Improvisation as Contingent Encounter, Or: The Song of My Toothbrush

Abstract

This article hazards a definition of improvisation as a "contingent encounter," not in order to settle definitional debates, but in order to productively re-evaluate questions around improvisation as an aesthetic and socio-political force. Here, I argue that thinking improvisation through contingency highlights several key characteristics while leaving behind a set of problematic assumptions that often accompanies thinking improvisation in social spaces. First, I outline these characteristics, establishing what it might mean to bring contingency to bear on a musical performance. Subsequently, I compare two instances of "transatlantic improvised music": Eric Dolphy's "Out to Lunch," and "Waves, Linens, and White Light" by contemporary free improvisers, Mr. K. I conclude by sketching some of the implications of taking this experimental definition seriously, arguing that it re-orients improvisation away from a rarefied behavior and more towards a potentiality hidden inside each moment.