Improvisation is generally understood as an action where significant parts are performed extemporaneously without preparation… In relation to music, … improvisation is a form of music creation in which certain parameters are not exactly prescribed or prepared, while others undergo more precise preparation and practice. Thus, there is no fundamental, but only a gradual difference between interpreting and improvising music. As with improvising, interpreting music is not simply executing according to given rules, but there are freedoms to interpret and creatively shape the given material. And even in improvisation, even in the freest forms, there are clear guidelines and pre-decisions… The difference between interpretation and improvisation, therefore, lies in the (relative) degree of freedom. At least one essential parameter of music is not exactly predetermined and planned in improvisation… From the aforementioned, two competencies emerge, each of which alone enables improvisation. Firstly, the competence to creatively shape music according to given rules, and secondly, the desire to go beyond the given or found, to experiment with musical materials, and to invent something new.

Martin Losert, Karen Schlimp: Klangwege: Improvisation anregen – lernen – unterrichten. Münster: LIT, 2019, p. 24

In improvisation itself, listening, understanding and playing combine to form a meta-skill – a listening, intuitively understanding performance. This requires a certain presence in relation to the musical processes and, above all, the ability to react to what you hear with your own ideas and play them on your own instrument.

Ib. p. 32