Ce mémoire de maîtrise porte sur l’intégration de l’improvisation dans la création de trois de mes œuvres récentes. Ces œuvres sont : Nyctophilia – minimum 11’00’’ – pour quatuor à cordes et soliste improvisateur ; Æther – 10’ – pour trio à instrumentation non définie ; Presqu’étoile – 10’ – pour grand orchestre. En guise d’introduction, je présente mes préoccupations artistiques, l’origine de mon travail ainsi que la dualité qui semble opposer l’improvisation et la composition. Je dresse ensuite, en lien avec mes influences personnelles, un bref portrait de l’improvisation dans le jazz et dans la musique savante axé sur la seconde moitié du 20e siècle. Finalement, les œuvres font l’objet d’une analyse ciblée afin de démontrer les moyens utilisés pour intégrer l’improvisation dans la composition. Chacune des trois œuvres expose un moyen spécifique issu de ma réflexion et de mes recherches afin de gérer l’improvisation : Nyctophilia – axe de gestion de l’information ; Æther – conversationnalité et improvisation libre ; Presqu’étoile – comprovisation à partir d’Æther. / The focus of this master’s thesis is the integration of improvisation in three of my recent pieces: Nyctophilia – minimum 11’00’’ – for string quartet and soloist improviser ; Æther – 10’’ – for a trio of undetermined instruments ; Presqu’étoile – for full orchestra. As an introduction, I present my artistic concerns, the origin of my work, and the seeming duality that places improvisation in opposition to composition. Then I draw, according to my personal influences, a brief portrait of improvisation in jazz and in art music, primarily in the second half of the 20th century. Finally, I analyze three of my pieces to show the means utilized to integrate improvisation into composition. Each piece exhibits a specific way to manage the inclusion of improvisation, these methods being the result of my reflections and research. Nyctophilia – axis as a means of information management ; Æther – conversationnality and free improvisation ; Presqu’étoile – comprovisation in relation to Æther.

