Symbolic Interactionism in Music Education

Abstract

Learning improvisation in music is often treated as the process of gaining skills to spontaneously perform within the conventions of a style. Alternatively, learning improvisation can offer musicians a place to explore sound as it happens in free improvisation. Within the school setting, the former approach is commonly used in the jazz programs, whereas the second approach is often implemented through creative activities. Both approaches to learning improvisation—idiomatic and free—develop important areas in the musical intelligence of learners; the former approach leads to the mastery of stylistic vocabulary, the latter fosters inventiveness. As an alternative, I conceptualize improvisation as a form of interaction. Through improvisational interaction, the material emerges from the musical dialogue that occurs among the individuals involved. To develop these interactive skills in improvisers, I propose a series of strategies that constitute the bases for an alternative approach to teaching improvisation: the eight strategies for collaborative improvisation. This article reviews the theory of improvisational interaction drawing from symbolic interactionism and features strategies for teaching improvisation as a collaborative learning practice, providing examples of how to implement this methodology in the classroom.