Improvisation plays a substantial role within the world’s musical cultures. The purpose of this research was to explore the essence of the experience of confident music improvising. In this phenomenological study, confidence was considered a psychological experience and the confidence of improvisers the phenomenon under examination. The researcher compiled experiences through stories describing the phenomenon by interviewing three confident improvisers: a bluegrass fiddler, a jazz bassist and a baroque violinist. Vignettes portrayed the lifeworlds of these instrumentalists. The stories told were reduced through imaginative variation to identify which themes were essential, that is, shared among the participants’ unique experiences. The essential themes revealed were: listening, criticism-free environment, sequential experiences, passion for a style, and openness to learning. Music educators could potentially use these themes to enrich their own improvisation pedagogy.
AlexanderM. L. (2012). Fearless improvisation: A pilot study to analyze string students’ confidence, anxiety, and attitude toward learning improvisation. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 31(2), 25–33. doi: 10/1177/8755123312457884.
2.
AllsupR. E. (1997). Activating self-transformation through improvisation in instrumental music teaching. Philosophy of Music Education Review, 5(2), 80–85.
3.
AsmusE. P. (1986). Student beliefs about the causes of success and failure in music: A study of achievement motivation. Journal of Research in Music Education, 34(4), 262–278.
4.
Avni-BabadD. (2011). Routines and feelings of safety, confidence, and well-being. British Journal of Psychology, 102, 223–244. doi: 10.1348/000712610X513617.
5.
AzzaraC. D. (1993). Audiation-based improvisation techniques and elementary instrumental students’ music achievement. Journal of Research in Music Education, 41(4), 328–342. doi: 10.2307/3345508.
6.
AzzaraC. D. (1999). An aural approach to improvisation. Music Educators Journal, 86(3), 21–25.
7.
BaileyD. (1992). Improvisation: Its nature and practice in music. Ashborune, UK: Da Capo Press.
8.
BeitlerN. (2012). The effects of collaborative reflection on the improvisation achievement of seventh and eighth grade instrumental music students (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
9.
BeitlerN.ThorntonL. (2010). Enhancing the instrumental music program with creativity. In ClementsA. C. (Ed.), Alternative approaches in music education (pp. 161–173). New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield Education.
10.
BellC. L. (2003). Beginning the dialogue: Teachers respond to the national standards in music. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 156, 31–42.
11.
BerlinerP. F. (1994). Thinking in jazz: The infinite art of improvisation. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
12.
ByoS. J. (2000). Classroom teachers’ and music specialists’ perceived ability to implement the national standards for music education. Arts Education Policy Review, 101(5), 30–35.
13.
CaputoC. (2006). Use jazz to teach your string students improvisation. Teaching Music, 13(5), 40–45.
14.
CaudwellJ. (2010). The jazz-sport analogue: Passing notes on gender and sexuality. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 45(2), 240–248. doi: 10.1177/1012690209357120.
15.
DahlL. (1984). Stormy weather: The music and lives of a century of jazzwomen. New York, NY: Limelight Editions.
16.
Della PietraC. J.CampbellP. S. (1995). An ethnography of improvisation training in a music methods course. Journal of Research in Music Education, 43(2), 112–126.
17.
de VriesP. (2012). Intergenerational music making: A phenomenological study of three older Australians making music with children. Journal of Research in Music Education, 59(4), 339–356.
18.
DeweyJ. (1938/97). Experience & education. New York, NY: Touchstone.
19.
EvansJ.BellJ. L.SweeneyA. E.MorganJ. I.KellyH. M. (2010). Confidence in critical care nursing. Nursing Science Quarterly, 23(4), 334–340. doi: 10.1177/0894318410380253
20.
GiorgiA. (2009). The descriptive phenomenological method in psychology: A modified Huesserlian approach. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.
21.
GordonE. E. (2003). Improvisation in classroom music. Chicago, IL: GIA Publications.
22.
GruenhagenL. M.WhitcombR. (2014). Improvisational practices in elementary general music classrooms. Journal of Research in Music Education, 61(4), 379–395. doi: 10.1177/0022429413508586
23.
HickeyM. (1997). Teaching ensembles to compose and improvise. Music Educators Journal, 83(6), 17–21.
24.
HickeyM. (2009). Can improvisation be ‘taught’?: A call for free improvisation in our schools. International Journal of Music Education, 285(27), 285–299. doi: 10/1177/0255761409345442.
25.
HolmesP.HolmesC. (2013). The performer’s experience: A case for using qualitative (phenomenological) methodologies in music performance research. Musicae Scientiae, 17(1), 72–85. doi: 10.1177/1029864912467633.
26.
