Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Made up without preparation; improvised.
  • adjective Of or relating to improvisation.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Same as improvisatorial.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of, pertaining to, or in the nature of improvisation

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Mr. Bieito, by contrast, "erred on the side of the improvisatory, which is so much fun."

    Calixto Bieito's Second Act J. S. Marcus 2011

  • Recent recordings capture both his improvisatory sessions with the elder Riley—whose oscillating keyboard patterns famously inspired the Who —and his compositions for solo guitar, featured on the Tzadik release "Streams of Gratitude."

    A Minimalist Heir With Maximum Chops Steve Dollar 2011

  • Originally assembled in 1986 after trumpeter Frank London placed an ad in the Village Voice, the Klezmatics eventually revitalized the Jewish music tradition with a hip New York attitude that was gay positive singer Lorin Sklamberg is gay, improvisatory, and open to other styles of music.

    Quarter-Life Crisis for the Klezmatics Tad Hendrickson 2011

  • When I lived near there a few years ago, the corner was like a souvenir of West Berlin's improvisatory spirit, and I could imagine it extending into some indefinite future, with its slightly scruffy, but unmistakable vitality intact.

    Kreuzberg Bellyaches Over Kebab Tourism J. S. Marcus 2011

  • Audiences looking to get their flamenco puro , as pure and traditional as possible — in the form of an intense, improvisatory, and mostly solo art of music, song and dance — won't find their expectations met here.

    A Broad View of Flamenco Robert Greskovic 2011

  • Hussain and his two compatriots offered an impressive level of virtuosity - the tabla employing a rich vocabulary of sounds and intricate, continually nuanced rhythms; the singers embarking on long improvisatory half-chants, their bodies cupped around a sound that they seemed to be bringing forth with conductor-like gestures of the hands.

    NSO review: Tabla meets West as 'India' concert strikes a crossover convergence 2011

  • Whitbourn's interest in the compelling combination of voices and the soprano saxophone dominates here, his 2001 Son of God Mass using the instrument in improvisatory, spiritual mode to link the sections of the mass and overlay a lithe counterpoint to the choir.

    James Whitbourn: Living Voices and other choral works – review 2011

  • If ensemble unity was pushed to its limits, conductor Harry Bicket made sure the improvisatory verve didn't undermine cohesion.

    English Concert at Library of Congress Anne Midgette 2010

  • She wowed him with her improvisatory mix of hip-hop, ballet and Bollywood-inspired movements.

    A 5-Borough Dance Floor Steve Dollar 2011

  • His recent return to the instrument pursues a different path, though, combining the open, improvisatory style of jazz musicians Don Cherry and Bill Dixon (who innovated a whole catalog of extended techniques for the instrument in the 1960s) and the Brian Eno collaborator Jon Hassell.

    Rhys Chatham Brings the Noise Steve Dollar 2010

Comments

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  • Nice mouth feel, kind of sounds like what it means -- not so easy to say, not so easy to do in life

    February 21, 2007