I've posed this question to a few colleagues, but I'd be curious to hear from the loyal readership:
Is there a difference between improvised music and aleatory music?
One of my colleagues suggested that aleatory applies moreso to contemporary, post-tonal music and improvisation applies to everything else. It seems to me that improvisation might have more of a performer/performance-centered connotation whereas aleatory seems to have a composer/composition-centered connotation. Another way to put that might be that the creative impulse resides mainly with the performer in the former and mainly with the composer in the latter.
What about pieces that are composed using chance methods, the results of which are then fixed in the score? It seems to me that these are different from a piece where, say, the performers are given a deck of cards to shuffle and play from.
Thoughts? Am I just splitting hairs?
Is there a difference between improvised music and aleatory music?
One of my colleagues suggested that aleatory applies moreso to contemporary, post-tonal music and improvisation applies to everything else. It seems to me that improvisation might have more of a performer/performance-centered connotation whereas aleatory seems to have a composer/composition-centered connotation. Another way to put that might be that the creative impulse resides mainly with the performer in the former and mainly with the composer in the latter.
What about pieces that are composed using chance methods, the results of which are then fixed in the score? It seems to me that these are different from a piece where, say, the performers are given a deck of cards to shuffle and play from.
Thoughts? Am I just splitting hairs?