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Sven Bjerstedt

Lund University, Malmö Theatre Academy, Faculty Member

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Senior lecturer in Music at Malmö Theatre Academy, Lund University;
PhD and Reader (Docent) in Music Education Research at Malmö Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts, Lund University.

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Noel B. Salazar

KU Leuven

Gareth Dylan D Smith

Boston University

University of Amsterdam

University of Southern California

Open University of Cyprus

Alessandro Bertinetto

Università degli Studi di Torino

University of Michigan

University of Aberdeen

Macquarie University

Shoreline Community College

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Books by Sven Bjerstedt

Storytelling in Jazz and Musicality in Theatre: Through the Mirror

Routledge, 2021

In order to understand literature and fine arts better, we often turn to music, speaking of the ‘... more In order to understand literature and fine arts better, we often turn to music, speaking of the ‘tone’ in a book and of the ‘rhythm’ in a painting. In attempts to understand music better, we turn instead to the narrative arts, speaking of the ‘story’ of a musical piece. This book focuses on two examples of such conceptual mirror reflexivity: narrativity in jazz music and musicality in spoken theatre. The book will be of interest not only to scholars of music and theatre, but also to those who work in the fields of aesthetics, intermedial studies, cognitive linguistics, arts theory, communication theory, and cultural studies.

Skådespelarens musikalitet (Möklinta: Gidlunds; February 2017)

This investigation takes its point of departure in the prominent use of the term ’musicality’ as ... more This investigation takes its point of departure in the prominent use of the term ’musicality’ as a prestige word in theatre discourse where, obviously, not exactly the same reference and meaning is ascribed to the concept as in contexts of music. There seems to be very little previous research in this area, if any. The research question is formulated thus: What do theatre practicians mean when they speak of an actor acting with musicality?
The investigation is divided into three studies. The first study focuses on different perspectives on musicality in the field of music, based on explorative literature studies. The second study focuses on a sample of citations from literature on theatre where musicality and related concepts seem to be put forward in interesting and relevant ways in connection with spoken theatre. The third study is based on a series of explorative interviews with experienced Swedish actors and directors.
The results of the first study indicate that (i) references to art forms other than music are very rare among musicologists discussing the concept of musicality; and (ii) there are reasons to distinguish between different perspectives on musicality, for instance, between an absolute, a relativistic and a relational view.
The second study is divided in two sections, one chronological and one systematical. The historical overview presents and discusses three ideals or paradigms of theatre: the rhetorical, the realistic and the modernistic ideal. The systematic overview is structured in accordance with the different practitioners’ perspectives that are put forward: views related to ”musical dramaturgy” as well as the views of directors, educators and actors. Educational and professional theatre discourses through history as well as today are shown to include a great variety of perspectives on music and musicality.
A detailed analysis of the interviews in the third study indicates that the concept of musicality as understood and used by the interviewees can be interpreted as a combination of abilities in the actor. It is suggested that these abilities may be divided in three groups, all of which constitute necessary conditions for the actor’s musicality: acting and being ”here and now” with all senses (”presence”); apprehending, analysing and building structures (”structure”); and acting and being free, relaxed, active and open (”flow”).
In conclusion, the results of the study seem to indicate that the term ’musicality’ is often applied in the field of theatre in a way that could be understood as metaphorical. Based on these results, it would seem potentially fruitful to regard ’musicality’ in theatre discourse as a socially constructed concept with important artistic, educational as well as sociological implications.

Storytelling in Jazz Improvisation: Implications of a Rich Intermedial Metaphor

The phenomenon of intermedial conceptual loans is central to our understanding of the time-based ... more The phenomenon of intermedial conceptual loans is central to our understanding of the time-based arts. This thesis focuses on the usage of the term storytelling with regard to jazz improvisation. The aim of the investigation is to clarify how this concept is used by Swedish jazz practitioners.

The framework of the study includes theories of narrativity and of metaphor as well as educational and sociological perspectives. The study aims at an exploration of a multivariety of perspectives. Accordingly, the analysis of the empirical study – which consists of qualitative interviews with fifteen jazz musicians – as well as of relevant previous writings is carried out by means of a broad inclusionist hermeneutic approach. Throughout the multitude of issues thus explored, qualities of openness, wholeness, and listening stand out as crucial to jazz improvisation and to musicians' understanding of it as 'storytelling'. The quality of temporality permeates any improvisational activity; the results of the study are structured in accordance with this perspective.

