Producing language involves the real-time sequencing of words into
phrases, leading to considerable demands on working memory that can be
relieved by ordering biases in spoken utterances. One such bias is
called easy-first: the tendency for more easily-accessible phrases to
occur earlier in an utterance, allowing for incremental planning of
more complex phrases (MacDonald, 2013). Recent evidence suggests that
this bias may extend beyond language to effect other domains involving
real-time action sequencing. In the current study, we sought to test
for the presence of the easy-first bias in a creative domain that
similarly requires real-time action sequencing: musical improvisation
(e.g. Pressing, 1987). Using a corpus of 456 transcribed
improvisations from eminent jazz musicians (e.g., Charlie Parker, John
Coltrane), we tested for easy-first on multiple definitions of
easiness over the phrase and over the corpus: interval frequency,
interval size, interval variety, pitch variety, and direction changes.
Similar to language production, our findings suggest that expert
improvisers consistently retrieve “easier” melodic sequences before
generating more complex and novel sequences, indicating a similarity
in the domain-general sequencing biases that facilitate the
spontaneous production of music and language.