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Improvisation in Ensembles: Conduction

How might we support creativity in large ensembles?

What if students could co-create music with a conductor without staff notation or written music altogether?

Perhaps novel in K-12 settings, ensemble-based improvisation exists in diverse musical cultures.

What might we learn from conduction, a sophisticated gestural system that Butch Morris developed to facilitate improvisation and creation in a large ensemble setting?

I first experienced conduction years ago at NYC’s Knitting Factory. I was in one of the lower floor performance spaces listening to an ensemble conducted by Butch Morris via video feed from the main performance space upstairs while he conducting an additional group. It might have been one of these performances.

Conduction and other gestural improvisation systems invite more expansive musicianship in our programs and offer us new approaches to facilitating K-12 ensembles.

Butch Morris describes conduction as:

“A vocabulary of ideographic signs and gestures activated to modify or construct a real time musical arrangement of any notation or composition. Each sign and gesture transmits generative information and provides instantaneous possibilities for altering or initiating harmony, melody, rhythm, articulation, phrasing, or form.” –
Lawrence “Butch” Morris working with conduction and an ensemble

As Butch Morris explains “”it’s not a music of paper, it’s a music of spontaneity” – Lawrence “Butch” Morris Documentary conduction 1980s – YouTube

Though conduction frees musicians from the page, the conductor, in this case Butch Morris, remains a focal point. As Stephen Haynes, who performed in Morris’s ensembles opines, musicians were Morris’s instruments.

Morris expected that musicians in his ensembles followed his lead, at one time stating “I am the focus and I expect everyone to give me their undivided attention at all times” – Butch Morris – Lawrence “Butch” Morris Documentary conduction 1980s – YouTube

So what does conduction mean for music education?

  1. We might consider developing similar gestural systems to facilitate live creation and improvisation in ensembles. This could include co-creating systems with students or having students develop and experiment with their own systems.
  2. We might have students explore Butch Morris’s perspectives, experiences, and musical processes such as the Conduction system he designed and developed. Perhaps they might be inspired by Morris and his work or they might gain a sense of what ensembles and musicianship could be besides the more typical ensemble approach of rehearsing and performing pre-existing music.
  3. We might collaborate with students to analyze and discuss power dynamics between conductors/directors and musicians who perform in ensembles.
    1. For instance, how much control should a conductor have when facilitating creation and improvisation in an ensemble?Who should make decisions regarding improvisation and creation in an ensemble?

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