The study points to several implications of the usage of the concept storytelling regarding jazz improvisation. From a theoretical point of view, the results exemplify the bidirectional function and relevance of rich intermedial metaphoricity on a conceptual level. Artistic implications of the usage of 'storytelling' in jazz contexts include the dynamics between structural and communicative aspects of the music, as well as the dynamics of different kinds of authenticity: on one hand, authenticity regarding the tradition in which the improviser is situated; on the other, authenticity regarding the improviser's own individuality. With regard to educational issues, the multivariety of required artistic skills in the improviser arguably calls for a rich learning ecology framework including collective, experiential, and exploratory approaches to improvisation. From a sociological point of view, the storytelling metaphor is shown to function as a kind of exclusionist counterdiscourse employed by an older generation of musicians against a younger one, by an autodidactic musical culture against an educationalist one, or by advocates of authenticity against technical proficiency.
In conclusion, the concept storytelling as a rich intermedial metaphor is shown to be significant to the practice and reflection of performing artists through its ability to mediate holistic views of what is considered to be of crucial importance in artistic practice, analysis, and education.

Papers by Sven Bjerstedt

1 CHAPTER 9 Musical marginalization processes: Problematizing the marginalization concept through an example from early 20th century American popular culture

[A]ll African-American music making is driven by and permeated with the memory of things from the... more [A]ll African-American music making is driven by and permeated with the memory of things from the cultural past. (Floyd, 1995, p. 10) As a supradiscursive phenomenon interwoven with the discourses that socially constitute it, black music resonates across the sites and sounds of public culture, from black to white and back again. (Radano, 2003, p. 12) An analytical approach influenced by cultural studies may help us see how meanings are generated and spread through the practices and structures in a given culture. For instance, by relating musical sound to categories such as class, ethnicity, body, and sexuality, these kinds of studies have provided a broader and deeper picture of meaning production in jazz music (Townsend, 2000; Ake, 2002). Marginalization as a cultural phenomenon and as an analytical concept is closely related to and highly dependent on meaning production. Clearly, marginalization both as a concept and as a phenomenon is neither monolithic, stable, nor unambiguous. Several examples from popular music show how, even though music forms may start out being identified – and actively identifying themselves – as marginalized, they often quite soon display a remarkable change of identity. The route from underground to mainstream has been travelled by blues, rock, and hip SVEN BJERSTEDT 2 hop artists, as well as many others. The transition enables you to prosper by being “down and out”. The relations of identity and authenticity to marginalization will often prove quite para-doxical in the commercialized world of popular music.

Strong Experiences with Music: Music is Much More than Just Music: A Review Essay

International Journal of Education and the Arts, 2013

The objects of Alf Gabrielsson's study Strong experiences with music are experiences and insi... more The objects of Alf Gabrielsson's study Strong experiences with music are experiences and insights that exceed by far what is normally included in music experiences. To a great extent, the many (over 500) experiences related in this book are so intense that a reader often cannot avoid comparing them to her or his own experiences with music. The multi-variety of character in music experiences is viewed in relation to their dependence on a large number of both musical, personal, and situational variables. With its rare combination of the richness of accounts of extraordinary experiences, the sympathetic understanding and interpretation that characterizes the reflective commentary, and its thoughtful and cautious scientific analysis, this book provides a most powerful illustration of the profundity of the question what music may do to us. (Less)

Du fyller dagen med sång

En kompositionspedagogisk metodik för skådespelarstudenter

Komposition som projekt i heterogena studentgrupper: Ett exempel från skådespelarutbildningen

En vanligt forekommande utmaning i hogre utbildning ar oversiktskurser med snava tidsramar och he... more En vanligt forekommande utmaning i hogre utbildning ar oversiktskurser med snava tidsramar och heterogena studentgrupper. Artikeln vill peka pa den positiva potentialen i sadana omstandigheter genom att presentera ett konkret exempel pa ett arbetssatt som har visat sig framgangsrikt inom skadespelarutbildningens musikundervisning: tonsattningsuppgifter som konceptualiseras individuellt och realiseras gemensamt. I en intervjustudie visas detta arbetssatt ha positiv paverkan pa studenternas individuella utveckling i flera avseenden. Bland de laranderesultat som forefaller sarskilt intressanta och potentiellt overforbara till atskilliga amnesomraden finns sjalvfortroende, formaga att kommunicera samt formaga att gemensamt hantera en kreativ process.

