History & The Arts
Composition and improvisation in cross-cultural perspective
...mental processes, that is, without the aid of manuscript, sketches or memory’ (Harvard Dictionary, pp. 351–2). As examples of composed and improvised musics you might have thought of some of the following: for composed music, most Western art music; as improvised music, jazz and, perhaps, one or more non-Western traditions such as Indian art music. By the end of this...
