These are excerpts from the opening remarks that I gave at a concert entitled Performing Wellness. Rather than being a stand-alone event, the concert was part of a pilot study I conducted exploring areas of overlap and distinction between improvisation in music therapy and improvisation in music performance. This written piece is an accompaniment to that concert. I will begin by presenting and defining core concepts and sharing the experiences that led me to prepare and perform this work. A literature review highlights ways that other music therapists and performers are exploring interdisciplinarity between these areas. Finally, themes that emerged for me through the process of creating and executing this concert in the context of a pilot research study are explored and discussed. While the main focus of this paper is the intersection between music improvisation in music therapy and music performance, it is not meant to be an exhaustive academic discussion of this topic. Rather, it is a focused, and at times, personal account of an interdisciplinary pilot study wherein I used my self and my music to explore what I experience as an intersectionality between improvisation in those two disciplines.

Music improvisation in any context or discipline is the instantaneous musical creation of making up and playing music in the moment; it "exists exclusively in the present, both as a creative impulse and as a musical experience” (Neeman, 2014, p. 39). Neeman distinguishes between the "ideal existence" that "nonimprovised interpretation” strives for, which "perfectly captures the original intentions of the composer" and the impermanent “concrete existence” of improvisation, concerned only with each single performance (p. 39). We can then consider how music improvisation is conceived in the disciplines, contexts, and practices of music performance and music therapy.

In Western art music ¹ , a performance is regarded as “a distinct and separate goal from the study of music and is almost always set apart by an external formality” (e.g. a concert, recording session, or an audition) (Gordon, 2006, p. 3-4). Improvisation within the performance discipline is typically enacted by a trained musician and perceived as “a single event, which can contain elements of unpredictability” (p. 4).

Contrastingly, in the types of improvisation used in music therapy (also called clinical improvisation ² ), the client improvises while playing an instrument or singing, selecting "any musical medium within their capabilities" (Bruscia, 2014, p. 130); the music therapist facilitates and supports this process by improvising using musical and therapeutic techniques from music therapy literature (e.g. Gardstrom, 2007; Lee & Houde, 2011; Wigram, 2004). While the music therapist is a trained clinical improviser, previous musical training is not required on the part of the client (Bruscia, 2014). An important distinguishing quality of clinical improvisation is that it is always created in the service of the client’s therapeutic process.

Improvisation for music performance and improvisation in music therapy respectively, require distinct players (trained musicians in the case of performance, and a client and therapist in the case of music therapy); occur in different contexts (while clinical improvisation can occur on a concert stage or performance, particularly within the framework of Community Music Therapy (Ansdell & Stige, 2015), it can also occur in a clinical setting, unlike music performance practices); and have unique motivations (where the purpose of clinical improvisation is exclusively in the interest of the health and wellbeing of the client, unlike performance improvisation). In addition to these distinctions, there are vibrant areas of commonality between performance and clinical improvisation. For example, both involve music improvisation and require intra and inter-personal musical communication. The purpose of this pilot study was to musically explore and articulate areas of intersection between music improvisation in music therapy and performance, and to challenge the boundary between the disciplines. In some ways, this interdisciplinarity has been musically explored by other music therapists and performing musicians.

There are instances of both music therapists and music performers bridging the traditional boundaries between these disciplines. The following highlights relevant work from each of these perspectives.

Non-clinical improvised performance in music therapy. When performance is discussed in music therapy literature, it includes clients to some degree: clients performing solo music that their music therapist(s) supported them in creating, clients performing alongside their music therapist(s), or music therapists performing in honour or in lieu of a specific (group of) client(s) (Aigen, 2014). These performances are done in the service of the clients’ goals, with indications and contraindications carefully considered (Young & Nichol, 2011). I have not uncovered literature discussing music therapists performing music therapy related concerts without their clients being directly involved, however this is not to say that it is not occurring. I have attended several concerts where music therapist, Colin Andrew Lee, performed solo improvisations that featured excerpts from his former clients’ clinical improvisations (Lee, 2011). The concerts had aesthetic aims and were not created in collaboration with the client(s) or to meet the clients’ needs. These concerts were intended to act as an artistic expression of Lee’s experiences as a music therapist (Lee, personal communication, May 22, 2017). In another concert, Lee performed clinical improvisations with the Penderecki String Quartet in the role of the clients; the aim of the concert was again aesthetic. Most recently, Lee performed a solo concert of improvised compositions entitled Music for Contemplative Landscapes (2016); as the title suggests, Lee’s intention was to offer the audience a musical aesthetic suitable for reflection and contemplation (Lee, personal communication, May 22, 2017). Lee’s concerts can be viewed as interdisciplinary works, by a client’s musical materials as the basis for improvisation and by intending to facilitate a particular experience for audience members (ie. contemplation). While following Western classical music performance conventions, he combines elements of clinical and performance improvisation. Music performers and composers have likewise explored bringing elements of music therapy into their work.

‘Therapeutic’ performance practice. The ‘therapeutic’ experience of performing improvisation has been affirmed by many musicians including jazz musicians like Charlie Parker (Reisner, 1977) and ‘free’ improvisers like Steven Nachmanovitch (Nachmanovitch, 1991). Some performers also identify a ‘therapeutic’ impact for audiences. As a comprehensive review of music performance for this purpose is beyond the scope of this article, I will share a contemporary example of this by exploring the work of composer and performer Daniel Brandes. Brandes intends for his music to invite the audience into an “exposed and vulnerable space” which he refers to as “Sabbath space” (2015, Section 3, para. 2). Brandes’ intention in cultivating this space is to offer a sense of community and an experience of deep calm for the audience and performer(s). Brandes’ performance goals can be viewed as therapeutic because his intentions are exclusively focused on the emotional and interpersonal impact of the performance on the audience. This example illustrates one way in which music performance can incorporate interdisciplinarity by involving music therapy-type principles.

