Electronic Poetry Centre (Antin Ongoing). The work of Spalding Gray
(1987; 1991), also American, who partially improvises highly entertaining
monologues is also relevant here. For more about Antin, Gray and
improvisation in the arts, see Smith and Dean (1997).
Improvisation has many advantages. ‘Pure improvisation’ allows for
interaction between performers, and potentially with the audience and
environment. Also, not being able to revise, and having to work at speed,
may result in different kinds of effects and results. Although editing is an
important part of the creative process, it can also bring with it certain
dangers. When we are working at speed we may sometimes find ourselves
blocking out rational thinking. Once we are in editing mode, the rational
mind tends to take over, and may censor some of the more striking but
intransigent elements of the text.
Improvisation is often confused with spontaneity, but it is in fact a skill
which has to be learnt. Improvisors do not revise, but they draw on
methods of working which they have acquired over a long period of time.
Improvisors also need techniques for developing their material: these can
be quite similar to those used in writing texts, but it takes great skill to
implement them at speed and with no ‘going back’.
Improvising strategies
You may be excited by the idea of improvising but not know how to set
about it. The following strategies for Exercise 3 give you a working base so
that you do not feel totally at sea, but have some initial material to work
with. This approach is known as referent-based improvisation : it provides
a starting point for your improvisation to which you can ‘refer’ back. Here
are some possibilities:
- Return to the word pool exercise in Chapter 1. Create a word pool on a
page, and then combine the words aurally. Improvise fragments instead
of trying to think in terms of a whole piece, and don’t worry about
making overall sense or integrating the disparate phrases. Keep going
even if you feel the improvisation is not very inventive or fluent
initially. It’s all a question of practice. - Return to the word association exercise in Chapter 1. But instead of
writing down the words, associate orally. Again try to keep going, using
association by both sound and sense. If you feel that you are drying up,
say anything that comes into your mind until you are back on track,
and then start to associate again. - Record a track of yourself improvising, and then lay down one or two
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