In the world of improvisation!

28.2.2025 0 Like 0 kommenttia Karoliina Pirkkanen

The METRIC (Modernizing European Higher Music Education through Improvisation) Network held its annual intensive program in Helsinki this February. The intensive program gathered together students and teachers from several European conservatoires. It was a week full of workshops, lectures and concerts. Pihla Perämäki, folk music student, took part in the intensive programme!

The METRIC (Modernizing European Higher Music Education through Improvisation) Network held its annual intensive program in Helsinki this February. The intensive program gathered together students and teachers from several European conservatoires. It was a week full of workshops, lectures and concerts. Pihla Perämäki, folk music student, took part in the intensive programme!

I improvise a lot in my daily life. I’m a violinist who studies at the Folk Music Department of Sibelius Academy. Improvisation is an integral part of our folk music curriculum. I’m also part of the improv trio Kotve, where I improvise with another violinist and a five-string cellist. In my master’s studies I’ve taken part in the Contemporary Free Improvisation course, taught by Veli Kujala and Libero Mureddu. It’s given me a new perspective in improvisation. Improvising with people from different genres and backgrounds has really opened my ears.

At METRIC we had a chance to take workshops from brilliant teachers from all over Europe. During the week I learned about so many styles of improvisation: tonal, atonal, improvising from graphic scores, creating different forms in improvisation, improvising with electronics, silent movie improvisation, and so much more. But the most important part of the week was the community. The energy when improvisers from all over Europe gathered together for a week to play together was really inspiring.

Individuality and collectivity

We were divided into groups at the start of the week. Our group of five students started the week with Diego Kohn, who taught about individuality and collectivity in improvisation. I think those themes carried through the whole week. When you improvise in a group, everyone brings their own individual background and style into the music. We improvise in a collective way: music wouldn’t exist without each of our decisions. Even if I decide not to play, I’m still an important part of the piece: my decision not to play allows others to bring up their ideas. I think the skill to listen and know what the music needs is one of the most important skills in improvisation. Sometimes when I listen to what others are playing and it sounds good without me, the best decision to make is not to play and wait for the moment when music needs something new again. Silence is a part of the piece and makes it more transparent, which is much needed, especially when you improvise in a larger group.

The concerts and playing with new people

The concerts we had every night taught me a lot. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we could sign up to play with anyone we wanted in that night’s concert. Everyone was so excited to share their music, and you could really hear that in their playing. It felt impossible to think that most of us hadn’t even met each other the week before. When you get on stage with people you’ve never played with before, you really need to concentrate on listening to what kind of musical language others are speaking.
When I improvise with friends who I’ve played together with for years, we start to form our own musical language. It’s easy to know what the other musicians are going to do next, and sometimes it feels like we’re reading each other’s minds. But it’s also great to improvise with new people. During the METRIC week I got so many new inputs and ideas! I heard somebody play a gesture I wanted to imitate and suddenly I was playing in a new way.
The METRIC week opened up my ears in a new way. I met new friends, colleagues, and great teachers. Sometimes during the week, I almost forgot that I was in Finland! METRIC created a beautiful bubble for all of us to experiment on and learn new things about improvisation, and I’m going to remember this week for a long time.
What’s next? I definitely have some new ideas about improvisation that I’m going to explore, for example in my master’s concert that’s coming up in November this year. You might hear some free folk improvisation on stage, so say tuned!

Our group performing at the final concert of METRIC. Photo by Diego Kohn