more tracks in which you dialogue with yourself: that is, multitrack
your own voice. Once one track is down it is easy to ‘converse’ with it.
Again you might want to start with words, or phrases, or sentences on
a piece of paper, and use these as a base. It’s usually beneficial, if you are
building up a multitracked improvisation, to leave some gaps on the
first track you put down. That way the recording does not become too
dense, but this does depend on what kind of effect you want to create.- Improvise largely by changing the dynamic, accentuation and volume
of your voice, and exploring extremes of vocal delivery, to create effects
other than those purely of meaning. Try to improvise freely, allow the
words and sounds to form and reform, and do not be too burdened by
the pressure to make sense. - Develop your capacity to monologue or ‘talk’ in the style of David
Antin or Spalding Gray. The monologue approach to improvising does
not commit you to pursuing one topic endlessly for 20 minutes or so.
Rather you can move, as Antin does, from story to conjecture to anec-
dote, freewheeling from one idea to another. You can also draw on ideas
which are triggered by the environment or the audience, and weave
them into the text. - Improvise with others. In musical or theatrical contexts improvisation
is usually collective and collaborative, and this helps to trigger and
sustain the development of the piece. So you might want to improvise
with friends or within the classroom. For example, a group of people
can improvise from a word pool: they can speak together or independ-
ently, associate from each other, and maintain independent streams.
Your fellow improvisers may be writers or theatrical performers, but
they may also be musicians or actors. The improvisation may be even
richer if it is intermedia and involves working with creators from other
disciplines. Alternatively, if you do not want to improvise yourself, but
feel this is an exciting area, you can work with improvising musicians.
Your contribution can be non-improvised text, and the musicians can
improvise in response to it. An improvisation can have a range of ele-
ments, some of which may be preconceived.
Whatever your strategy, you need to develop the capacity to listen to your-
self while you are improvising, and to remember what you have created.
Then you can refer back as the improvisation develops, and you will also
have a better sense of the shape and direction of the piece. If you retain
what has happened, you will be able to let ideas, words and phrases drop
out and be picked up again later: this integrates and structures your
material. Also consider recording yourself so you can listen to the results:
it will help you become aware of any limitations in your approach to this
226 The Writing Experiment