Seaberg – jazzpionjär med gotländska rötter

Short biography of the Swedish American clarinetist Artie Seaberg (1904–1957) who played with the... more

Kjellberg, Erik: "Jan Johansson – tiden och musiken

Hold each other tightly" – Implications of a rich intermedial metaphor

Musicality in spoken theatre – fiction, metaphor, dispositif

The purpose of this article is to address issues of artistic knowledge and artistic learning by w... more The purpose of this article is to address issues of artistic knowledge and artistic learning by way of studying, through a concrete exemplification, the meanings and implications of linguistic metaphor in artistic and educational conceptualizations of spoken theatre. Professional artists and pedagogues in this field habitually use the concept of musicality to point to key qualities in actors’ artistic work and learning processes. This article aims at a presentation, problematization and discussion of the findings of a recent extensive investigation into this usage. In order to attain this, the article is structured in six sections: an introductory presentation of (i) metaphorical language in learning processes and of (ii) the concept of musicality in the field of theatre; (iii) an overview of historical relations between music and theatre; (iv) a literature review of previous musicality research of relevance to the present topic; (v) a summary of a recent interview investigation int...

Skinner och Atlantican

A new educational situation" – perspectives on jazz musical learning in the Swedish jazz journal OrkesterJournalen 1980–2010

This article aims to mirror a time of radical change in Swedish jazz education through perspectiv... more This article aims to mirror a time of radical change in Swedish jazz education through perspectives formulated in the jazz journal Orkesterjournalen. During the 1980s, jazz musicians are still typically viewed as self-taught; you learn how to play jazz through listening and through playing together in contexts where fellow musicians function as informal “teachers”. The growing formal jazz education is viewed with some scepticism. The music’s emotional values are emphasized rather than the intellectual ones, and warnings are issued regarding homogenization and “broiler mentality”.During the 1990s, self-regulated, curiosity-driven jazz learning is still in focus. However, there are now also new opportunities to profit from a long formal jazz education as well as an increasing amount of experiences that enable comparisons between Swedish and American jazz education. Based on such experiences, a richer discussion can be conducted about, among other things, the consequences of formal jaz...

Educational implications of rich intermedial metaphor: The example of 'storytelling' in jazz improvisation

Boatsmen in Blekinge

A brief historical overview of the relocation of more than 3,000 Finnish boatsmen with families t... more

It is all process

This chapter focuses on lessons from the arts to qualitative research, especially, what reflectio... more This chapter focuses on lessons from the arts to qualitative research, especially, what reflection on jazz improvisation may bring to qualitative research. One lesson concerns the dynamics of different kinds of authenticity. Just as jazz improvisation can be authentic in more than one way, so can research. Another lesson concerns the dynamics of observation and interpretation. Just as jazz improvisation can be viewed both as a response to external impulses and as a manifestation of internal gestures, so can research. A third lesson concerns identity. Just as the notion of changing narrative identity can be seen as key to jazz improvisation, so may an expanded notion of prolonged engagement emerge as highly relevant to qualitative research processes. A fourth lesson concerns the dynamics of improvisation and composition. Just as jazz can be seen as process rather than product, so may research. (Less)

Fakiren och Titanen [Axel Wallengren och August Strindberg]

Möte med Emil Kléens okände son

Att agera musikaliskt: Musikalitet som norm och utbildningsmål i västerländsk talteater [Master thesis]

Since naught so stockish, hard, and full of rage, Ty intet är så stelt, så tungt, så stormigt, Bu... more Since naught so stockish, hard, and full of rage, Ty intet är så stelt, så tungt, så stormigt, But music for the time doth change his nature,-att ej musik ibland förbytt dess väsen. The man that hath no music in himself, Den man, som ej inom sig har musik Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, och icke rörs av sköna toners endräkt, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils, är böjd för svek, bedrägeri och rov; The motions of his spirit are dull as night, hans andes verksamhet är stum som natten, And his affections dark as Erebus: och hans begär är svarta som en avgrund; Let no such man be trusted: tro ingen sådan man!

