Collin Felter: The Myers-Briggs of Quoting: A Typology of Musical Borrowing in Jazz Improvisation
Abstract: While musical borrowing has been studied heavily and typologies have been proposed, the field has been primarily focused on compositional borrowing in the Western art tradition. This paper introduces a new typology of musical borrowing specific to the idiom of jazz improvisation through a Myers-Briggs inspired approach. Myers-Briggs is a personality identifying test that classifies a personality type through four sets of either-or criteria. By utilizing this either-or criteria approach, I analyze the use of quotation in jazz improvisation and categorize them in quote-types. The word, quoting, is most often mentioned as an overarching explanation of musical borrowing in jazz solos, but these quote-types seek to highlight the variations within the oft-used quoting. This typology allows for a more effective, efficient, and encompassing analysis and communication of musical borrowing in the idiom of jazz improvisation. The typology relies on four assessments of type (Autogenous/External, Traditional/Divergent, Familiar/Niche, and Composition/Improvisation) to accomplish this goal. While my paper focuses on the labeling of quotation types, I also touch on the outcomes (humor, homage, additional meaning, etc.) that are caused by certain combinations of the 16 variants afforded by combination of the four criteria sets.
Bio: Collin Felter has spent a majority of his musical career as a session trombonist and guitarist in Nashville recording for and performing with artists ranging from Sheryl Crow to a Sunday morning brunch brass band. With a career in commercial music under his belt, and continuing to grow, Collin is moving into the world of academia as he seeks to earn a PhD in Music Theory after completing his Masters in Jazz Studies at DU. As he enters the field of theory pedagogy, Collin is looking to bring his commercial and jazz music experience into his research and teaching. The paper he is presenting today, The Myers-Briggs of Quoting: A Typology of Musical Quoting in Jazz Improvisation, is an early addition towards the pursuit of his goal to diversify music theory through the inclusion of commercial music and its analytical and practical tools.
