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

通过律师兼法律讲师Sara Ramshaw博士和音响艺术家、即兴演奏家兼讲师Paul Stapleton博士共同的即兴创作概念，这种跨学科合作成为可能。关于即兴表演的本质，目前社会上存在许多神话。这个项目试图揭穿它的概念化，认为它纯粹是自发的和无计划的，或者只是关于个人的自我表达。换言之，即兴演奏不是不受约束的自由，而是由几个结构元素组成，如和声、旋律、节奏和时间。此外，关于即兴表演的个人主义本质的描述没有考虑到即兴表演是关于“社区建设”的方式。用Fischlin和Heble的话说，即兴表演就是“培养思考和参与人际关系的新方式”(Fischlin and Heble 2005：23)。虽然即兴最常与音乐领域联系在一起--例如爵士乐--但目前正在进行一系列艺术和人文学科的即兴研究，如人类学、哲学、文化研究和法学，表明有必要将即兴不仅作为一种音乐形式，而且作为一种复杂的“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的活动。批判性即兴研究的全球意义由即兴、社区和社会实践(ICASP)项目证明，PI是该项目的前博士后研究员和现任研究助理。ICASP是一个为期七年、耗资400万美元的国际社会/大学研究计划，由加拿大社会科学和人文研究理事会(SSHRC)的重大合作研究倡议(MCRI)方案提供资金。ICASP汇集了来自18所大学的国际研究团队，其中包括麦吉尔大学、剑桥大学、哥伦比亚大学和哈佛大学等，ICASP探索音乐即兴创作作为社会变革的典范，并在定义一个新的跨学科研究领域以塑造政治、文化和伦理对话和行动方面发挥主导作用。该项目将建立在这些见解的基础上，以及国际和平协会与ICASP建立的联系，同时还将发展更多的国际协会和合作。批判性即兴研究的关键原则之一是即兴创作的解放潜力。即兴创作自觉地遵循传统和先例，能够抵抗过去的压迫和不公正，并为在当地和全球一级共同生活的新方式开辟了可能性。这个项目开始的前提是有可能把即兴的“语言”，也就是它的话语、技巧和教学方法，从音乐剧领域转移到法律领域。然而，目前尚不清楚的是，这种语言在哪里会受到法律行为者和机构的欢迎或抵制。调查人员将重点放在儿童保护法上，这一领域最近被批评过于正式和过于官僚(例如，见《门罗评论》)，调查人员试图确定，通过对法律决策者进行即兴创作结构方面的教育，他们自己是否可以成为更好的即兴演奏者(通过参加即兴创作研讨会和与即兴音乐家的跨学科对话)，从而在儿童保护案件中导致更具创造性和勇气的法律决策。磨练法律专业人员的即兴技能的影响可能是开创性的，不仅影响到如何在儿童保护案件中作出决定，而且影响到司法培训和法律教育的内容，从而最终影响到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.