Storytelling in Jazz and Musicality in Theatre: Through the Mirror

Routledge, 2021

In order to understand literature and fine arts better, we often turn to music, speaking of the ‘... more In order to understand literature and fine arts better, we often turn to music, speaking of the ‘tone’ in a book and of the ‘rhythm’ in a painting. In attempts to understand music better, we turn instead to the narrative arts, speaking of the ‘story’ of a musical piece. This book focuses on two examples of such conceptual mirror reflexivity: narrativity in jazz music and musicality in spoken theatre. The book will be of interest not only to scholars of music and theatre, but also to those who work in the fields of aesthetics, intermedial studies, cognitive linguistics, arts theory, communication theory, and cultural studies.

Skådespelarens musikalitet (Möklinta: Gidlunds; February 2017)

This investigation takes its point of departure in the prominent use of the term ’musicality’ as ... more This investigation takes its point of departure in the prominent use of the term ’musicality’ as a prestige word in theatre discourse where, obviously, not exactly the same reference and meaning is ascribed to the concept as in contexts of music. There seems to be very little previous research in this area, if any. The research question is formulated thus: What do theatre practicians mean when they speak of an actor acting with musicality?
The investigation is divided into three studies. The first study focuses on different perspectives on musicality in the field of music, based on explorative literature studies. The second study focuses on a sample of citations from literature on theatre where musicality and related concepts seem to be put forward in interesting and relevant ways in connection with spoken theatre. The third study is based on a series of explorative interviews with experienced Swedish actors and directors.
The results of the first study indicate that (i) references to art forms other than music are very rare among musicologists discussing the concept of musicality; and (ii) there are reasons to distinguish between different perspectives on musicality, for instance, between an absolute, a relativistic and a relational view.
The second study is divided in two sections, one chronological and one systematical. The historical overview presents and discusses three ideals or paradigms of theatre: the rhetorical, the realistic and the modernistic ideal. The systematic overview is structured in accordance with the different practitioners’ perspectives that are put forward: views related to ”musical dramaturgy” as well as the views of directors, educators and actors. Educational and professional theatre discourses through history as well as today are shown to include a great variety of perspectives on music and musicality.
A detailed analysis of the interviews in the third study indicates that the concept of musicality as understood and used by the interviewees can be interpreted as a combination of abilities in the actor. It is suggested that these abilities may be divided in three groups, all of which constitute necessary conditions for the actor’s musicality: acting and being ”here and now” with all senses (”presence”); apprehending, analysing and building structures (”structure”); and acting and being free, relaxed, active and open (”flow”).
In conclusion, the results of the study seem to indicate that the term ’musicality’ is often applied in the field of theatre in a way that could be understood as metaphorical. Based on these results, it would seem potentially fruitful to regard ’musicality’ in theatre discourse as a socially constructed concept with important artistic, educational as well as sociological implications.

Storytelling in Jazz Improvisation: Implications of a Rich Intermedial Metaphor

The phenomenon of intermedial conceptual loans is central to our understanding of the time-based ... more The phenomenon of intermedial conceptual loans is central to our understanding of the time-based arts. This thesis focuses on the usage of the term storytelling with regard to jazz improvisation. The aim of the investigation is to clarify how this concept is used by Swedish jazz practitioners.

The framework of the study includes theories of narrativity and of metaphor as well as educational and sociological perspectives. The study aims at an exploration of a multivariety of perspectives. Accordingly, the analysis of the empirical study – which consists of qualitative interviews with fifteen jazz musicians – as well as of relevant previous writings is carried out by means of a broad inclusionist hermeneutic approach. Throughout the multitude of issues thus explored, qualities of openness, wholeness, and listening stand out as crucial to jazz improvisation and to musicians' understanding of it as 'storytelling'. The quality of temporality permeates any improvisational activity; the results of the study are structured in accordance with this perspective.

