ICE Program Notes March 2025

March 21, 2025

Our goal with this program is to show several different applications of improvisation, from total free form to soloing over harmonic structure and combinations of both. At many points in the program students will not know what parameters they will have to follow until it is happening in real time. This requires a significant amount of aural skills and critical thinking on the part of the musicians.

Improvisation Wars

The Game Show Improvisation Wars is game of chance where audience members will have the opportunity to choose the parameters the musicians will have to follow within their improvisational passes.

Take Five

Take Five is a classic jazz standard over a 5/4 time signature made popular by Dave Brubeck, and Superstition is a Stevie Wonder pop classic. Both songs have ICE members improvising over very specific structure and working within specific genres.

Polarity

Polarity is a student designed concept where two contrasting ideas are presented, and two groups must play their respective concept and then find a way to combine both simultaneously.

Twinscapes

Students pair up with a twin, but only one of them can play at any given time. They may change players at any time and the music will shift with the randomly changing roster of musicians. The improvisations they create will coincide with images that will be projected to the audience and students in real time. The goal is to give an audio representation of the images using the elements of music.