Text Instructions for Improvisers

by Tom Blancarte

A note on the text instructions for improvisers:
To begin, I’ve divided the instructions into Axiomatic and Reactive instructions. Essentially, this means that the Axiomatic instructions may be performed in a solo context. (The reactives may be performed solo as well, but the performer must use his surroundings as the sonic information to react against. This completely changes the dynamics and implications, though not necessarily in a positive or negative manner.) The main intention of these instructions is to examine the mind of the improviser and the manner in which they conceive of music. When performed in a group context, the implications expand to include an examination of communication and psychic tensions in music making. These qualities are currently of primary concern in my musical questioning. They ask the most important question that an improviser can ask him/herself: what the hell am I doing? When an improviser has ceased to ask this question, he has ceased in his quest to be truly awake.

On performance:

The text instructions may be performed in a variety of ways; they can be viewed as building blocks to create complex and interesting environments for improvisers or, at their simplest level, they can be performed as solo works, or as solo practice aids. (A kind of mantra for musical meditation.) They may be used in a group context as well, either drawn at random (usually glued to a card) or assigned with a particular system of psychic dynamics in mind. I believe they are best used in a group when no improviser has knowledge of the others’ instructions, though I see no reason that this should not be done. (With certain players having this knowledge and others lacking it, the performance could serve as an interesting study of the dynamics of power and control.) My goal is to incorporate the instructions with more concrete improvisational systems to create balance and more complex structure. I liken this effect to having solids, liquids and gases all interacting and transforming into each other.

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Reactive No. 1
Play music that supports the other players.

Reactive No. 2
Always seek to make what others are playing the supportive texture.

Reactive No. 3
Think of everything as “sound events:” try to imagine whatever music being played as “sound events” and try to match the concept.

Reactive No. 4
Don’t listen to what others are playing at all.

Reactive No. 5
Play in total opposition to other players.

Reactive No. 6
Wait: consider whatever you hear at the beginning as the end,and work to move towards a beginning.

Reactive No. 7
Always complete whatever the other players play.

Reactive No. 8
Whatever emotional direction you hear occurring, push the music in a different direction.

Reactive No. 9
Blend: make your instrument sound like the instrument(s) of the other player(s).

Reactive No. 10
Don’t stop playing, but only listen to the other players. Do this so intensely that you are unaware of your own playing.
Axiomatic No. 1
Immerse your consciousness in your own “sound.”

Axiomatic No. 2
Think of whatever you play first as the end and what you end with as the beginning.

Axiomatic No. 3
Starting from one note, construct a “perfect” melody. Once you have achieved this, enjoy it.

Axiomatic No. 4
Starting from one note, construct a “perfect” rhythmic motif/bass line/riff. Once you have achieved this, keep it going. You may adjust it to the situation as you see fit.

Axiomatic No. 5
Play the tiniest sounds possible on your instrument.

Axiomatic No. 6
Play the largest sounds possible on your instrument.

Axiomatic No. 7
Make a new sound on your instrument. i.e. one that you have never made or heard made. This may be quite a process.
Axiomatic No. 8
Play architecturally.

Axiomatic No. 9
Play music that will summon a spirit.

Axiomatic No. 10
Before you play, imagine a story. It could be a remembered or new story. Tell this story through music. Avoid “leitmotif”-type thinking.

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