Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice is the first major research project to explore musical improvisation as a model for political, cultural, and ethical dialogue and action. This seven-year, $4-million project involves researchers from 18 universities across Canada, the United States, England, and Australia. It is supported by a $2.5-million Major Collaborative Research Initiatives (MCRI) grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). It is one of only two initiatives to receive an MCRI grant this year.

The project is headed by a University of Guelph professor Ajay Heble of the School of English and Theater Studies. Researchers from McGill are Lisa Barg, David Brackett, and Ichiro Fujinaga from the Schulich School of Music; Richard Gold, David Lametti, Desmond Manderson, and Tina Piper from the Faculty of Law; Eric Lewis of the Department of Philosophy; and, William Straw of the Department of Art History and Communication Studies.

"While I have a longstanding interest in music, improvised music has always been on the margins of that interest. This project gives me the opportunity to explore a number of questions with international authorities on the social and cultural analysis of music," says Professor Straw.  "These questions include: 

1. the ways in which communities of musical performers may stand as models for community in a broader sense 
2. the extent to which musical improvisation is typical or not of creative acts in a variety of fields, cultural and non-cultural; and 
3. the ways in which the fleeting, singular character of improvised music lends itself to inscription and storage within what we are calling "technologies of memory" (like recording apparatuses and media forms such as written scores, television recordings and phonograph records.)"

Improvisation is arguably the most widespread musical practice in the world and the least understood, according to Heble. Musicians collaborate to make real-time creative decisions so  the creative process is very much in the foreground. The impetus for "Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice" stems from post-1960s forms of experimental jazz and creative improvised music that work outside traditional musical paradigms. Such improvisation demands shared responsibility for participation, an ability to negotiate differences and a willingness to accept challenges of risk and contingency. Music also plays a tremendously important role in society, Heble says. By modelling forms of social organization, it can literally help us to hear the sound of change.

Researchers will investigate how improvised music plays a role in shaping notions of community and new forms of social organization. "By exploring how musical improvisation opens up consideration of such vital issues as human rights, alternative community formation and transcultural understanding, we're getting at issues that are central to the challenges of diversity and social cooperation in Canada," Hebel says.

“What's particularly exciting about the project is that we're shaping and defining a brand new field of interdisciplinary study, but one that has historical roots in the work of such improvisatory greats as Sun Ra, Horace Tapscott, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Archie Shepp and Pauline Oliveros among others. Their music exemplifies participatory virtues of dialogue, respect and community-building."

Heble is also the founder and artistic director of the Guelph Jazz Festival, one of Canada's leading presenters of improvised music. The festival is among numerous community partner groups that will be involved in this seven-year initiative. Other partners include the Canada Council for the Arts, the Daniel Langlois Foundation, and the Canadian Centre for Architecture.

The project has three overall research objectives:

• revealing the complex structures of improvisational practices and developing an enriched understanding of the multiple social, political and cultural functions these practices play
• demonstrating the policy implications of this new and enriched understanding of improvisation for education, arts funding, intellectual property rights and multiculturalism, and
• assessing claims made for the social and cultural impact of improvisation and exploring improvisation-based models for social responsibility and action.

Research will focus on seven related areas:

• law and justice
• pedagogy
• social policy
• transcultural understanding
• gender and the body
• text and media, and
• social aesthetics

In addition, working closely with community partners, researchers will create outreach projects to bring improvising musicians together with youth and disadvantaged groups. The project outcomes will include 21 colloquia; a summer institute; a research-intensive website; five books based on the findings; policy papers; and a peer-reviewed electronic journal. A large portion of the grant will support training opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral students.

“We believe there is huge potential now to document and demonstrate the ways in which creativity and innovation can be vital tools for building sustainable communities, promoting social co-operation, and adapting to unprecedented change,” Heble says.

In addition to its SSHRC funding, the project will also receive funding from the University of Guelph, McGill University, the University of British Columbia and the Université de Montréal, as well as private partners and stakeholders.