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56-586: The Feminist Improvising Group ( FIG ) were a five- to eight-piece international free improvising avant-garde jazz and experimental music ensemble formed in London in 1977 by Scottish vocalist Maggie Nicols and English bassoonist/composer Lindsay Cooper . Their debut performance was at a "Music for Socialism" festival at the Almost Free Theatre in London in October 1977, and they toured Europe several times in

112-729: A certain style or key , or at certain tempos , conventions such as song structures are highly uncommon; more emphasis is generally placed on the mood of the music, or on performative gestures, than on preset forms of melody , harmony or rhythm . These elements are improvised at will as the music progresses, and performers will often intuitively react to each other based on the elements of their performance. English guitarist Derek Bailey described free improvisation as "playing without memory". In his book Improvisation , Bailey wrote that free improvisation "has no stylistic or idiomatic commitment. It has no prescribed idiomatic sound. The characteristics of freely improvised music are established only by

168-679: A lot better". Recalling FIG's appearance at the Total Music Meeting, guitarist Eugene Chadbourne said "The lack of support for FIG must obviously extend beyond the boundaries of that group into the entire area of women musicians ... I am sure the lack of men on stage made some men feel excluded." Schweizer believed that many male improvisers felt threatened by FIG because of their use of humour, "We were not that serious, like men, ... they take [improvising] so seriously". Born described FIG's humour as "very iconoclastic and very surreal, or very silly. There were no big boys there standing judging." On

224-402: A mixture of white , black , lesbian , straight , working - and middle-class women. Nicols wanted the group to be open to all women of different backgrounds and different levels of musicianship, even those who had not improvised before. She saw these differing abilities, which gave rise to unexpected results, as a strength and not a weakness. According to critic Dana Reason Myers, "The result

280-517: A multilayered call and response between individual improvisers and a community of listeners". She added that FIG were "instrumental in encouraging listeners/interpreters to negotiate the work from a queer perspective, opening a space for the listener who responds to the laughter of women with her own improvised laughter." Roelofs recalled that critics of the Feminist Improvising Group were always either very positive, or very negative; there

336-411: A number of women-only improvising groups and events. In 1980 Contradictions was formed by Nicols, who modelled it on FIG. The founding members included Nicols, Jackie Lansley and Sylvia Hallett , with Schweizer and Joëlle Léandre participating in their first concert. Contradictions went on to become a women's workshop run by Nicols in which "anyone could participate". Schweizer was one of the organisers of

392-583: A single moment when the style was born. Free improvisation primarily descends from the Indeterminacy movement and free jazz . Guitarist Derek Bailey contends that free improvisation must have been the earliest musical style, because "mankind's first musical performance couldn't have been anything other than a free improvisation." Similarly, Keith Rowe stated, "Other players got into playing freely, way before AMM , way before Derek [Bailey]! Who knows when free playing started? You can imagine lute players in

448-627: A technique—employed by any musician in any genre—and as a recognizable genre of experimental music in its own right. Free improvisation, as a genre of music, developed primarily in the U.K. as well as the U.S. and Europe in the mid to late 1960s, largely as an outgrowth of free jazz and contemporary classical music . Exponents of free improvised music include saxophonists Evan Parker , Anthony Braxton , Peter Brötzmann , and John Zorn , composer Pauline Oliveros , trombonist George E. Lewis , guitarists Derek Bailey , Henry Kaiser and Fred Frith , bassists Damon Smith and Jair-Rohm Parker Wells and

504-579: Is a threat from women. In an all-women band we are released from that kind of pressure." Born added that without men, women are more honest and open with each other, and are more receptive to what each member of the group is doing. FIG integrated "lesbian sexuality" in their improvised performances: their stage acts often included "fights" and "hugs" that Smith described as "violating taboos of musical propriety and masculinist competition that prohibited musicians from touching one another". According to Smith, "refus[ing] to 'pass' as straight opened possibilities for

560-446: Is different from the "unrelieved adventures into the abstract to be heard from some male improvising groups." American academic David G. Pier said FIG used free jazz 's "extreme timbres " to enhance their live performances, which he described as "in-your-face queer sexuality and feminist shock politics." Smith characterised performances by FIG as a "sonic negotiation of eroticism, resistance, liberation, joy, pleasure, power, and agency,

616-437: Is entirely dedicated to free jazz and other freely improvised music. A l'improviste, Antiphon They should not be confused with Marian antiphons or processional antiphons . When a chant consists of alternating verses (usually sung by a cantor) and responses (usually sung by the congregation), a refrain is needed. The looser term antiphony is generally used for any call and response style of singing, such as