Music that combines elements of music performance and music therapy, like that of Lee and Brandes, resonates with me as both an improvising musician and a music therapist. It is my experience of this interdisciplinary identity that largely motivated this study.

In my work as a music therapist, I have had the privilege of making music alongside people from many different life situations, at the end of their life in palliative care, in mental health care, and with a variety of special needs. My music therapy training emphasized music-centeredness ³ , and this remains a core element of my approach, along with person-centered (humanistic) psychotherapy, and feminist therapy. The clinical improvisation models that I most frequently draw upon are music-centered models: Creative Music Therapy (Nordoff, Robbins, & Marcus, 2007) and Aesthetic Music Therapy (Lee, 2003). As a music therapist and music therapy supervisor, I often invite people I am working with to explore and process their material through live music-making, particularly clinical improvisation. During clinical improvisation, my whole self, including my music and musical self, is at the service of the client’s health and wellbeing. When improvising with someone as a music therapist, I have often felt a deep connection and understanding between us, and I have been profoundly and irrevocably shaped by this work. I view my music therapy self as one aspect of who I am a musician, with another being my music performance self.

I was trained in classical piano performance, music theory, and history through the Royal Conservatory of Music (Canada). During my undergraduate degree, I was introduced to Keith Jarrett’s improvised piano performances and composers that incorporate elements of unpredictability into their music like John Cage. I soon began performing in a free-improvisation ensemble and composing music that incorporated written notation and improvisation; the genre within which I continue to improvise as a performer is most accurately identified as “free-improvisation” ⁴ . When performing in a free-improvisation ensemble, I do not have a responsibility for the other players’ health and wellbeing as I do in clinical improvisation. Instead, I feel that we are each equally responsible for the musical outcome, and we can freely contribute to the music however we would like.

Despite these distinctions between how I improvise in music therapy and music performance, I also experience a permeable boundary between these practices as a music-centered music therapy clinician and educator, and as an improvising performing musician. For example, when I improvise as a music therapist, I draw on musical theory and my technical skills to provide the best experience for the person I am working with; I also draw on this knowledge and skillset during improvisational music performance. Likewise, as an improvising performer I engage in deep listening, aiming to hear and respond to the essence of the music itself rather than the individual notes of the other players; I also bring these intentions to clinical improvisation. For me, to be a music therapist is to be steeped in interdisciplinarity; as a music therapist I actively draw on theory, practice, and skills from music, music therapy, and psychotherapy disciplines (to name a few).

I wanted to explore the intersection between music improvisation in music therapy and performance using music itself; therefore I used arts-based research principles to create and contextualize this pilot study.

My experience preparing and performing this material uncovered three main areas of reflection: a unique improvisation experience, material and relational areas of interdisciplinarity, and interdisciplinary tensions.

This pilot study pointed to a type of performance focused on health and wellbeing, and the special role of improvisation within such a concept, as vibrant areas of interdisciplinarity between improvisation in music therapy and music performance. More specifically, this concert suggests the potential for improvised performance to offer performers and audience members experiences that enhance their health and wellbeing by bringing clinical improvisation to the stage and modeling ways of being grounded in health and wellness.

The findings of this research-creation pilot study are limited to the concert itself and my reflections. In future phases of the project I plan to collect audience and performer feedback so that an accurate understanding of these experiences is possible. Additionally, my reflections (both musical and written) are personal and subjective. As such, emergent concepts are not generalizable, and the discussion may not resonate with others. Furthermore, this project focused exclusively on Western Art Music notions of improvisation in music performance and it could be valuable for another researcher to similarly explore intersections between improvisation in music-centered music therapy and non-Western performance practices.

Potential exists to further musically investigate the interface between improvisation in music performance and music therapy; it is this interdisciplinarity, the exploration of the spaces between contexts and disciplines, which I find particularly rich and interesting.

I experienced a blurring between clinical and performance improvisation during this creative process. Indeed, such interdisciplinary investigation must be approached with caution, so that distinct improvisation practices are not misinterpreted or homogenized (Pavlicevic, 2000). Certainly music therapy and music performance are distinct fields, as are the improvisation practices within them. It is those special contexts that have allowed such unique improvisation practices to be developed and refined. Clinical improvisation continues to be necessary in music therapy, and music performance continues to require performance improvisation practices. They are, respectively, what serves the aims of those two disciplines best. However, as music performance becomes interested in therapeutic outcomes (e.g. Brandes, 2015), and music therapy becomes more integrated with performance practice (e.g. as in the case of community music therapy (Ansdell, 2005; Ansdell & Stige, 2015)) it is helpful for diverse practitioners to dialogue. At their best, interdisciplinary explorations can serve to highlight what resides uniquely within the bounds of each discipline, link disciplines through common threads and illuminate new areas for collaboration and discovery.

I wish to thank the musicians who performed in the concert and whose improvisations made it the special event it was. Thank you also to Dr. Laurel Young who encouraged me to pursue this project as research-creation.

Special thanks and appreciation are extended to Dr. Colin Andrew Lee, whose pioneering work integrating music therapy, improvisation, and performance is the foundation upon which this project is built. Our conversations encouraged me and shaped my understanding of this topic.