Books in the Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology CSE (CHUP) series

Explores how musicians, both individually and collectively, learn to improvise. Chronicling musicians from their first encounters with jazz to the development of a unique improvisatory voice, Berliner demonstrates that a lifetime of preparation lies behind the skilled improviser's every note.

People around the world and throughout history have used music to express their inner emotions, reach out to the divine, woo lovers, celebrate weddings, inspire political movements, and lull babies to sleep. This title explores why it is that music and dance are so often at the center of our profound personal and social experiences.