Denne D-uppsats i Musikterapi ved Kungliga Musikhögskolan i Stockholm undersøger på et fænonomenologisk grundlag, hvordan fem kvinder i et gruppeterapiforløb oplevede at arbejde med stemmen som terapeutisk redskab. Det overordnede formål med projektet var at udvikle en metode til at arbejde med stemmen som terapeutisk redskab.   I et eksperimentelt projekt over ti sessioner af hver to timers varighed, blev der arbejdet med forskellige aspekter af det at arbejde med stemmen, herunder afslapning/mindfulness før alle praktiske øvelser, vejrtræknings- og stemmetekniske øvelser og forskellige stemmeimprovisations øvelser. Maleri og tegning blev taget ind som en ekstra dimension i forhold til at arbejde med de psykologiske processer. Sessionerne blev filmet som dokumentation og siden blev sessionerne transkriberet, beskrevet og analyseret. Alle samtaler i gruppeterapien udgik fra Irving D.Yaloms eksistentielle psykologiske vinkel. Via en fænomenologisk forskningsmetode og med triangulering af spørgeskemaer er øvelserne og deres effekter på deltagernes oplevelse af blandt andet selvværd, det at tage sin plads og præstation, blevet undersøgt. Resultaterne indikerer 1) at afslapning/mindfulness kan have en positiv indvirkning på deltagernes personlige processer, 2) at stemmetekniske øvelser kan åbne op for flere forskellige personlige processer, herunder processer relateret til sociale regler, selvværd, præstation og det at blive mere bevidst om ens egen krop og dens funktioner i forhold til stemmen og vejrtrækningen. Resultaterne indikerer også, at vejrtrækningsøvelser og afslapning påvirker hinanden gensidigt og at vejrtrækningsøvelser kan bruges som individuelt værktøj i relation til angstdæmpning. Improvisationsøvelser findes at kunne åbne for meget forskellige personlige processer alt efter stemmetekniske forudsætninger. Følelser af frihed i forhold til stemmeidealer, manglende teknik, indlejrede sociale konventioner, forhold til autoriteter og regler, samt følelsen af at lege og eksperimentere, er nogen af de temaer som deltagerne oplevede der kom fokus på. Deltagerne oplevede at de var i stand til at overføre disse oplevelser til deres private livsforhold og at de her kunne skabe en forandring. I forhold til Male/tegne øvelsen viser resultaterne at deltagerne oplevede at kunne uddybe deres udfordringer og processer yderligere, og at de oplevede øvelsen overraskende nem, kravløs og legende.   Et uforudset resultat var, at det at arbejde med en medfølende intention i forhold til en selv, viste sig at være den allerstørste faktor for at forløbet udgjorde en terapeutisk forskel for de deltagende. Generelt oplevede deltagerne selve gruppeterapien som en støttende og kærlig proces og derfor inspirende i forhold til den enkeltes udfordring og proces. / This Magister Thesis in Music Therapy at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm examines on a phenomenological basis how five women in a group therapy process experienced working with voice exercises as a therapeutic tool. The overall objective of the project was to develop a method to work with the voice as a therapeutic tool. In an experimental course over ten sessions of two hours duration, the women worked with various aspects of voicework, including relaxation /mindfulness before all practical exercises, breathing and technical voice exercises and various voiceimprovisation exercises. Painting and drawing were taken in as an extra dimension to the work of the psychological processes. The sessions were video recorded as documentation and afterwards the sessions were transcribed, described and analyzed. All conversations in the group therapy were based on Irving D.Yaloms existential psychology. Through a phenomenological research method and triangulation of questionnaires, -the exercises and their influence on participants' experience, among others of self-esteem, of being able to take one´s needed space - and of performance, were examinded. The results indicates 1) that relaxation /mindfulness can have a positive impact on participants' personal processes, 2) that technical voice exercises can open up several different personal processes, including processes related to social rules, self-esteem, achievement and to become more aware of ones own body and its functions in relation to the voice and breathing. The results also indicate that breathing exercises and relaxation have a mutual influence on one another and that breathing exercises can be used as a tool for the individual, concerning anxiety reduction. Improvisation exercises can help opening up to different personal processes, depending on the level of technical experience of the voice the participant possesses. Feelings of freedom in relation to voice ideals, lack of voice technique, embedded social conventions, relationship to authorities and rules, as well as the feeling of playing and experimenting, were some of the themes the participants experienced to have a focus on. The participants found that they were able to transfer these experiences to their private life conditions and here to create a change. In relation to the painting / drawing exercise, it was found that the participants experienced to immerse their challenges and processes further and that they experienced this exercise surprisingly easy, non-demanding and playful. As an unexpected result it was found, that working with a compassionate intention towards oneself in the process made the largest therapeutic difference for the participants. In general, participants experienced the group therapy as supportive and with a loving atmosphere which inspired the individual´s challenges and processes.

This ethnography examines the processes in which rooted but overlapping forms of cosmopolitan engagements implicate the Tausug imagination of collectivity. It investigates Tausug expression of connection and belonging as they find themselves entangled into global cultural flow and caught up in the state and secessionist politics of attachment. Utilising methodological and theoretical approaches engendered by visual and material anthropology, the ethnography locates rooted cosmopolitan imagination in the works and lives of creative but marginalised and often silenced Tausug cultural agents engaged in street-based production, circulation, and consumption of popular music and dance videos on compact discs. The ethnography follows these cosmopolitan expressions as they are being imagined, embodied, reproduced, and shared by and across Tausug communities in the Zamboanga peninsula, the Sulu archipelago, and beyond through the digital spaces of the internet and cross-border flow of the videos. How the translocality of imaginaries reflected on the videos play out in everyday life and the broader politics of representation are demonstrated here as vital to the understanding of Tausug imagined community as an open, flexible, and dynamically engaging Muslim society despite long-standing political turbulence and economic uncertainty in their midst. Saliently, the thesis argues that Tausug cosmopolitanism cannot be reduced into a phenomenon driven by the expansive currents of Western-led globalisation. Rather, Tausug cosmopolitanism constitutes both continuity of and departure from past forms of translocal connections of Zamboanga and Sulu, which as a region was once integrated to a pre-colonial Southeast Asian emporium and continually through varying ways of connectedness. Old and new global processes come into play in shaping the everyday production of Tausug imaginaries inevitably rendering Tausug identity formation as a trajectory rather than an unchanging fact of being. Drawing from the Tausug ethnographic experience, the thesis contends that rooted cosmopolitanism does not necessarily constitute a singular condition but rather a contested and distinctively multifaceted phenomenon.

