New Music Weekend 2025: Yes, You Can Improvise! (Zoom)
Live Presentations on Zoom – Session 4
October 26, 2025 at 1:30 PM EST
“Yes, You Can Improvise!” An Interactive Workshop on Structured Improv in Teaching and Performance with Rachel Yoder, clarinet
Contemporary works often call for improvisation skills via box notation, graphic scores, or even free improv—so how should we study it, and how should we teach it? This live session explores how structure can provide direction and inspire creativity through the following activities:
- Score examples of improvisation in the contemporary clarinet literature
- Discussion of how to use a “Creative Limitations Menu” to practice and teach improv
(from Steve Treseler’s Creativity Triggers for Musicians) - Live improvisation exercises using limitations decided by the audience
- Live demonstration of Rachel Yoder’s structured improvisation work Paper Woman, with
pitch content determined by the audience - Q&A
Participants will have the opportunity to practice improvisation during the session and
interactively determine “rules” or limitations for the improvisations.
When: 10/26/2025 | 1:30 pm
Featuring: Rachel Yoder, clarinet
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