Landscapes of musical metaphor and musical learning: the example of jazz education

Abstract

Theoretical approaches to learning in practice-based jazz improvisation contexts include situated learning and ecological perspectives. This article focuses on how interest-driven, self-sustaining jazz learning activities can be matched against the results of a recent Swedish investigation based on extensive qualitative interviews with jazz musicians regarding their views on the metaphor ‘storytelling’ and its relevance in the field of jazz improvisation. In order to visualise and discuss the educational implications of the results of this study, the notions of a landscape of musical metaphor and a corresponding landscape of musical learning are presented and discussed.