Improvisation, Pedagogy and Dialogue

Abstract This chapter explores the idea of improvisation pedagogy as an embodied “performative practice” (Giroux, 2004, p. 61). As two dialoguing researchers from Nöörje Norway,1 and Aotearoa New Zealand, Rolf Martin Snustad and David Lines present a duoethnography that weaves spoken text with musical narratives. This approach allows for a closer inquiry into their listening, emotions, sensations, moods, and the development of a reflexive position about improvisation in relation to our experience of the Other. Their dialogues elevate that improvisation is more than playing with idiomatic music; it can also be seen as an artistic process of embodiment and a lens that offers teachers and learners music-inspired insights about how they can view the pedagogical process. Improvisation offers a liberatory pathway for music learners and musicians who might otherwise find that their musical ideas and offerings are negated. This chapter develops a dialogue and considers the implications of key themes that underpin our collective liberatory experience of improvisation pedagogy.