When people think “improvisation,” if anything comes to mind,
it’s usually jazz music. The truth is that improvisation has
probably always been around in most art media.
A group of Starkville natives headed by Sam Hamburg and named
“The Ironman Repertory Improv Troupe” performed for free at the
Union Dawg House Coffee Shoppe on the first floor of the Union
Monday night at 7 p.m.
Back when music first started being preserved on paper by people
like Hildegard Von Bingen, improvisation was there. Middle Age
choral composers would often allow singers to sing free, undefined
melodies around the central written ones.
In the sixteenth century, comedy groups would perform short
skits with the scenario given to them by paying onlookers. About
two centuries later, when the words “impro” and “improv” first came
into being, this was still a common practice.
After a couple hundred years, improvisation sort of faded out.
With the African-American “Diaspora,” however, African-Americans
soon resurrected this common musical practice, which was present in
their homeland.
These early roots gave way to jazz and amazing, though
avant-garde, jazz musicians such as Ornette Coleman, a contemporary
of Miles Davis. In the nineties, improvisation came back in a big
way.
First there was Sonic Youth, the world’s “biggest underground
band,” who were heavily influenced by composers such as Edgar
Varese, John Cage, and jazz musician Sun Ra. Band members also
played pivotal roles in getting Nirvana and Hole signed to major
record labels. Sonic Youth songs often end in auditory explosions
that can’t be easily defined, yet are commonly improvised, at live
shows, by the band.
Then there came “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” a revival of the
comedy style used in various public places in Europe hundreds of
years ago.
Improvisation is also very large in Japan, not only as a musical
style, but also as a means of expressing oneself sporadically
through dance.
Finally, improv has hit home.
The group of performers usually consists, onstage, of anywhere
from five to seven members all impulsively doing improvised comedy.
The Ironman Repertory Improv Troupe is new and still very much in
its early stages, but members have practiced and honed their humor
skills for some time now.
The Campus Activities Board Director, Kelly Nesbit, commented on
how MSU could benefit from the troupe. “I think that the Ironman
Repertory Improv Troupe is a great thing for Mississippi State
University students because it gives them something new and
interesting to do. I really think that students should come and
check it out.”
According to how well the crowd response was Monday night, the
Ironman Repertory Improv Troupe may or may not be performing for
free at the Dawg House Coffee Shoppe again next Monday.