The Improvising Body: Exploring the Continuities from Biological Life to Musical Practice

Improvisation is a prevalent part of how we engage with our world—both in creative practices and everyday life. Even basic living organisms such as a biological cell have the capacity to act and adapt to situations spontaneously. This thesis offers an account of improvisation that aims to recognise the deep continuities between improvised creative practice and the embodied adaptive capacities innate within living systems. I support this exploration through an interdisciplinary approach that draws on work in enactive cognitive science, ecological psychology, phenomenology, and my own experience as an improvising practitioner. Through this lens I examine the presence of improvisation in basic biological life, sensorimotor agency, musical practice, and plans and planning. Accompanying the thesis is a creative artefact that was shaped by the written work. These recordings also serve as examples used to illustrate the concepts within a musical practice.