Syftet med studien är att få ökad insikt i hur sånglärare med utgångspunkt i kursplanens mål om genrebreddning hanterar genreområdet jazzsång i sångundervisningen på gymnasieskolans estetiska program. Genom att intervjua fyra sångpedagoger verksamma på gymnasiets estetiska program har jag tagit reda på vad som enligt dem kan betecknas som ett genreenligt sound eller genrespecifika egenskaper speciellt viktiga för jazzsång, hur dessa kunskaper kan förmedlas till eleverna samt hur sångpedagoger använder sig av jazzsångens genrespecifika element i sångundervisningen. Studien har som sin teoretiska utgångspunkt ett sociokulturellt perspektiv med fokus på hur pedagoger använder olika redskap för att kommunicera och lära ut. För att få svar på mina frågor har använt mig av en halvstrukturerad intervjuform. Informanterna är alla yrkesaktiva sångpedagoger, två med en mer klassisk inriktning och två med afroinfriktning. Resultatet visar att jazz som genreområde är svårt för pedagogerna att definiera och ingår i undervisningen i den mån pedagogen styr det därhän. Informanterna beskriver hur jazzen inte bara används för att uppfylla målen om genrebredd, utan också som ett redskap för att mediera kunskap om olika sångtekniska moment som inte är genrebundna. Det framgår också att texten och det talade ordet återkommer som redskap i flera olika moment i jazzsångsundervisningen där jazz undervisas utan att vara ett redskap för att mediera något annat än just jazz i sångundervisningen. De intervjuade pedagogerna anser improvisation vara tyngdpunkten i jazzsångens genretypiska element, men att det varierar beroende på lärarens ämnessyn hur mycket eleverna får arbeta med detta moment. / This study will investigate how to attain a fuller and more versatile insight in how vocal teachers, with the syllabus requirements of genre width in mind, communicate the genre of jazz in their singing classes to learners from the upper secondary school, especially students attending the designed aesthetical programme. By interviewing four vocal coaches, all active teachers at different advanced Schools of Music, I have examined not only what, according to their specific knowledge, is to be considered the sound specific to jazz and the specific properties required for singing jazz, but also how this knowledge is imparted to learners. This is followed by how these aforementioned specific elements of jazz are used in a didactic capacity. The theoretical basis of this study, applying a socio-cultural perspective, focuses on how teachers use different tools to communicate and teach. To answer my questions I have worked with a semi-structured interview method. The informants are all professionally active, two with a classical approach towards singing and two with more of a jazz approach, which also includes their former training and education. The result demonstrates that jazz, as a genre, is difficult for the teachers to define, and is taught only when the teacher includes it in the lesson. The informants describe how jazz is used not only to fulfill the objectives of genre width, but also to mediate technical singing elements that are not genre linked. It also indicates that the text and spoken word recur as tools in various facets of learning jazz, especially when the didactic goal is to solely mediate the art of jazz singing. When interviewed, the educators emphasize the opinion that improvisation is the most important typical element in singing jazz, but to what degree students become acquainted with vocal improvisation is dependent upon how the teacher views the subject.