The study points to several implications of the usage of the concept storytelling regarding jazz improvisation. From a theoretical point of view, the results exemplify the bidirectional function and relevance of rich intermedial metaphoricity on a conceptual level. Artistic implications of the usage of 'storytelling' in jazz contexts include the dynamics between structural and communicative aspects of the music, as well as the dynamics of different kinds of authenticity: on one hand, authenticity regarding the tradition in which the improviser is situated; on the other, authenticity regarding the improviser's own individuality. With regard to educational issues, the multivariety of required artistic skills in the improviser arguably calls for a rich learning ecology framework including collective, experiential, and exploratory approaches to improvisation. From a sociological point of view, the storytelling metaphor is shown to function as a kind of exclusionist counterdiscourse employed by an older generation of musicians against a younger one, by an autodidactic musical culture against an educationalist one, or by advocates of authenticity against technical proficiency.
In conclusion, the concept storytelling as a rich intermedial metaphor is shown to be significant to the practice and reflection of performing artists through its ability to mediate holistic views of what is considered to be of crucial importance in artistic practice, analysis, and education.

1 CHAPTER 9 Musical marginalization processes: Problematizing the marginalization concept through an example from early 20th century American popular culture

[A]ll African-American music making is driven by and permeated with the memory of things from the... more [A]ll African-American music making is driven by and permeated with the memory of things from the cultural past. (Floyd, 1995, p. 10) As a supradiscursive phenomenon interwoven with the discourses that socially constitute it, black music resonates across the sites and sounds of public culture, from black to white and back again. (Radano, 2003, p. 12) An analytical approach influenced by cultural studies may help us see how meanings are generated and spread through the practices and structures in a given culture. For instance, by relating musical sound to categories such as class, ethnicity, body, and sexuality, these kinds of studies have provided a broader and deeper picture of meaning production in jazz music (Townsend, 2000; Ake, 2002). Marginalization as a cultural phenomenon and as an analytical concept is closely related to and highly dependent on meaning production. Clearly, marginalization both as a concept and as a phenomenon is neither monolithic, stable, nor unambiguous. Several examples from popular music show how, even though music forms may start out being identified – and actively identifying themselves – as marginalized, they often quite soon display a remarkable change of identity. The route from underground to mainstream has been travelled by blues, rock, and hip SVEN BJERSTEDT 2 hop artists, as well as many others. The transition enables you to prosper by being “down and out”. The relations of identity and authenticity to marginalization will often prove quite para-doxical in the commercialized world of popular music.

Strong Experiences with Music: Music is Much More than Just Music: A Review Essay

International Journal of Education and the Arts, 2013

The objects of Alf Gabrielsson's study Strong experiences with music are experiences and insi... more The objects of Alf Gabrielsson's study Strong experiences with music are experiences and insights that exceed by far what is normally included in music experiences. To a great extent, the many (over 500) experiences related in this book are so intense that a reader often cannot avoid comparing them to her or his own experiences with music. The multi-variety of character in music experiences is viewed in relation to their dependence on a large number of both musical, personal, and situational variables. With its rare combination of the richness of accounts of extraordinary experiences, the sympathetic understanding and interpretation that characterizes the reflective commentary, and its thoughtful and cautious scientific analysis, this book provides a most powerful illustration of the profundity of the question what music may do to us. (Less)

Du fyller dagen med sång

En kompositionspedagogisk metodik för skådespelarstudenter

Komposition som projekt i heterogena studentgrupper: Ett exempel från skådespelarutbildningen

En vanligt forekommande utmaning i hogre utbildning ar oversiktskurser med snava tidsramar och he... more En vanligt forekommande utmaning i hogre utbildning ar oversiktskurser med snava tidsramar och heterogena studentgrupper. Artikeln vill peka pa den positiva potentialen i sadana omstandigheter genom att presentera ett konkret exempel pa ett arbetssatt som har visat sig framgangsrikt inom skadespelarutbildningens musikundervisning: tonsattningsuppgifter som konceptualiseras individuellt och realiseras gemensamt. I en intervjustudie visas detta arbetssatt ha positiv paverkan pa studenternas individuella utveckling i flera avseenden. Bland de laranderesultat som forefaller sarskilt intressanta och potentiellt overforbara till atskilliga amnesomraden finns sjalvfortroende, formaga att kommunicera samt formaga att gemensamt hantera en kreativ process.

