THE ROLE OF IMPROVISATION IN HIGHER MUSIC EDUCATION

The aim of our study is to explore university students’ attitudes towards musical improvisation (MI). Musical improvisation is a fundamental form of musical creativity, but even though the latter should be the ground point in music education, it is, unfortunately, a quite neglected activity. Formal music education prevails in the traditional approach in educating future musicians, where very little attention is given to fostering musical creativity. The purpose of our research is to investigate the attitudes towards improvisation in music students at the Academy of Music in Zagreb (Croatia) and the Academy of Music in Ljubljana (Slovenia). The results obtained indicate that there are differences in attitudes to MI between Croatian and Slovenian music students. The differences between students were determined with regard to the sources of knowledge and skills of MI, the prevalence of MI, the self-perception of quality of improvisation and in emotions elicited by MI. In accordance with the reported results, it was concluded that there was not enough attention and importance given to the development of improvisational skills and knowledge during formal music education at the music academies in Croatia and Slovenia and that it was necessary to successively develop these values throughout the entire music education. These results represent a significant guideline for improving the educational practice of future professional musicians, as well as its adaptation to the changes and needs of contemporary society.