Roberto Zanetti

Abstract

In this essay I would like to move from the traditional dichotomy between composition and performance, focusing on the preliminary conditions of improvisational processes, rather than on their inner development. In the first paragraph I will claim that improvisation is strictly linked to the memorization of a consistent repertoire of formulas, harmonic and rhythmic schemes, aimed at making the performance more natural. Nevertheless, memory has not to be intended only in a mechanical sense, as it will be shown in the second paragraph: in fact, this faculty has the purpose to facilitate, not to substitute, a good performance. In the final part of the essay I will highlight that improvisational ability consists in transforming the object of memory from an immediate answer to a sonic stimulus into the dynamic form of incorporation.