En s’appuyant principalement sur le travail de Gilbert Simondon (1989) et sur celui de Bernard Stiegler (2010, 2012, 2013), ce mémoire de maîtrise explore la relation entre les notions d’individu et de collectif. D’une part, cette relation est conceptualisée et développée à travers les concepts de transindividuation et d’individuation collective ; et d’autre part, celle-ci est explorée via les théories de l’improvisation libre (free improvised music). S’intéressant aux différentes modalités de cette pratique musicale (Bailey, 1992 ; Saladin, 2002, 2010, 2014 ; Corbett, 2004, 2016 ; Peters, 2009), cette recherche conçoit l’improvisation libre comme une approche radicale permettant d’aborder autrement la relation entre les notions d’individu et de collectif. L’agencement, la confrontation et la négociation des singularités individuelles des musiciens.nes en présence étant au centre de la pratique de l’improvisation libre, la méthodologie mobilisée vise à cerner les dynamiques permettant de saisir la complexité de cette relation. En s’appuyant particulièrement sur la research-from-creation et la creation-as-research (Chapman & Sawchuk, 2012), l’aspect méthodologique de ce mémoire est ancré dans la recherche-création. En ce sens, les principaux matériaux d’analyse ont émergé de l’expérience de séances d’improvisation libre dans laquelle l’immédiateté et l’éphémérité de la création ont été vécues, discutées et ultérieurement analysées à travers les concepts de rythme et de présence propres à la rythmanalyse d’Henri Lefebvre (1980, 1992). / Relying mainly on the work of Gilbert Simondon (1989) and Bernard Stiegler (2010, 2012, 2013), this master’s thesis explores the relation between the notions of individual and collective. On one hand, the relation is conceptualised and developed through the concepts of transindividuation and collective individuation ; and on the other hand, it is explored through free improvisation / free improvised music theories. Looking at the different modalities of that musical practice (Bailey, 1992 ; Saladin, 2002, 2010, 2014 ; Corbett, 2004, 2016 ; Peters, 2009), this research conceives free improvisation as a radical approach to tackle differently the relation between the notions of individual and collective. The assemblage, confrontation and negotiation of individual singularities of musicians being at the centre of free improvisation, the chosen methodology tends to define the dynamics allowing to understand the complexity of that relation. Relying particularly on research-from-creation and creation-as-research (Chapman & Sawchuk, 2012), the methodological aspect of this thesis is anchored in research-creation. In that sense, the main analysis materials have emerged from the experience of free improvisation sessions in which the instantaneity and ephemeral aspect of creation were lived, discussed and subsequently analysed through the concepts of rhythm and presence inherent to Henri Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis (1980, 1992).

Students' perspectives in jazz education have gone largely ignored. A modified analytic inductive design allowed me to look broadly at the students' jazz band experience while specifically investigating their views about playing individualized parts, improvising, and interpreting and articulating swing rhythms. A focus group procedure was altered (Krueger, 1995) and incorporated into my teaching of 19 students. Two 30 minute sessions per week over a 12 week period were video- and audiotaped. Audiotaped exit interviews provided data in a non-social environment. All data were transcribed and coded in order to identify major themes and trends. Conclusions were verified through member checks, several types of triangulation and other qualitative analysis techniques. Trustworthiness was determined through an audit. Cognitively and physically, students had to accommodate musical techniques as these differed from those used in concert band. Some students were confused by the new seating arrangement and the playing of individualized parts. While some students could perform distinctly different swing and straight interpretations of the same song without external cues, others could only perform this task with external cues. Some changes in articulation were well within the students' capabilities while other techniques were more difficult to accommodate. Several students felt 'uptight' while they improvised alone in front of their peers, noting group improvisation and rhythmic embellishment of familiar tunes as being helpful in assuaging these feelings. Students recognized the environmental differences between concert band and jazz band, and reported more freedom of expression in jazz band. Particularly enjoying this freedom, the more willing improvisors banded together as a clique. The students' learning was viewed as being situated in the context of jazz band. 'Musical perturbation' and cognitive apprenticeship described students' physical and cognitive accommodation of the new context. The instructional strategies students found to be most helpful were student-centered and derived from cognitive behavior modification and scaffolding theory.

