GRIM

The Group for Research in Improvised Music (GRIM) is dedicated to the exploration of improvised music through a combination of scholarly and artistic innovation. It aims to:

• blur the line between performance and academic research in improvised music, underlining collaboration between the performing subject and scholarly exploration
• demystify the art of musical improvisation through pragmatic and philosophical ideas and models
• research the widest variety of musical styles in pursuit of an understanding of the improvisational elements in music
• become a research centre and knowledge base for improvised music with an international scope.

Membership of GRIM is open to past or current University of Leeds PhD students who research aspects of improvisation, and to staff members of the University of Leeds who are improvisers, supervise PhD projects involving improvisation, have an interest in technological or compositional interactions with improvisers, or have a significant research interest in improvisation.

Outcomes:

Four members of GRIM (Fadnes, de Bezenac, Burland and Windsor) are currently working on a proposal for the AHRC Beyond Texts programme with the intention of developing and applying appropriate methods for documenting and analysing free improvisational practice. de Bezenac and Windsor are currently collaborating on a journal article to be submitted to Musicae Scientiae which draws on improvisational practice in its exploration of ecological approaches to music-making.

Practice-based outcomes nurtured by the group include a substantial compositional/improvisational collaboration between Mic Spencer and Christophe de Bezenac:

The Lynx Arc (30-minute ensemble and solo saxophone focussing on collaborative processes and improvisation) by Christophe de Bezenac and Michael Spencer, performed April 2006, CCCH, School of Music, University of Leeds

Members:

• Christophe de Bezenac
• Matthew Bourne
• Karen Burland
• Petter Frost Fadnes
• Sue Miller
• Mic Spencer
• Ewan Stefani
• Luke Windsor