ABSTRACT
Instant composition is a performance practice that blurs distinctions between improvisation and composition. Not only does it define improvisation as a form of composition “in the moment”, it also signifies an approach to written pieces that does not see these as opposed to improvisation but rather as embedded within an improvisatory practice, affording possibilities for creative interaction in performance. This chapter, following the work of Robert Faulkner and Howard Becker, describes the repertoire of the ICP Orchestra as a reciprocal process of negotiation between the notated musical material and the musicians’ creative skills. This use of notations, it is argued, requires a reconsideration of how we define composition and improvisation, and thus ultimately how we define music. In the practice of the ICP, notations, rather than representing ideal and abstract musical works, are approached by the musicians primarily as material objects in their own right. Improvisation, rather than a primarily mental activity, a form of free self-expression unconstrained by material restrictions, is more about the process of responding to one’s constantly changing environment. The ICP repertoire, then, drawing on the philosophical work of John Dewey and Gilles Deleuze, is considered as a “writing for animals”.