Seaberg – jazzpionjär med gotländska rötter

Short biography of the Swedish American clarinetist Artie Seaberg (1904–1957) who played with the... more

Kjellberg, Erik: "Jan Johansson – tiden och musiken

Hold each other tightly" – Implications of a rich intermedial metaphor

Musicality in spoken theatre – fiction, metaphor, dispositif

The purpose of this article is to address issues of artistic knowledge and artistic learning by w... more The purpose of this article is to address issues of artistic knowledge and artistic learning by way of studying, through a concrete exemplification, the meanings and implications of linguistic metaphor in artistic and educational conceptualizations of spoken theatre. Professional artists and pedagogues in this field habitually use the concept of musicality to point to key qualities in actors’ artistic work and learning processes. This article aims at a presentation, problematization and discussion of the findings of a recent extensive investigation into this usage. In order to attain this, the article is structured in six sections: an introductory presentation of (i) metaphorical language in learning processes and of (ii) the concept of musicality in the field of theatre; (iii) an overview of historical relations between music and theatre; (iv) a literature review of previous musicality research of relevance to the present topic; (v) a summary of a recent interview investigation int...

Skinner och Atlantican

A new educational situation" – perspectives on jazz musical learning in the Swedish jazz journal OrkesterJournalen 1980–2010

This article aims to mirror a time of radical change in Swedish jazz education through perspectiv... more This article aims to mirror a time of radical change in Swedish jazz education through perspectives formulated in the jazz journal Orkesterjournalen. During the 1980s, jazz musicians are still typically viewed as self-taught; you learn how to play jazz through listening and through playing together in contexts where fellow musicians function as informal “teachers”. The growing formal jazz education is viewed with some scepticism. The music’s emotional values are emphasized rather than the intellectual ones, and warnings are issued regarding homogenization and “broiler mentality”.During the 1990s, self-regulated, curiosity-driven jazz learning is still in focus. However, there are now also new opportunities to profit from a long formal jazz education as well as an increasing amount of experiences that enable comparisons between Swedish and American jazz education. Based on such experiences, a richer discussion can be conducted about, among other things, the consequences of formal jaz...

Educational implications of rich intermedial metaphor: The example of 'storytelling' in jazz improvisation

Boatsmen in Blekinge

A brief historical overview of the relocation of more than 3,000 Finnish boatsmen with families t... more

It is all process

This chapter focuses on lessons from the arts to qualitative research, especially, what reflectio... more This chapter focuses on lessons from the arts to qualitative research, especially, what reflection on jazz improvisation may bring to qualitative research. One lesson concerns the dynamics of different kinds of authenticity. Just as jazz improvisation can be authentic in more than one way, so can research. Another lesson concerns the dynamics of observation and interpretation. Just as jazz improvisation can be viewed both as a response to external impulses and as a manifestation of internal gestures, so can research. A third lesson concerns identity. Just as the notion of changing narrative identity can be seen as key to jazz improvisation, so may an expanded notion of prolonged engagement emerge as highly relevant to qualitative research processes. A fourth lesson concerns the dynamics of improvisation and composition. Just as jazz can be seen as process rather than product, so may research. (Less)

Fakiren och Titanen [Axel Wallengren och August Strindberg]

Möte med Emil Kléens okände son

Att agera musikaliskt: Musikalitet som norm och utbildningsmål i västerländsk talteater [Master thesis]

Since naught so stockish, hard, and full of rage, Ty intet är så stelt, så tungt, så stormigt, Bu... more Since naught so stockish, hard, and full of rage, Ty intet är så stelt, så tungt, så stormigt, But music for the time doth change his nature,-att ej musik ibland förbytt dess väsen. The man that hath no music in himself, Den man, som ej inom sig har musik Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, och icke rörs av sköna toners endräkt, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils, är böjd för svek, bedrägeri och rov; The motions of his spirit are dull as night, hans andes verksamhet är stum som natten, And his affections dark as Erebus: och hans begär är svarta som en avgrund; Let no such man be trusted: tro ingen sådan man!

