that has elicited little discussion so far. This is improvisation, an approach that circumvents many of the tension-releasing methods and yet still promotes an intimacy with the instrument.

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This article is from American String Teacher 40 (1990): 56-58. Posted with permission.

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Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 1990
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