The aim of this study day is to test and develop the conclusions of two programmatic articles by Clément Canonne and Martin Guerpin. These articles proposed an application/adaptation (and the necessary adjustments) of genetic criticism (also known as textual genetics) to musical improvisation. The approach is based on a hypothesis that challenges the idea that improvisation is a spontaneous, purely singular creation, without past or future: some improvisers, when improvising several times on the same piece, or in the same improvisational situation, reject or reuse ideas from previous performances. Performance after performance, an “improvisational project” develops, which can itself evolve according to new ideas that arise during the process.

The presentations at this study day will be based on these programmatic articles and will allow them to be compared and discussed on the basis of new case studies or questions. Four domains will be considered: the study of the evolution of an improvisational project over a medium-term period (e.g., a concert tour) or a long-term period (e.g., a creative period in a musician’s career); a genetic approach to the collective dimension of improvised creation; the “positional” nature of studying the process (how can consciously studying this process based on one’s own practice yield different results from external observation based on historical sources or an ethnographic approach?); the development of a comparative perspective, through the application of this approach to improvisational practices derived from classical or traditional music.