Telling stories: Jazz improvisers' usage of the rich intermedial 'storytelling' metaphor

Wallengren – livsnjutare, asket & fakir

About the author Axel Wallengren (1865–91), known as Falstaff, fakir.

Improvisers’ perspectives on music and narrative

The term ‘storytelling’ has a long history of prominence in descriptive and prescriptive talk abo... more The term ‘storytelling’ has a long history of prominence in descriptive and prescriptive talk about jazz improvisation. The main aim of this article is to point out that the ways in which jazz musicians themselves employ the ‘storytelling’ metaphor with reference to jazz improvisation display several important perspectives on perennial and fundamental proble s in the field of usical narrati it and offer er efficient wa s of dealing with these issues. The empirical interview study summarized in this article constitutes an attempt to decipher the full potential of this intermedial conceptual loan, jazz improvisation as storytelling, based on how it is used by a number of highly accomplished Swedish jazz musicians. ro a theoretical oint of iew, there are se ere difficulties in ol ed in iewing an music as narrative. The aim of the empirical study is to provide means for understanding jazz musicians’ conceptualizations of their art form; to investigate how they deal with such difficultie...

Lessons from jazz improvisation to qualitative inquiry and reflective practice. In Hannes, K. et al., (Eds.), European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry Proceedings 2017: Quality and reflexivity in qualitative inquiry (pp. 90–94). Leuven: KU Leuven NQRL.

In this presentation I will focus on lessons from the arts to qualitative inquiry, especially, wh... more In this presentation I will focus on lessons from the arts to qualitative inquiry, especially, what reflection on jazz improvisation may bring to qualitative inquiry. First, I will make the general suggestion that qualitative investigations, seen as reflective practices, have much in common with – and probably much to learn from – jazz improvisational practices. The complex processes of hermeneutic understanding include laying bare the researcher’s pre-understanding as well as, in the interpretation of statements, the dynamics between their holistic coherence and the agent’s intentions. Through interview excerpts, the important phenomenon of breaks in the conversational flow will be shown to have great signficance to qualitative inquiry as a reflective practice, pointing to improvisational practices as relevant providers of solutions to the problematic dynamics of understanding, pre- understanding, self-understanding and misunderstanding. Second, I will discuss a number of ’lessons’ that reflection on jazz improvisation may bring to qualitative research. One lesson concerns the dynamics of different kinds of authenticity. ust as jazz improvisation can be authentic in more than one way, so can research. A second lesson concerns the dynamics of observation and interpretation. Just as jazz improvisation can be viewed both as a response to external impulses and as a manifestation of internal gestures, so can research. A third lesson concerns identity. Just as the notion of changing narrative identity can be seen as key to jazz improvisation, so may an expanded notion of prolonged engagement emerge as highly relevant to qualitative research processes.

The playing now: A philosophical investigation of present time in music

by Hanne Rinholm and Sven Bjerstedt

Presentation (Symposium) at NNMPF Conference, Helsinki, Finland

Music, such as the duration of a musical piece or length of a concert, can me measured by metro... more Music, such as the duration of a musical piece or length of a concert, can me measured by metronomes and clocks in objective time (chronos). However, playing an instrument, singing, attending a concert, listening to a record or reading a musical score are musical activities also experienced as subjective time (kairos). Music has an intrinsic temporal dimension of experienced time, often including an intensification of the present moment, coexisting intertwined with its measurable dimensions. This makes music a fascinating object for philosophical exploration.
Musical practice embodies temporal phenomena like pulse, tempo, timing, ad lib, accelerando and fermata. The musical present can be viewed as a moment of semantic fullness, a meaningful moment. Music can carry narrative, which is a related phenomenon, also containing intrinsic temporality. Furthermore, music can be improvised in the present moment. The tonal texture of music is experienced as a context, a coherency with an intrinsic temporality. This symposium is set to investigate how music can be experienced, philosophically speaking, in the present moment. In order to do this, we introduce a number of prominent Western philosophers who have taken an interest in the phenomenon of time by using the phenomenon of music as a lens: Saint Augustine, Husserl, Bakhtin and Ricoeur.
After this introductory presentation, the symposium continues as a dialogue between the perspectives provided by these philosophers.

