IIM ~ Intuitive Improvisational Music
IIM - Intuitive Improvisational Music
IIM is a Jam-band approach to playing music. Probably the best known practitioners are The Grateful Dead and like minded musicians. It involves a band being cohesive yet improvising as a band and not just a solo or lead instrument or player...
Those familiar with The Grateful Dead will probably understand IIM well enough, especially musicians. Jerry Garcia was once asked about the bands musical approach and he responded with the likes of... "You know the song, the words, chords and changes... everything else is up for grabs..."
This doesn't equate to a free-form "anything goes" attitude.. There's a cohesion to IIM... One tune where "anything goes" has long been "Darkstar", which has always been a anything goes tune and long a favorite of many fans.
When a band has been playing for years the members know how each other plays.. They can anticipate what someone will do and many nuances such as dynamics... tempos etc become second nature through such anticipation. This is not a playing by rote method, it is quite active and alive. As Jerry also has said.. "I will never play like Bobby or God forbid Phil!.. and I will never tell them what to play."
This is because all members of the band improvise together.. a sort of "The Music Played The Band" experience... The music being formed as they do this involves the intuitive aspect as one person improvising is not the same as the whole band doing it as well. Listening is a key requirement because the music is being created live on stage by all members and the form of any music is thus subject to change. This is not the usual, which many are used to, of improvising a solo over a well established form.
There is improvising within the form and also improvising with the form... While playing as a member and as a band.. there is a form and a cohesive music, yet improvising and especially all members improvising, provides a limit. Some call this The Edge, which is how I term it. The Edge is reached when the possibilities are right on the tip of it's creation and the work, band, can fall apart. This though is where the magic is and the real IIM begins. Listening to the music then being formed, composed, is an outright necessity and being able to play and participate at the same time is the essence of IIM.
This doesn't mean justice isn't being done or a "song" is not being honored... Though it is the music which is honored.. the music being composed right then and there. Digging for what is in a tune is a worthy endeavor and many tunes are subject to growth over years. The Grateful Dead has not only a long history of Jamming, but they have also worked with songs and many songs have grown over the years as they find "what's in them"...
This was part and parcel what The Dead were famous for. Touring every year ( except one ), every Spring, Summer and Autumn, while playing California ( home ) through the Winter. They were known for not playing the same songs every show and not playing them the same way every time. Fans would go to many shows, knowing that each would be different. They were also hoping for the Magic to happen as the band and the IIM approach would sometimes work and sometimes not. The fans were kind in waiting for the Magic and it was often provided.
The music was Grateful Dead music and also many covers. They especially favored Dylan tunes.
I'm interested in how many musicians use this same or any like-minded approach. I've been working with IIM for many decades myself. It can be applied to mo0st any genre or style of music and isn't really something new.. Gypsy bands and music has long been precisely this "jamming" and composition right then and there live, form of playing.
Playing this way does require knowing ones instrument very well and knowing music. Even beginners who play this way soon find that they need to become very good players for the music and process to really work. Listening and playing music ( not just songs known by heart ) is outright required.
I was wondering how many here are or have been in bands where the whole band improvised and not just a solo instrument.. while creating the music right then... I've seen very competent musicians that can't do it ( mostly because of never trying ) and I've found some that can... It's very interesting. I favor and love Progressive Rock and I always bring IIM to the table for my part.
What are some of your experiences?
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Chim_Chim
