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FEMINISTING FREE IMPROVISATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2020

Hannah Reardon-Smith ,
Louise Denson  and
Vanessa Tomlinson
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Abstract

The idea and meaning of ‘freedom’ in free improvisation has largely been determined by a masculine subject position. This paper proposes a thinking of free improvisation from a feminist perspective, drawing upon the writings of Donna Haraway, Sara Ahmed and Anna Löwenhaupt Tsing, and on our own practices as improvising musicians. Reflecting on our own experiences in music and life, we ask: What does it mean to be a feminist free improviser? What inspires us to seek freedom through our improvisation practices? Can thinking improvisation through the lens of feminist theory inform our improvisational practices? We seek to think improvisation from a collective, inclusive origin. We posit that improvising is always, as Donna Haraway has suggested, ‘making-with’: creating, moment-to-moment, requiring interaction with the environment and its inhabitants. Free improvisation is not free if its practice is delimited by an exclusive world view. ‘Feministing’ free improvisation can challenge assumptions that undermine free improvisation's claim to freedom.

Type
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Information
Tempo , Volume 74 , Issue 292 , April 2020 , pp. 10 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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