UNDERGRADUATE
MUSI2090 Music Improvisation
Course Type: disciplinary elective for music majors/minors, free elective for others
Prerequisite: NIL
Prerequisite: NIL
Instructors: Ms. Jing WANG
Semester: Second Semester 2025/26
Time: 1:00pm–2:50pm, Tuesday
Venue: CPD-LG1.22 Rehearsal Room
Semester: Second Semester 2025/26
Time: 1:00pm–2:50pm, Tuesday
Venue: CPD-LG1.22 Rehearsal Room
This course is designed to develop students’ skills in musical improvisation through an integrated approach combining lectures and practical workshops. Lectures focus on the application of core musical materials, encouraging students to explore a broad range of stylistic and structural elements through multiple perspectives. Workshops provide opportunities for experiential learning, with an emphasis on ensemble-based improvisation and real-time musical interaction. Students will actively participate using their primary instrument or voice, applying concepts in a hands-on, collaborative environment that supports both individual creativity and group cohesion.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
- apply diverse musical materials and techniques to create real-time improvisations in both solo and ensemble settings using voice or instrument;
- demonstrate stylistically and contextually appropriate improvisational expression informed by an understanding of aesthetic diversity.
Performance Examination 60%
Public Examination 40%
Public Examination 40%
- Overview of Improvisation and Performance Workshop
- Musical Motifs and Development and Performance Workshop
- Tempo and Dynamics in Improvisation and Performance Workshop
- Interactive Application of Solo and Ensemble in improvisation and Performance Workshop
- Application of Stylistic Elements in Music and Performance Workshop
- Use of Extended Techniques and Performance Workshop
- Use of Found Objects and Performance Workshop
- Application of Theatrical Elements and Performance Workshop
- Integrated Appreciation of Improvisational Works and Performance Workshop
Cage, John. Silence. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 2013.
Gould, Elaine. Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation. Illustrated edition. Van Nuys: Alfred Music, 2011.
Isherwood, Nicholas. The Techniques of Singing. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2012.
Kostka, S., Payne, D., Almen, B. Tonal Harmony. 7th ed New York: McGraw Hill, 2012.
Mulholland, Joe & Tom Hojnacki. The Berklee Book of Jazz Harmony. Boston: Berklee Press, 2013.
Nachmanovitch, Stephen. Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art. New York: TarcherPerigee, 1991.
Ono, Yoko. Grapefruit. London: Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2000.