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672-609: Is represented, for instance, by the American record label Erstwhile Records and the Austrian label Mego . EAI is often radically different even from established free improvisation. Eyles writes, "One of the problems of describing this music is that it requires a new vocabulary and ways of conveying its sound and impact; such vocabulary does not yet exist – how do you describe the subtle differences between different types of controlled feedback ? I've yet to see anyone do it convincingly – hence

728-531: Is still commonly practised by some organists at concerts or church services, and courses in improvisation (including free improvisation) are part of many higher education programmes for church musicians. Since 2002 New Zealand collective Vitamin S has hosted weekly improvisations based around randomly drawn trios. Vitamin S takes the form beyond music and includes improvisers from other forms such as dance, theatre and puppetry. Since 2006, improvisational music in many forms has been supported and promoted by ISIM,

784-595: The Anglican musical tradition: the singers often face each other, placed in the quire's Decani and Cantoris . The Greater Advent or O Antiphons are antiphons used at daily prayer in the evenings of the last days of Advent in various liturgical Christian traditions. Each antiphon is a name of Christ , one of his attributes mentioned in Scripture. In the Roman Catholic tradition, they are sung as antiphons to

840-564: The German Reformation , and they continue to be sung in Lutheran churches. When two or more groups of singers sing in alternation, the style of music can also be called polychoral . Specifically, this term is usually applied to music of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Polychoral techniques are a definitive characteristic of the music of the Venetian school , exemplified by

896-721: The Magnificat in Vespers from December 17 to December 23. In the Church of England they have traditionally been used as antiphons to the Magnificat at Evening Prayer . More recently they have found a place in primary liturgical documents throughout the Anglican Communion, including the Church of England 's Common Worship liturgy . Use of the O Antiphons was preserved in Lutheranism at

952-503: The kirtan or the sea shanty and other work songs, and songs and worship in African and African-American culture. Antiphonal music is that performed by two choirs in interaction, often singing alternate musical phrases. Antiphonal psalmody is the singing or musical playing of psalms by alternating groups of performers. The term "antiphony" can also refer to a choir-book containing antiphons. The chant of early Christianity through to

1008-551: The "Music for Socialism" festival approached Nicols and asked if she could arrange some female performers for the next concert as so few had featured in previous events. Nicols and Cooper put together a five-piece ensemble with themselves, plus cellist/bassist Georgie Born , also from Henry Cow, vocalist/pianist Cathy Williams from the British duo Rag Doll (with ex Henry Cow member Geoff Leigh ), and trumpeter Corinne Liensol from British feminist rock band Jam Today. FIG's debut performance

1064-714: The "spectacle of so many unsupervised and unpredictable women on the stage". Schweizer recalled that FIG were invited to perform at the Total Music Meeting in Berlin in November 1979 because she had played at the festival before (in all-men groups). But after seeing FIG perform, the organiser asked Schweizer "how come you brought such a group, they can't play, and they are not good enough." Nicols said that avant-garde musician Alexander von Schlippenbach also complained about FIG being there, saying that "we couldn't play our instruments" and that he could have found "loads of men that would have played

1120-495: The 14th century as settings of texts honouring the Virgin Mary , which were sung separately from the mass and office , often after Compline . Towards the end of the 15th century, English composers produced expanded settings up to nine parts , with increasing complexity and vocal range . The largest collection of such antiphons is the late-15th-century Eton Choirbook . As a result, antiphony remains particularly common in

1176-467: The 1500s getting drunk and doing improvisations for people in front of a log fire.. the noise, the clatter must have been enormous. You read absolutely incredible descriptions of that. I cannot believe that musicians back then didn't float off into free playing. The melisma in Monteverdi [ sic ] must derive from that. But it was all in the context of a repertoire." By the middle decades of

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1232-509: The 20th century, composers such as Henry Cowell , Earle Brown , David Tudor , La Monte Young , Jackson Mac Low , Morton Feldman , Sylvano Bussotti , Karlheinz Stockhausen , and George Crumb , re-introduced improvisation to European art music, with compositions that allowed or even required musicians to improvise. One notable example of this is Cornelius Cardew 's Treatise : a graphic score with no conventional notation whatsoever, which musicians were invited to interpret. Improvisation

1288-570: The Canaille festivals that staged the first International Women's Jazz Festival for Improvised Music in 1986 in Frankfurt . In the early 1990s, Nicols, Schweizer and Léandre formed the "highly theatrical and often satirical" improvising trio, Les Diaboliques, who released three albums between 1994 and 1998. Nicols said that FIG were "tremendously influential" on the second-generation improvisation scene that developed in its wake. Léandre, after seeing FIG for

