Spontaneity

Off tonight to the launch of this year's The Now Now festival of 'spontaneous' music at the Abercrombie Hotel in Sydney (8pm, free - if you want to go).

I have to say I am always a little cautious about improvised music; perhaps its the Conservatorium training in me, but I tend to think that one needs certain strong strategies in place to create compelling music and I'm not convinced that making it up on the spot is one such strategy. I know it's more complex than that - and I'm all for open-ended means of making music - so perhaps it's just that I've never been that amazed by the resulting structures of most improvisations I've heard, and structure is always of key importance to a classically trained composer.

I suppose that the key element for many improvisers IS the open-ended quality, however I just don't know if it translates so well for listeners. Anyway, I'll shut up now and report later on the results ...