Improvising freely together with their peers in a classroom setting can be challenging for a music student, as no specific guidance is provided, and students must rely solely on their inner ideas, rules, etc. This long-term exploratory study with eight Estonian music students tested imagination as a tool for providing improvisation guidelines to enhance group dynamics. A different set of methods (behavioral observation of the whole situation, detailed musical analysis of the improvisations, professional evaluation by improvisation teachers, and student feedback) was used for analysis. The results show that the implementation of conscious imagining is helpful for forming a certain constrained expressive area for improvisers, in which the improvised music is clear, stylistically coherent, and the improvisers are at relative ease in self-expression.

Republic of Estonia, Ministry of Culture