1344-752: The International Society for Improvised Music. ISIM comprises some 300 performing artists and scholars worldwide, including Pauline Oliveros , Robert Dick , Jane Ira Bloom , Roman Stolyar , Mark Dresser , and many others. Founded in Manchester, England, in 2007, the Noise Upstairs has been an institution dedicated to the practice of improvised music, hosting regular concerts and creative workshops where they have promoted international and UK-based artists such as Ken Vandermark , Lê Quan Ninh , Ingrid Laubrock , and Yuri Landman . On top of these events,

1400-727: The Noise Upstairs runs monthly jam nights. In Berlin, Germany, from the 1990s onwards, a school of free improvisation emerged known as echtzeitmusik (‘real-time music’ or ‘immediate music’). This has been sustained by supportive venues such as ausland , Anorak Club, Labor Sonor, and others. In late 1970s New York a group of musicians came together who shared an interest in free improvisation as well as rock, jazz, contemporary classical, world music and pop. They performed at lofts, apartments, basements and venues located predominantly in downtown New York ( 8BC , Pyramid Club , Environ, Roulette , The Knitting Factory and Tonic ) and held regular concerts of free improvisation which featured many of

1456-564: The Swiss improvisation duo Voice Crack started making use of strictly "cracked everyday electronics". A recent branch of improvised music is characterized by quiet, slow moving, minimalistic textures and often utilizing laptop computers or unorthodox forms of electronics. Developing worldwide in the mid-to-late 1990s, with centers in New York, Tokyo and Austria, this style has been called lowercase music or EAI ( electroacoustic improvisation ), and

1512-822: The barriers that traditionally existed between the performer and the audience by engaging in " antiphonal exchange[s]" with them, and promoting the notion that "anyone can do it". They redefined free improvisation by introducing "social virtuosity", the ability to communicate with the other musicians and the audience. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, FIG toured Europe several times, where they played at festivals at various venues, including Paris, Berlin, Rome, Copenhagen , Stockholm and Reykjavík . When Cooper and Born were performing with Henry Cow in Zürich in early 1978, Cooper invited Swiss pianist Irène Schweizer to join FIG. English filmmaker Sally Potter , who played saxophone and sang, joined

1568-570: The concept of free improvisation." Smith explained that even women not familiar with the technicalities of free improvisation still related to a group of women on stage "foreground[ing] their bodies and their sounds for the pleasure of other woman". Writing in The Guardian , Nicolas Soames described FIG's music as often comprising "hard trombone chords, angular bursts, and restless scurryings made by every imaginable sound-producing object"; it sometimes drifts into "blues-like dirge[s]" or tangos, but

1624-653: The end of the 5th century had its root in the Synagogue , whence early Christians borrowed the traditions of the chanting of psalms, singing of hymns and cantillation . There is some evidence from Acts of the Apostles that early Christians stayed close to contemporary Jewish traditions. For example, Acts 2:46–47 states that "with one accord in the Temple, and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all

1680-535: The event was a combination of music and comedy, and focused on "women's experience" and "mundane daily things". Nicols described it as "quite anarchic. It had elements of theatre; we had props, we were chopping onions, I was rushing around with perfume, it was completely improvised." FIG became the first publicly performing women-only improvising group, and they challenged the established improvising community with performances that were theatrical, with politics and farce supplementing their music. They staged parodies around

1736-489: The first time performing in Paris, said she had been "shocked ... to see only women onstage". FIG were also educational in that they exposed free improvisation to women unfamiliar with the genre , and acquainted men with feminism. Source: Free improvisation Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any general rules, instead following the intuition of its performers. The term can refer to both

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1792-565: The group in April 1978. Dutch trombonist Annemarie Roelofs , English singer Frankie Armstrong , Dutch woodwind player Angèle Veltmeijer, and French saxophonist and guitarist Françoise Dupety also played intermittently with the group. Some of FIG's performances consisted of up to eight women. Nicols left FIG in 1980 to form another all-women group called Contradictions. In 1983, under the helm of Schweizer, FIG evolved into The European Women's Improvising Group (EWIG), bowing to pressure that their name

1848-554: The improvisation of female sexuality. In effect FIG queered space of improvisational practice." Smith wrote that male heterosexual improvisers typically dismissed women in audiences as not important, seeing them as "either wives, girlfriends, or groupies". She said FIG seized this opportunity to change the relationship between improvisers and female audiences. Using their "skills of social and technical virtuosity", FIG improvised around issues important to women, and thereby "drew women into their music who might not otherwise be concerned with

