Improvised Music
I became interested in Improvised Music in late 1990’s, when I participated in series of workshops Classical Musicians play Jazz, led by well-known Serbian jazz bassist Vojin Draskoci. Since then, I am exploring variety of possibilities/ensemble settings/collaborative settings in which guitar might find its place in improvised pieces. I also started exploring ways of preparing guitar, and offering variety of sounds through extended techniques.
Recently I am also interested in incorporating other elements into improvised pieces, such as visual elements, object improvisation, movement, etc.
I am a member of ISIM (International Society of Improvised Musicians) and collaborate with many improvisers/artists. Some of them are Szilard Mezei (Serbia/Hungary), Diane Willow, (Improvised Ecosystems project), Scott Currie (US), Michelle Kinney (US),Shahriar Jamshidi, Alex Lubet (US), Phil Fried (US), Manja Ristic (Serbia), and many more!
ImprovIsAn’Do Ensemble: Performance of the improvised piece based on Turkish traditional song “Tini Mini Hanim” (Scott Currie, saxophone; Ben Klein, tuba; Maja Radovanlija-classical guitar)
Part of Freely improvised piece “47’” (Michelle Kinney, cello; Scott Currie, saxophone; Phil Fried, bass; Ben Klein, tuba; Maja Radovanlija, prepared guitar)
“Looseweavemuslin” (J.Crane) by Horse Aquarium (Joey Crane, cello; Andrew Bergman, double bass; Adam Zahller, bass recorder, trumpet, bowl; Maja Radovanlija, classical guitar)
Semi-improvised Nostalgic study (M.Radovanlija) is the first of three pieces/studies which explores the idea of improvised piece with elements of Balkan traditional music, such as the meter, thematic material, tuning that emphasize characteristic scale patterns, etc. It is premiered in February 2012, in Minneapolis.
“Kenko’s Departure -2005” (Maja Radovanlija); performed by Horse Aquarium (Adam Zahller, voice; Joey Crane, cello; Andrew Bergman, bass; Maja Radovanlija, guitar)
Download score for this piece here.
from improv. workshop for college guitar students:
African piece; improvised study/piece for beginners improvisers. Performed by Guitar Ensemble, University of Minnesota (Wendy Freund, Drew Kellum, Dustin Seiltz, Henry Mikkonen)
Download Improvised music for guitarists hand out here: Improvised_Music_Workshop.