Critical Studies in Improvisation / Etudes critiques en improvisation (CSI/ECI).(Periodical Review)

Critical Studies in Improvisation / Etudes critiques en improvisation (CSI/ECI). Edited by Ajay Heble, Ellen Waterman, and Frederique Arroyas. University of Guelph, Ontario. Semiannual. Vol. 1, no. 1 (September 2004). ISSN 1712-0624. Online (HTML and PDF) format. Access: http://www.criticalimprov.com or http://repository.lib.uoguelph.ca/ojs/index.php. Principal contact: Hanna Smith, Managing Editor, School of English and Theatre Studies, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada. E-mail: csi-eci@uoguelph.ca. Free.

This peer-reviewed scholarly journal is part of an international research project at the University of Guelph, that in turn sprung from the Guelph Jazz Festival colloquium (established 1996). Editors notably come from all over campus, including the University of Guelph Library and the Schools of English and Theatre Studies, Fine Arts and Music, and Languages and Literatures. The large editorial and advisory boards are also notably pan-Canadian, with a few American, Australian, and British members.

Lengthy essays "challenge readers to think of improvisation not only as a musical practice, but, perhaps more suggestively, as a vital model for the analysis of political, cultural, and ethical action and dialogue" (editorial, vol. 1, no. 1). Interdisciplinary articles examine improvisation's role in community building through shared responsibility, negotiation of differences, risk taking, and uncertain contingencies. Topics in the first issue include interculturalism and ...