The Aesthetics of Imperfection in Music and the Arts : Spontaneity, Flaws and the Unfinished

"The aesthetics of imperfection emphasises spontaneity, disruption, process and energy over formal perfection and is often ignored by many commentators or seen only in improvisation. This comprehensive collection is the first time imperfection has been explored across all kinds of musical performance, whether improvisation or interpretation of compositions. Covering music, visual art, dance, comedy, architecture and design, it addresses the meaning, experience, and value of improvisation and spontaneous creation across different artistic media. A distinctive feature of the volume is that it brings together contributions from theoreticians and practitioners, presenting a wider range of perspectives on the issues involved. Contributors look at performance and practice across Western and non-Western musical, artistic and craft forms. Composers and non-performing artists offer a perspective on what is 'imperfect' or improvisatory within their work, contributing further dimensions to the discourse. The Aesthetics of Imperfection in Music and the Arts features 39 chapters organised into eight sections and written by a diverse group of scholars and performers. They consider divergent definitions of aesthetics, employing both 18th-century philosophy and more recent socially and historically situated conceptions making this an essential, up-to-date resource for anyone working on either side of the perfection-imperfection debate"-- Provided by publisher Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Page Contents List of Figures List of contributors Acknowledgements Introduction Part I: The positive value of imperfection Chapter 1: The aesthetics of imperfectionThe finished work, and process versus product Chapter 2: Taking aim at imperfection Chapter 3: The aesthetics of imperfection Chapter 4: Reflections on the value of imperfection in crafts through the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi Chapter 5: Built from the root, ever-changing at the bloom: The role of imperfection in systems of musical phonology, morphology and syntax Chapter 6: Imperfect world Part II: Social and cultural context Chapter 7: A socially situated approach to aesthetics: Games and challenges in Karnatak music Chapter 8: A social aesthetics of imperfectionSpontaneity and meaning in pop on the streets of China Chapter 9: Age, process and self-raising flour Chapter 10: Learning music aesthetics through imperfection: The transmission of shakuhachi music Part III: Composition versus improvisation Chapter 11: The interdependence of composition and improvisation Chapter 12: Improvising beyond Hamilton’s aesthetics of imperfection Chapter 13: Better than perfect: Dave Brubeck and the aesthetics of imperfection Chapter 14: The aesthetics of imperfection in jazz and free improvisation Chapter 15: Decisions, revisions, intentions and integrity: A subjective understanding of composition and improvisation Chapter 16: A literary aesthetic of perfection and imperfection Part IV: Interpretation and freedom Chapter 17: Embracing serendipity in classicalperformance Chapter 18: That is not freedom, that is taking licence: The pitfalls in performing Morton Feldman’s graph scores Chapter 19: Expanding the ideal: Systemic music as a dialogue of becoming Part V: Risk, disruption and failure Chapter 20: Live coding and failure Chapter 21: The aesthetics of failure Chapter 22: The mistake as material Chapter 23: The aesthetics of imperfection: Mistakes and hearing what you intend Chapter 24: Risk in improvisation and in comedy Chapter 25: Risk, failure and courage: Improvisation and stand-up comedy Chapter 26: Inciting uncertainty Chapter 27: Championing risk and discovery: Satoko Fujii and the experimental composition-improvisation continuum Part VI: Collaboration in performance Chapter 28: Imperfect unity and productive frictions: Ethics and aesthetics of play in dance improvisation Chapter 29: Cross purposes: Imperfect interactions when improvising with others Chapter 30: An audience for free jazz: Joe McPhee Interviewed Chapter 31: Is love too strong a term? The dissolution of distinction between aesthetics and sociality in a moving orchestra Part VII: The instrumental impulse Chapter 32: The instrumental impulse: Developing a free improvisation vocabulary for alternative keyboard instruments Chapter 33: Rarely heard, small unwanted sounds form the focus Chapter 34: The disagreeable subject of Varèse’s father: In conversation with David Brown Chapter 35: The Necks on the aesthetics of imperfection Chapter 36: Stardust: Seeing and imagining what isn’t there Part VIII: Finished and unfinished work Chapter 37: Architecture of imperfection: Unfinished sketches and Burke’s sublime Chapter 38: Still water moves Chapter 39: Notating perfection? Beethoven and the late string quartets Index