Into the key of law: transposing musical improvisation. The case of child protection in Northern Ireland

这种跨学科的合作，是第一次通过律师兼法律讲师萨拉·拉姆肖博士和声音艺术家、即兴演奏家兼讲师保罗·斯台普顿博士对即兴创作的共同概念而成为可能。目前社会上存在着许多关于即兴创作本质的神话。这个项目试图揭穿其概念是纯粹自发和无计划的，或者只是关于个人的自我表达。换句话说，即兴创作不是不受约束的自由，而是由几个结构元素组成的，比如和声、旋律、节奏和时间。此外，关于即兴创作的个人主义性质的描述未能解释即兴创作与“社区建设”有关的方式。用Fischlin和Heble的话来说，即兴创作是“培养思考和参与人际关系的新方式”（Fischlin和Heble 2005: 23）。虽然即兴创作通常与音乐领域（例如爵士乐）联系在一起，但批判性的即兴研究目前正在跨越一系列艺术和人文学科，如人类学、哲学、文化研究和法律，证明需要将即兴创作不仅仅视为一种音乐形式，而是作为一种复杂的“社会实践”，一种调解跨文化交流并产生身份、社区和正义的新概念。即兴创作，社区和社会实践（ICASP）项目证明了批判性即兴研究的全球意义，PI是该项目的前博士后和现任研究助理。ICASP是一项为期7年、耗资400万美元的国际社区/大学研究计划，由加拿大社会科学与人文研究理事会（SSHRC）的主要合作研究计划（MCRI）资助。ICASP汇集了来自麦吉尔大学、剑桥大学、哥伦比亚大学和哈佛大学等18所大学的国际研究团队，将音乐即兴作为社会变革的一种模式进行探索，并在定义跨学科研究的新领域以塑造政治、文化和伦理对话和行动方面发挥主导作用。该项目将以这些见解为基础，以及PI与ICASP建立的联系，同时还将发展进一步的国际协会和合作。批判性即兴研究的关键原则之一是即兴创作的解放潜力。即兴创作自觉地与传统和先例相结合，能够抵抗过去的压迫和不公正，并为在地方和全球层面上的社会中共同存在的新方式开辟可能性。这个项目的前提是有可能将即兴的“语言”，即它的话语、技术和教学法，从音乐领域转移到法律领域。然而，目前尚不清楚的是，这种语言可能会受到法律行为者和机构的欢迎或抵制。关注儿童保护法，作为一个最近被批评为过于正式和过于官僚的领域（参见，例如，Munro评论），调查人员试图确定，通过教育法律决策者关于即兴创作的结构，他们自己是否可能成为更好的即兴演奏者（通过他们参与即兴创作研讨会和与即兴音乐家的跨学科对话）；从而导致在儿童保护案件中做出更具创造性和勇气的法律决策。磨练法律专业人员的即兴发挥技能的影响可能具有开创性，不仅影响儿童保护案件的决策方式，而且影响司法培训和法律教育的内容，从而最终影响法律决策的所有领域。

This interdisciplinary collaboration, the first of its kind, is made possible through a shared conception of improvisation between lawyer and law lecturer, Dr Sara Ramshaw, and sound artist, improviser and lecturer, Dr Paul Stapleton. Many myths currently exist in society regarding the nature of improvisation. This project seeks to debunk its conceptualisation as purely spontaneous and unplanned, or simply about individual self-expression. Improvisation is not, in other words, unfettered freedom, but is instead made up of several structural elements, such as harmony, melody, rhythm and time. Moreover, accounts regarding the individualistic nature of improvisation fail to account for the ways in which improvisation is about 'community building'. In the words of Fischlin and Heble, improvisation is 'about fostering new ways of thinking about, and participating in, human relationships' (Fischlin and Heble 2005: 23). Although improvisation is most often associated with the musical realm - for example, jazz music - critical improvisational research is currently being pursued across a range of arts and humanities disciplines, such as anthropology, philosophy, cultural studies and law, demonstrating the need to consider improvisation not simply as a musical form, but as a complex 'social practice', one that mediates transcultural exchanges and produces new conceptions of identity, community and justice. The global significance of critical improvisational research is evidenced by the Improvisation, Community and Social Practice (ICASP) project, of which the PI is a former Postdoctoral Fellow and current Research Associate. ICASP is a seven-year, $4-million international community/university research scheme, funded through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada's (SSHRC) Major Collaborative Research Initiatives (MCRI) programme. Bringing together an international research team from eighteen universities, including McGill University, University of Cambridge, Columbia University and Harvard University, amongst others, ICASP explores musical improvisation as a model for social change and plays a leading role in defining a new field of interdisciplinary research to shape political, cultural, and ethical dialogue and action. This project will build on these insights, along with the established links the PI has with ICASP, while also developing further international associations and collaborations. One of the key tenets of critical improvisational studies is the emancipatory potential of improvisation. Self-consciously engaging with tradition and precedent, improvisation enables resistance to past oppression and injustice and opens up possibilities for new ways of being together in society, both locally and at the global level. This project begins with the premise that it is possible to transpose improvisational 'language', that is, its discourses, techniques and pedagogies, from the musical to the legal realm. However, what remains unclear is where this language may be welcomed or resisted by legal actors and institutions. Focusing on child protection law, as an area that has recently been criticised for being too formalised and overly-bureaucratic (see, for example, the Munro Review), the investigators seek to determine whether, by educating legal decision-makers about the structures of improvisation, they might themselves become better improvisers (through their participation in improvisation workshops and cross-disciplinary conversations with improvising musicians), thereby leading to more creative and courageous legal decision-making in child protection cases. The impact of honing the improvisational skills of legal professionals is potentially groundbreaking, influencing not only how decisions are made in child protection cases, but also the content of judicial training and legal education, thereby ultimately impacting all areas of legal decision-making.