IMPROVe is a workshop method for listening to and working with everyday sounds.
It involves different modes of listening which ranges from pure listening to one’s surroundings to collecting of sound objects to improvisation with the collected sounds.
The essence is to explore different modes of listening to our reality and to be more aware of all the sounds that surrounds us in our daily life. Also to discuss and explore geographies and musical structures through simple musical improvisation with sounds.
An IMPROVe workshop starts with a sound walk in the city or the site that is explored. After that sound objects from the site are collected with recording devices. The sound objects are then gathered and listened to in the workshop group where also a discussion about the city or site that has been explored takes place. The disussion can range from a very concrete discussion about the specific sounds to a discussion about city planning in the area. The last step is to use the sounds in a musical improvisation between the workshop group members and the audience. By going through these steps the workshop participants have been exploring different modes of listening – from environmental to musical.
IMPROVe is also a simple sound loop instrument used in the workshops for playing with sounds using computers and interaction devices such as gamepads and “wiimotes“.
IMPROVe workshops have been done in many contexts and locations. For example with school classes in the region around Gothenburg.
A workshop can take from 2 hours up to 2 days depending on context and interest. It can be organized from a group of a few people up to a school class of 30 people. The workshop can be done for all ages and no previous experience of working with music or sound is needed. Workshops have been carried out with 10 year olds up to 70 years old. Please contact me for workshop requests.
Looking for the old IMPROVe website? You find it here: www.riwid.net/improve/archive
