Rules and rules of the game. Improvisation practices in the field of tension between technical expertise and openness to preconditions

Contributors

Program

In music education, "free" forms of improvisation were developed after 1960, which are based on rules but do not originate from historically developed styles. The sound material is judged according to the extent to which rules are creatively applied within a musical interaction. This forms the background against which improvisation is legitimized as educationally relevant. In historical textbooks, however, "free" improvisation hardly plays a role. Improvisation required sound knowledge, but the question of its educational relevance was not asked. The lecture is dedicated to the question of the extent to which an inclusive concept of improvisation is possible in view of these differences.

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Lessing is Professor of Music Education with a focus on instrumental and vocal pedagogy at the College of Music in Freiburg. His research focuses on the social dimensions of instrumental teaching and learning as well as the history of instrumental pedagogy from the perspective of learning theory and systematics.

Dr. Christine Löbbert holds a professorship in the Department of Instrumental and Vocal Pedagogy at the College of Music Freiburg. She researches school cultures and inclusion as well as music-related memory practices.

The lecture is part of the FZM lecture series "Improvising: Spontaneous Creativity in Art and Everyday Life".

In the summer semester 2026, the Freiburg Research and Teaching Center(FZM) is organizing a lecture series on the topic of improvisation from various specialist perspectives and facets. In addition to ten lectures by members of the FZM and guests, which will take place on Wednesdays in the lecture hall of the University's Musicology Department, events with improvisational-musical performances or cross-genre performances are planned on five Monday evenings at the College of Music, two of which are part of the FZM event series "musik + wissen".

Here you can find the brochure (pdf) (this file is not barrier-free) for the public lecture series with all individual dates.

The Freiburg Research and Teaching Center (FZM) is a joint institution of the College of Music and the University campus Freiburg with the aim of mutual networking in music-related research and teaching.