La version intégrale de ce mémoire est disponible uniquement pour consultation individuelle à la Bibliothèque de musique de l’Université de Montréal (www.bib.umontreal.ca/MU). / L’hypothèse d’une influence réciproque entre l’environnement et notre perception sonore représente la base de ma recherche musicale. Villusions est un projet acousmatique qui puise sa source dans l’analyse introspective de cette complexe relation, plus précisément entre les sons du quotidien et l’oreille curieuse d’un voyageur éternel. Les parties les plus intimement liées à mes expériences personnelles de la ville de Montréal et ses banlieues représentent donc le théâtre de cette exploration assidue; les illusions correspondent à trois pièces acousmatiques inspirées par ce contexte de réciprocité. Dans l’ensemble des œuvres présentées, les moments musicaux s’alternent, s’intègrent et se confondent aux éléments sonores naturels qui en constituent souvent la racine génératrice. Ces matériaux ont été développés suivant trois axes principaux : d’abord l’axe des mouvements, associés aux moyens de transport et aux centres névralgiques à travers lesquels se répandent les impulsions de la ville; ensuite l’axe des voix qui témoigne de sa multiethnicité, de sa lymphe vitale; finalement, l’axe de l’alternance des saisons comme prétexte sonore lié au contexte temporel. Des sources sonores instrumentales, dérivées des tablâ et de la harpe, trouvent également leur place dans le projet, en lui donnant une empreinte à la fois rythmique et harmonique. La composante spatiale doit être considérée comme un élément incontournable du discours musical de Villusions. Sa construction octophonique porte sur l’équilibre, délicat et illusoirement immersif, généré par des trajectoires dessinées sur la même ligne temporelle que celle des évènements musicaux, suivant des stratégies intégrées directement dans le processus compositionnel. / This musical research is based on the theory of interaction between the environment and our sound perception. Villusions is an acousmatic project that emerged from the introspective analysis of this complex relationship, in particular between daily sounds and the curious ear of an eternal traveller. Thus, the parts most closely related to my personal experiences in the city (“ville”) of Montréal and its suburbs are where this diligent exploration took place; the illusions are three acousmatic pieces inspired by this context of reciprocity. In the works presented, musical moments alternate, integrate with each other, and merge with the natural sound elements that often constitute the originating roots. This material was developed with three main focuses: firstly, movement, associated with modes of transportation and the nerve centres through which beats the city’s pulse; secondly, the voices that express its multi ethnicity, its vital lymph; and, lastly, the changing of the seasons as an acoustic proxy related to the temporal context. Instrumental sound sources, derived from the tablâ and the harp, are also used in the project, lending both a rhythmic and a harmonic feel. The spatial component should be seen as an essential element of the musical discourse of Villusions. Its octophonic construction features the delicate and deceptively immersive balance created by trajectories drawn on the same timeline as those of the musical events, using techniques directly integrated into the compositional process.

Scenic improvisation is dramatic performance without a script. Performers develop scenes in real time in front of an audience. They do this by submitting to a set of rules of relating on-stage which allow them, by mutual assent, to develop scenes and stories based on their relationships with one another. This methodology by which improvisers develop their scenes can give us a tangible vocabulary and model by which we can fulfill the requirements of love. The Harold, an improvisational form created by Del Close and Charna Halpern and taught and performed at IO (formerly ImprovOlympic), emphasizes this relational ethic as the means to create consistent and sustainable theatrical performances. This paper will examine the performance methodology and pedagogy of long-form improvisation and particularly the Harold as a guide for ethical decision-making and behavior in our personal relationships.

The study is undertaken for a more compressive understanding for organizational theory and its applicability to tendency towards improvisation during emergency times among individuals in Non Profit Organizations (NPOs) in Saudi Arabia. The analysis involved an examination of direct effect of learning on tendency towards improvisation and possible mediating effects between organizational learning and tendency towards improvisation among individuals in NPOs, while controlling for key demographic differences (e.g. individuals’ age, education level and years in service, number of full-time staff and volunteers). Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to full-time employees in 13 NPOs in three cities in the western area of Saudi Arabia, namely Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah (N= 304). The main statistical method employed to hypotheses examination was Structural Equation Modeling. The hypothesis examination resulted in three out of five hypnotized paths are to be significant. Two direct relations were interpreted as outcomes of organizational learning, with increases in the level of organizational learning is being positively related to individuals’ self –efficacy and agility. The third significant path interpreted as individuals’ agility is positively related to their tendency to improvise during emergency times, which indicates organizational learning has indirect effect on tendency towards improvisation. Finally, the applicability of organizational learning theory to the field of emergency management and suggestions for future research in light of the findings of this research are also discussed.

The diploma thesis is focused on the development of interpretation of violin playing at the advanced level at music schools. The aim of the thesis is to go through different periods of music development and to deepen the quality of means of reproduction and develop basic principles of interpretation in advanced students on the basis of several selected compositions. Another objective is to handle the practising process of each composition creatively. The work is oriented practically and may become useful for violin teachers and advanced students. The problems connected with violin playing are treated from the point of view of performance. The teaching process goes from imagination to realization where the technical skills are means for the realization of imagination and, simultaneously, the final performance is a great deal influenced by the player's technical skills. Also, the possibilities how to develop musical imagination and accomplish successful realization of the process mentioned above are discussed. The central themes of the thesis are the development of interpretation of violin playing and the problems connected with it, both theoretical and practical. A scheme for the teaching process is defined and the possible ways of application of the scheme during practice are shown on examples of...