Storytelling in jazz improvisation: Implications of a rich intermedial metaphor

Presentation at NNMPF Conference, Helsinki, Finland

The phenomenon of intermedial conceptual loans is central to our understanding of the time-based ... more The phenomenon of intermedial conceptual loans is central to our understanding of the time-based arts. This thesis focuses on the usage of the term storytelling with regard to jazz improvisation. The aim of the investigation is to clarify how this concept is used by Swedish jazz practitioners.

The framework of the study includes theories of narrativity and of metaphor as well as educational and sociological perspectives. The study aims at an exploration of a multivariety of perspectives. Accordingly, the analysis of the empirical study – which consists of qualitative interviews with fifteen jazz musicians – as well as of relevant previous writings is carried out by means of a broad inclusionist hermeneutic approach. Throughout the multitude of issues thus explored, qualities of openness, wholeness, and listening stand out as crucial to jazz improvisation and to musicians' understanding of it as 'storytelling'. The quality of temporality permeates any improvisational activity; the results of the study are structured in accordance with this perspective.

The study points to several implications of the usage of the concept storytelling regarding jazz improvisation. From a theoretical point of view, the results exemplify the bidirectional function and relevance of rich intermedial metaphoricity on a conceptual level. Artistic implications of the usage of 'storytelling' in jazz contexts include the dynamics between structural and communicative aspects of the music, as well as the dynamics of different kinds of authenticity: on one hand, authenticity regarding the tradition in which the improviser is situated; on the other, authenticity regarding the improviser's own individuality. With regard to educational issues, the multivariety of required artistic skills in the improviser arguably calls for a rich learning ecology framework including collective, experiential, and exploratory approaches to improvisation. From a sociological point of view, the storytelling metaphor is shown to function as a kind of exclusionist counterdiscourse employed by an older generation of musicians against a younger one, by an autodidactic musical culture against an educationalist one, or by advocates of authenticity against technical proficiency.

In conclusion, the concept storytelling as a rich intermedial metaphor is shown to be significant to the practice and reflection of performing artists through its ability to mediate holistic views of what is considered to be of crucial importance in artistic practice, analysis, and education.

Fields of metaphor and fields of learning: The relevance of 'storytelling' for jazz improvisation students

Presentation at RIME conference, Exeter, UK

Telling stories: Jazz improvisers' usage of the rich intermedial 'storytelling' metaphor

Presentation at LIJEC conference, Leeds, UK

Fields of metaphor and fields of learning: The relevance of 'storytelling' for jazz improvisation students

Presentation at NNMPF Conference, Bergen, Norway, Feb 27, 2013

Storytelling in jazz improvisation: Implications of a rich intermedial metaphor

Presentation at 'Forskning i Fokus' conference, Royal Academy of Music, Stockholm, Sweden

Qualitative inquiry into jazz improvisers' usage of the rich intermedial 'storytelling' metaphor

Presentation at ICQI conference, Urbana-Champaign, IL, May 16, 2012

Educational implications of rich intermedial metaphor: The example of 'storytelling' in jazz improvisation

Presentation at NNMPF conference, Reykjavik, Iceland, Feb 23, 2012

Metaphor as a tool in music education: The example of 'storytelling' in jazz improvisation

Frisk, H., & Östersjö, S. (Eds.) (2013). (re)thinking improvisation: Artistic explorations and conceptual writing (pp. 89-91). Malmö: Lund University, Malmö Academy of Music., 2013

Metaphor as a tool in music education: The example of 'storytelling' in jazz improvisation

Poster presentation at RIME conference, Exeter, UK, Apr 2011

Mysteriet Einar Swan

by Sven Bjerstedt and Anna Vilén

Radio documentary, Swedish national radio P2, 6 July 2014, 18 January 2015

Vem var Einar Swan?

Television documentary, Finnish national television (FST5), 29 December 2008