1904-439: The improvisational space and "demanded queer listening". FIG were generally not well received by male improvisers, who Nicols said criticised their technical ability and their "irreverent approach to technique and tradition". Smith noted that FIG's performances were also criticised by some feminists for being "too virtuosic and abstract", but they generally received positive reactions from both women and men at concerts. A review in

1960-622: The improvised music magazine Musics said that FIG's debut performance "was a welcome contrast to the previous performances [of the evening] which had been singularly humourless." In 1983, FIG evolved into the European Women's Improvising Group (EWIG), bowing to pressure to tone down their name. FIG were influential on the second-generation improvisation scene and spawned a number of women-only improvising groups and events. FIG were also educational in that they exposed new audiences to improvisation and feminism. The Feminist Improvising Group (FIG)

2016-401: The improvised music magazine Musics said that FIG's set "was a welcome contrast to the previous performances [of the evening] which had been singularly humourless." Cooper recalled a comment made to her by a female artist working in film: "I don't know what on earth you're doing but I like it." The Feminist Improvising Group, and its successor, The European Women's Improvising Group, spawned

2072-445: The improvising groups Spontaneous Music Ensemble and AMM . In the context of music theory , free improvisation denotes the shift from a focus on harmony and structure to other dimensions of music, such as timbre , texture , melodic intervals, rhythm and spontaneous musical interactions between performers. This can give free improvised music abstract and nondescript qualities. Although individual performers may choose to play in

2128-498: The issue of FIG being a women-only group, Nicols remarked, "It's amazing the number of men that were saying, 'Why are there no men?' And yet nobody had ever dreamed to think of asking why there were men only [groups]." Some feminist audiences were also critical of FIG, saying that they were "too virtuosic and abstract". At a Women's Festival at The Drill Hall in London, many women in the audience were unfamiliar with "free music" and accused FIG of being "elitist" and "inaccessible". This

2184-497: The late 1970s and early 1980s. FIG were the first publicly performing women-only group of improvisers and challenged the hitherto male-dominated musical improvisation community. The group consisted of women from different backgrounds with different levels of musicianship, and their concerts were a combination of music and theatre that dealt with everyday women's issues. FIG also integrated "lesbian sexuality" into their performances that Canadian academic Julie Dawn Smith said, "queered"

2240-406: The leading European improvisers of the time, including Derek Bailey , Evan Parker , Han Bennink , Misha Mengelberg , Peter Brötzmann and others. Many of these musicians continue to use improvisation in one form or another in their work. Electronic devices such as oscillators, echoes, filters and alarm clocks were an integral part of free improvisation performances by groups such as Kluster at

2296-402: The members lacked conventional musical skills, they were "politically very right" and quickly adapted to improvising. Because of the nature of free improvisation, the women were able to perform together without concerns about competency. Born said that FIG functioned very differently from a mixed group: "when you are playing with men, there is an element of competition; they tend to feel that there

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2352-527: The people". Socrates of Constantinople wrote that antiphony was introduced into Christian worship by Ignatius of Antioch (died 107) after he saw a vision of two choirs of angels. Antiphonal singing was an element of Jewish liturgy believed to have entered the monasteries of Syria and Palestine in the 4th century from the Jewish communities such as the one in Antioch . Antiphons have remained an integral part of

2408-414: The prominent figures in the scene, including John Zorn , Bill Laswell , George E. Lewis , Fred Frith , Tom Cora , Toshinori Kondo , Wayne Horvitz , Eugene Chadbourne , Zeena Parkins , Anthony Coleman , Polly Bradfield , Ikue Mori , Robert Dick , Ned Rothenberg , Bob Ostertag , Christian Marclay , David Moss , Kramer and many others. They worked with each other, independently and with many of

2464-477: The role of women in society and incorporated domestic " found objects " in their performances, including "vacuum cleaners, brooms, dustpans, pots and pans, and egg slicers". Their performances often had some of the women cleaning the stage, while the others huddled in a group to "explore the sonic possibilities of household items." They also parodied rock and jazz groups and the roles of female singers as "chicks and divas" and women as "backing musicians". FIG broke down

2520-524: The sonic musical identity of the person or persons playing it." Free music performers, coming from a disparate variety of backgrounds, often engage musically with other genres . For example, Italian composer Ennio Morricone was a member of the free improvisation group Nuova Consonanza. Anthony Braxton has written opera , and John Zorn has written acclaimed orchestral pieces. Though there are many important precedents and developments, free improvisation developed gradually, making it difficult to pinpoint

