ABSTRACT
In this chapter I argue that specific and valuable educational qualities can be developed through free group improvisation in general music education. This claim is operationalised by a set of research questions designed to investigate pupils’ actions, characteristics and implications of these actions in improvisation events. John Dewey’s theory of aesthetic experience and, more specifically, an experience, is employed as an analytical lens to analyse children’s improvisations. I argue that an experience of improvisation occurs in and through a reciprocal interaction with the environment, which means that when children improvise they change as a result of their musical experiences and in turn change their musical environment. Crucially, having an experience in free group improvisations can cultivate expressiveness, agency, and responsiveness.
