Improvisation = fast Composition ?

[Matthias Grob <matthias@grob.org>]

>Jim Palmer wrote:
>"...in college, in search of a definition of improvisation,
>we came up with the term "spontaneous composition...."
>
>
>The classical composer Arnold Schoenberg is credited as saying:
>
>"Compostion is just really slow Improvisation."
>
>when I'm teaching young students approaches to improvisation I turn it
>around and
>say:
>
>"Improvisation is just really fast Composition"

nice, but IS it?

Schoenberg certainly knows better than me, but sometimes things are 
just said because they sound nice...

The Composer takes time to think and plan and correct and elaborate 
(mental).
Improvisation is so massively faster that the player rather 
concentrates on what happens than on what he is going to do 
(intuition)

so I would say its mainly done with different systems in the brain.
the speed difference is rather a consequence of that.

Probably there are terms in between, like improvisers that think 
quickly and composers that write their notes intuitively...
but then again I could question what speed we are talking about:
During an improvisation I can take my time to plan the end of it.
During a composition I can put down a note quickly without thinking...
-- 


          ---> http://Matthias.Grob.org