2576-513: The underground scene at Zodiac Club in Berlin in the late 1960s. For the 1975 jazz-rock concert recording Agharta , Miles Davis and his band employed free improvisation and electronics, particularly guitarist Pete Cosey who improvised sounds by running his guitar through a ring modulator and an EMS Synthi A . But it was only later that traditional instruments were disbanded altogether in favour of pure electronic free improvisation. In 1984,

2632-520: The use of words like 'shape' and 'texture'!" The London-based independent radio station Resonance 104.4FM , founded by the London Musicians Collective , frequently broadcasts experimental and free improvised performance works. WNUR 89.3 FM ("Chicago's Sound Experiment") is another source for free improvised music on the radio. Taran's Free Jazz Hour broadcast on Radio-G 101.5 FM, Angers and Euradio  [ fr ] 101.3 FM, Nantes

2688-705: The works of Giovanni Gabrieli : this music is often known as the Venetian polychoral style . The Venetian polychoral style was an important innovation of the late Renaissance . This style, with its variations as it spread across Europe after 1600, helped to define the beginning of the Baroque era. Polychoral music was not limited to Italy in the Renaissance; it was also popular in France with Marc-Antoine Charpentier (37 settings H.16–H.52), in Spain and Germany . There are examples from

2744-707: The worship in the Byzantine and Armenian Rite . The practice did not become part of the Latin Church until more than two centuries later. Ambrose and Gregory the Great , who are known for their contributions to the formulation of Gregorian chant, are credited with ' antiphonaries ', collections of works suitable for antiphon, which are still used in the Catholic Church today. Polyphonic Marian antiphons emerged in England in

2800-540: Was "too political". EWIG included Schweizer, Cooper, Roelofs, French double bassist Joëlle Léandre , and French singer Annick Nozati. In the 1970s there was a view that the free improvisation music space was largely the domain of male heterosexuals , and that women were marginalized. Canadian academic Julie Dawn Smith wrote in her 2004 essay, "Playing Like a Girl: The Queer Laughter of the Feminist Improvising Group", that "The opportunity for freedom in relation to sexual difference, gender, and sexuality for women improvisers

2856-457: Was a music that had to be taken on its own terms, as music that decidedly and consciously included the politics of being women, musicians, improvisers, and members of a society." "[T]he spectacle of the Feminist Improvising Group was a queer sounding that demanded queer listening, an antiphonal and erotic playing by ear that heard pleasure and desire in the strange resonances and sonic exchanges of women's embodied, lived experience." While some of

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2912-453: Was at the next "Music for Socialism" festival at the Almost Free Theatre in London on 30 October 1977. They had originally intended calling themselves the "Women's Improvising Group", but discovered that the organisers had billed them as the "Feminist Improvising Group". Nicols said that the "political statement of the band's name never even came from us! But we just thought, 'OK, they've called us feminist, we'll work with that ' ". FIG's act at

2968-746: Was founded in London in 1977 by Scottish vocalist Maggie Nicols from Centipede and English bassoonist /composer Lindsay Cooper from Henry Cow . Nicols and Cooper first discussed the idea of an all-women improvising group at a musician's union meeting. Cooper said, "we agreed that improvisation had become very important and no women were doing it. And suddenly we thought, well let's do it! Let's get women together and do it ourselves!" While Nicols and Cooper had both performed frequently with men, they had little experience performing with other women. Their involvement in class politics as well as feminist and lesbian activism prompted them to pursue this project. An opportunity presented itself in mid-1977, when organisers of

3024-413: Was frustrating for the members of the group who expected support from such quarters. But FIG also received positive reactions from both men and women at concerts. Nicols recalled the " dykes " in the audience who had come to see them at FIG's first performance: they were into disco and soul and sat patiently through the other improvisers, but when FIG came on, "They laughed their heads off." A review in

3080-466: Was never any middle-ground. Nicols and Roelofs said they received little support from male improvisers, who criticised their technical ability and referred to them as women, not musicians. FIG's message that "anyone can do it" antagonised many who value "technical virtuosity" and "improvisational competence". Nicols said they also complained about FIG's "irreverent approach to technique and tradition", while Smith suggested that they may have felt threatened by

3136-442: Was strangely absent from the discourses and practices of free jazz and free improvisation". Born said "we found ourselves in situations implicitly saturated with gender dynamics ... in which our musical 'voice' was rendered somehow inappropriate, or was overwhelmed and could not emerge or be heard". When the Feminist Improvising Group appeared in 1977, they challenged the established male-dominated musical improvising community. FIG were

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