[Richard Nance]

Organised Sound Volume 26, Number 1

Issue thematic title: The Sonic and the Electronic in Improvisation

Date of Publication: April 2021
Publishers: Cambridge University Press
Issue co-ordinator: James Andean (james.andean@dmu.ac.uk)
Deadline for submission: 15 May 2020

Improvisation is an important cornerstone of musical practice. However, due to its ephemeral and transitory nature, it is in some ways much more difficult to ‘pin down’ – for example for analysis or other formal examination or academic discussion – than other, more ‘fixed’ musical practices (composition being the obvious example).
Within the current range of sonic arts practices, improvisation is flourishing – whether as a practice, genre, or community in its own right, or as an important element of other musical or sonic practices. This includes improvisation practices that are explicitly predicated on the sonic arts, electroacoustic tools, etc. – f.ex. Electroacoustic Improvisation (‘EAI’) – but also other improvisation practices that incorporate sonic or electronic tools and approaches, such as some of the current ‘Free Improvisation’ communities based around centres like London and Berlin. It can perhaps be extended still further, to improvisation practices that share territory with the sonic arts, such as a focus on gesture, texture, or space.
This issue of Organised Sound proposes to explore improvisation within the sonic arts, whether as a category in its own right, or as a question of broader performance practice, with topics ranging from questions of improvisation ‘language’, to the use of sonic and electronic tools, to questions of cultures and communities.

Topics for investigation might include (but are certainly not limited to):
Electroacoustic Improvisation (EAI)Improvisation and Live ElectronicsSonic approaches in Free ImprovisationSound-based improvisationImprovising with objectsComputer-based tools for improvisationThe roles of gesture and/or texture in free improvisationInfluences or cross-pollination between improvisation and the sonic artsIssues of communication in improvisation and the use of software or electronic toolsDifferences in the ‘sonic’ or the ‘electronic’ between improvisation communitiesThe role of improvisation as a technique in studio composition practice (and/or vice versa)The role of the ‘sonic’ (or of technology, etc.) in multidisciplinary improvisationPerception, interpretation, or reception of sonic, sound-based, or electroacoustic improvisationQuestions of mediation in improvisation involving technology or mediaApproaches to the ‘sonic’ in other improvisation practices (traditional, non-western, historical…), and/or crossovers between these practicesProblems of analysis of sonic improvisation practicesSpace as reflected in or by improvisation practice

As always, submissions related to the theme are encouraged; however, those that fall outside the scope of this theme are always welcome.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 15 May 2020

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