The purpose of this instrumental case study was to be able to define and describe ways in which professional musicians self-assess their own jazz improvisations in a jazz combo setting. Participants included four experienced jazz musicians who performed together regularly and had developed deep social and musical connections with one another prior to the study. Data were collected in five phases: 1) a rehearsal observation, 2) a group interview, 3) a second rehearsal observation, 4) a journaling session, and 5) a focus group. Five themes were developed from the data—“Empathy,” “Self-Doubt,” “Transcendence,” “Prior Knowledge,” and “Self-Awareness.” Self-Awareness served as a meta-theme to which the other four themes were connected. Further analysis of the themes indicated that the participants utilized self-assessment through non-verbal communication, deep listening, connecting to their past experiences, incorporating musical constraints such as form and harmony, using Norgaard’s (2008) tools of evaluative monitoring and sketch planning, and through empathetic attunement (Seddon, 2005). The participants actively tried not to be consciously self-aware while they were improvising, because they felt that it hampered their creativity. Finally, the musicians integrated self-assessment practices specifically to help them release their self-doubt, with the intention of practicing empathy to connect with one another and achieve a transcendent state while performing.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/41458 |
| Date | 27 September 2020 |
| Creators | Davis, Troy E. |
| Contributors | Smith, Tawnya D. |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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