What is chance in the context of music? How does it shape our creative processes? And how can we incorporate it as an active element into our work?

Generally speaking, the appeal of music – or most artistic practices for this matter – lies in the tension between the two opposing, yet interdependent, poles of the predictable and the unpredictable. Bereft of the potential to surprise, music would lose its appeal. Yet, the unpredictable – or chance – depends on a certain framework of rules or structures, against which it defines itself.

Nevertheless, in most musical contexts, the element of surprise or unpredictability is relegated to a passive or static role. It no longer actively operates, once the music has been 'written' or 'composed'. Only in a few musical practices or traditions, does chance continue to play an explicitly active role during performance. However, the structures or frameworks, which are employed to allow for such continuous engagement with chance, differ from one 'tradition' to another. Specifically, when it comes to improvisation, the perhaps most common form of musical chance or spontaneity, the underlying 'rules' vary tremendously in scope and in nature.

My experience as a jazz musician and my studies in North Indian musical styles have led me to a leap of connection: both styles can be considered as inherently improvised musics.  Here is a series of my first notes reflecting upon the different rules underlying improvisation in these two traditions progressing from a tight structure to free music.

The frameworks employed by North Indian Classical Music, for example, are comparatively rigid. Not only are the different 'compositions' or 'themes' (ragas) based on an intricate set of 'melodic' rules themselves, but they are also framed by predetermined structures, which define the underlying rhythmic cycles (talas), the tempi (laya) employed, as well as the sequence of its different sections (alaap, drut or jor, etc.).

Nevertheless, North Indian Classical Music is essentially based on improvisation. Within the given framework(s), every musician interprets the 'melodic' or 'thematic' material of the particular raga s/he performs in a personal, spontaneous manner.

The following excerpts of Rag Multani by two diverse performers illustrate how different one rendering can be from another.

Here is an interpretation by the two shehnai-playing brothers Sanjeev and Ashwani Shankar.

And an interpretation by the young singer Debapriya Adhikari

Jazz, globally the most renowned form of improvised music, uses a somewhat different and – at least with regards to melodic development – looser framework for improvisation. However, over the past hundred years of its existence, jazz has branched out in many different direction and sub-genres, which make use of – and thus frame – improvisation in very different manners.

In 'Standard'-jazz, a written theme or melody is usually evoked at the beginning (possibly after a short introduction) and the end of each piece. The harmonic progression or cycle, which underlies the theme, is consequently used for improvisation. So, while the band provides the rhythmic and harmonic framework, the musicians usually take turns improvising within or on top of these.

Here an example of Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder, which follows this 'Standard' formula.

A slightly more 'open' or 'modern' approach is taken by contemporary jazz artists like the pianist Vijay Iyer and his alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa. In the following example, the theme is reduced to just a small repetitive phrase at beginning and end, giving an even more prominent role to improvisation. Nevertheless, harmonic and rhythmic cycles continue to be respected.

Another sub-genre or shoot-off of jazz, often known as free-jazz or free music, goes even further in minimizing the framework within which improvisation takes place. As to be heard in this recording by the Ornette Coleman Double Quartet, whose title Free Jazz gave the name to the genre, the musicians – in interaction with their co-performers – are free to play without any harmonic or melodic restraints (but with an almost stable rhythmic base).

In my next note, I will attempt to explore how the shared emphasis on improvisation of Indian Classical traditions and Jazz has - despite their inherent differences in approach and structure – led to various endeavors of Indo-Jazz fusion.


David Tappeser is a jazz musician living in Paris.