Improvisation

What Dominique Pagani says

Dominique Pagani discusses improvisation mainly in connection with jazz, which builds melodic development on top of its rhythmic regularity, taking risks as it does so1. He presents it as almost an antonym of interpretation: in jazz, the musician creates at every moment what is heard2. He returns several times to one phrase: "improvisation is not improvised." One must master the instrument to express the inner sound, and jazz develops between improvisation and arrangement34. He also places it in history. For most of that history, the musician improvises and takes on every role: designer, performer and interpreter5. Bach, Mozart and Beethoven were known for their improvisations, and this tradition fades in the nineteenth century. For him, therefore, improvising or writing does not separate classical music from jazz6. What he gives as specific to jazz is collective improvisation on a double scale: the C mode and the blues scale7.

1. 1B comme Bach16 Dec 2014 · 8:12
2. 2Musicosophie 17. L'interprétation25 Mar 2021 · 1:35
3. 3Musicosophie 6. La Variation Jazz... de Beethoven15 Dec 2020 · 1:50:40
4. 4Musicosophie 17. L'interprétation25 Mar 2021 · 1:32:39
5. 5Musicosophie 17. L'interprétation25 Mar 2021 · 15:54
6. 6DE BACH AUX PYGMÉES • Pagani Parle Musique22 Jun 2022 · 15:01
7. 7DE BACH AUX PYGMÉES • Pagani Parle Musique22 Jun 2022 · 17:42

Summary produced automatically from 7 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.