OPEN CALL: Time, Sound, and Transcendence: Forging a New Vision for Improvised

Call for Performances, Workshops, Papers
Time, Sound, and Transcendence: Forging a New Vision for Improvised
Music Pedagogy and Practice

The inaugural conference of the International Society for Improvised Music.

The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan
Dec 1-3, 2006

Featured Artists/Speakers: Steve Coleman, Janne Murto, Stephen
Nachmanovitch, Pauline Oliveros

The increasingly eclectic nature of the musical landscape yields
fertile ground for new approaches to improvised music performance and
pedagogy. The term transcendence may help us navigate our way through
this maze of possibilities: transcendence of boundaries between genres
and ethnicities within an emergent trans-stylistic expanse;
transcendence of old pedagogical patterns, where improvisation has been
marginalized or excluded in musical study; transcendence of
distinctions between "high" and "low" art in a more inclusive aesthetic
sensibility; and transcendence as in the heightened states of
consciousness that improvisers have long claimed to be central to their
work. In short, improvisation possesses rich unitive and
transformational qualities that can be harnessed in new musical and
educational models that reflect the creative needs and potential of our
times.

In this inclusive spirit, the International Society for Improvised
Music is happy to announce its first inaugural conference and invite
proposals for performances, workshops, and papers from individuals
involved in all kinds of improvised music. Submissions are welcome
from artists/educators working in tradition-specific realms—e.g. Jazz,
traditional Hindustani, European baroque, Arabic maqam—as well as in
trans-stylistic approaches. Given the dearth of trans-stylistic
approaches to improvisation pedagogy, proposals are welcome for
hands-on workshops that present strategies in this regard.

Deadline for submissions: August 15, 2006
Response from ISIM: September 15, 2006

Prospective presenters must be ISIM members for their proposals to be
considered. To download a proposal form online and to join ISIM visit
www.isimprov.org. To request a proposal form or for more information
contact Teri Adams, ISIM Conference Administrator, teri@isimprov.org 734-277-2690