MICA
The MICA project brings together a multidisciplinary team, at the crossroads of musicology, philosophy, and cognitive sciences. Its objective is, firstly, to develop a new set of methods for the analysis of improvisational practices; and, secondly, to use free collective improvisation situations as a kind of "laboratory" for asking general questions about joint action.
To begin, the team working on the MICA project will collect complete and detail descriptions of collective improvised actions as well as the complex and spontaneous processes of coordination used in this type of action. This will be carried out through several longitudinal ethnographic studies of different improvisational collectives and the “Classe d’Improvisation Générative” at the Paris Conservatory. The crossover study of these various fields makes it possible to observe how the collective modus operandi is modified when the conditions of coordination among musicians changes.
This ethnographic work will provide the basis that will allow us to renew in depth the experimental questions traditionally asked about joint action, by approaching the question of emergent coordination differently than through the paradigm of synchronization. The second step will be to set up a series of experimental protocols, based on experimental psychology and social cognition, which will aim to shed light on certain fundamental aspects of improvised dyadic interaction.
Finally, we will propose a conceptual framework by comparing the notions of coordination and planning as they are generally defined in the philosophical and psychological theories of joint action with cases of improvised collective action. As a result, we will try to shed new light on all those collective actions that are both creative and spontaneous which are such a central aspect of our lives.
IRCAM's Teams : Analysis of Musical Practices, Sound Perception and Design, Sound Music Movement Interaction
Project reference: ANR-17-CE27-0021-01.
