In the course of performance : studies in the world of musical improvisation / edited by Bruno Nettl with Melinda Russell

Includes bibliographical references and index

An art neglected in scholarship / Bruno Nettl -- Recognizing improvisation / Stephen Blum -- Psychological constraints on improvisational expertise and communication / Jeff Pressing -- Do Javanese gamelan musicians really improvise? / R. Anderson Sutton -- Improvisation, ecstasy, and performance dynamics in Arabic music / Ali Jihad Racy -- Go on, girl!:Improvisation in African-American girls' singing games / Eve Harwood -- Improvisation in Latin American dance music: history and style / Peter Manuel -- Oh freedom: George Russel, John Coltrane, and modal jazz / Ingrid Monson --Improvisation and group interaction in Italian lyrical singing / Tulla Magrini -- Exploding the belly: improvisation in Cantonese opera / Sau Y. Chan -- Melodic improvisation in Karṇāṭak music: the manifestations of Rāga / T. Viswanathan and Jody Cormack -- Setting the stage: Clara Schumann's preludes / Valerie Woodring Goertzen -- A sense of the possible: Miles Davies and the semiotics of improvised performance / Chris Smith -- The improvisation of Louis Armstrong / Lawrence Gushee -- Keeping it going: terms, practices, and processes of improvisation in Hindustānī instrumental music / Stephen Slawek -- Taqsim Nahawand revisited: the musicianship of Jihad Racy / Bruno Nettl and Ronald Riddle

"This volume presents several studies of musical improvisation in a number of cultures and repertories using a variety of approaches."-- Introduction pg. 1