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Course Description

Summary

This course is for students interested in investigating musical improvisation and composition through examining and performing works by contemporary composers. Students will also be guided to compose music at their own level. Basic ability to follow scores is encouraged, but not mandatory. We will first examine and play through works by contemporary composers who incorporate both composed and improvised elements, including legendary American musician and thinker Anthony Braxton with whom Kitamura has had a decade-long association. Included are Braxton’s Language Music and Ghost Trance Music systems, Composition No. 101 and 56 among others. Students will perform, improvise and conduct excerpts of the works, then be guided to compose collectively and/or individually at their respective pace and level. The students’ works will be performed, giving life to the compositions and deepening the understanding of the process, culminating in a performance. The course will also touch on recent research in neuroscience and psychology regarding musical improvisation.