KennedyM. A. (2000). Creative music making since the time of the singing schools: Fringe benefits. Journal of Historical Research in Music Education, 21(2), 132–148.
27.
KingscottJ.DurrantC. (2010). Keyboard improvisation: A phenomenological study. International Journal of Music Education, 28(2), 127–144. doi: 10.1177/0255761410362941.
28.
MacDonaldR. A. RWilsonG. B. (2006). Constructions of jazz: How jazz musicians present their collaborative musical practice. Musicae Scientiae, 10(1), 59–83. doi: 10.1177/102986490601000104.
29.
MadsenC. K.DukeR. A. (1999). First remembered responses to music. General Music Today, 13(1), 19–22.
30.
Madura Ward-SteinmanP. (2007). Confidence in teaching improvisation according to the K–12 achievement standards: Surveys of vocal jazz workshop participants and undergraduates, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 172, 25–40.
31.
MayL. F. (2003). Factors and abilities influencing achievement in instrumental jazz improvisation. Journal of Research in Music Education, 51(3), 245–258. doi: 10.2307/3345377.
32.
MerriamS. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass Publishers.
33.
NettlB. (2009). On learning the radif and improvisation in Iran. In SolisG.NettlB. (Eds.), Musical improvisation: Art, education, and society (pp. 185–199). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
34.
NorgaardM. (2011). Descriptions of improvisational thinking by artist-level jazz musicians. Journal of Research in Music Education, 59(2), 109–127. doi: 10.1177/0022429411405669.
35.
OrmanE. K. (2002). Comparison of the national standards for music education and elementary music specialists’ use of class time. Journal of Research in Music Education, 50(2), 155–164.
36.
OrzolekD. C. (2010). Exploring the creation of music through film scoring. In ClementsA. C. (Ed.), Alternative approaches in music education (pp. 119–129). New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield Education.
37.
RobertsC. (2010). Play: Teaching strings–how to teach improvisation to your string students. Strings, 24(6), 29–30.
38.
RobinsonN. G.BellC. L.PogonowskiL. (2011). The creative music strategy: A seven-step instructional model. Music Educators Journal, 97(3), 50–55. doi: 10.1177/0027432110395945
39.
RubinH. J.RubinI. S. (2005). Qualitative interviewing: The art of hearing data. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
40.
SawyerK. (1992). Improvisational creativity: An analysis of jazz performance. Creativity Research Journal, 5(3), 253–263. doi: 10.1080/1040041920953449.
41.
SchattM. D. (2011). High school instrumental music students’ attitudes and beliefs regarding practice: An application of attribution theory. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 29(2), 29–40.
42.
SchleuterS. L. (1997). A sound approach to teaching instrumentalists. Belmont, CA: Schirmer.
43.
SchoppS. E. (2006). A study of the effects of national standards for music education, number 3, improvisation and number 4, composition on high school band instruction in New York State (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from Proquest Doctoral Dissertations. (305361987)
44.
ShevockD. J. (2015). Praxes for confident music improvising (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from Penn State electronic Theses and Dissertations. (https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/paper/24888/27429)
45.
ShevockD. J. (2017). Thoughts on the law, gatekeepers, and rerooting. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, 16(1), 53–65.
46.
SnowM. (2004). A composition on improvisation. In FischlinD.HebleA. (Eds.), The other side of nowhere: Jazz, improvisation, and communities in dialogue (pp. 45–49). Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.
47.
WatsonK. E. (2010). The effects of aural versus notated instructional materials on achievement and self-efficacy in jazz improvisation. Journal of Research in Music Education, 58(3), 240–259. doi: 10.1177/0022429410377115.
48.
WebsterP. R. (1990). Creative thinking in music: Introduction. Music Educators Journal, 76(9), 21.
49.
Wehr-FlowersE. (2006). Differences between male and female students’ confidence, anxiety, and attitude toward learning jazz improvisation. Journal of Research in Music Education, 54(4), 337–349.
50.
WhitcombR. (2003). Step by step: Using Kodaly to build vocal improvisation. Teaching Music, 10(5), 34–38.
51.
WhitcombR. (2013). Teaching improvisation in elementary general music: Facing fears and fostering creativity. Music Educators Journal, 99(3), 43–51. doi: 10.1177/0027432112467648.
52.
WilsonG. B.MacDonaldR. A. R. (2012). The sign of silence: Negotiating musical identities in an improvising ensemble. Psychology of Music, 40(5), 558–573. doi: 10.1177/0305735612449506
53.
WrightR.KanellopoulosP. (2010). Informal music learning, improvisation and teacher education. British Journal of Music Education, 27, 71–87.
