Conceptions of teaching in and through noise: a study of experimental musicians' beliefs

Critical analyses of experimental music and free improvisation have uncovered multiple educational benefits embedded within this broad collection of genres. However, by rooting this work primarily within formal classrooms, scholars have yet to discover how musicians conceptualise teaching and learning within communities outside of schools. To approach this gap in the literature in relation to teaching, I interviewed the four artists featured in the 2017 Experimental Education Series at the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts located in Milwaukee, WI. This series of concerts and workshops was dedicated to creating space for female experimental artists to discuss and showcase their artistic processes and creations. Interviews revealed a nuanced understanding of teaching that distributed the pedagogical act across a matrix of human and non-human actors. Moreover, participants also conceptualised teaching as a process of not only developing new knowledges, but also shaping the social frameworks within which individuals enact that knowledge.