{"id":{"repo_id":"uhi-uk","oai_identifier":"oai:pure.atira.dk:studenttheses/1353e868-4c99-48dd-8f0e-791084ac9914"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uhi-uk/oai:pure.atira.dk:studenttheses/1353e868-4c99-48dd-8f0e-791084ac9914","repository":{"repo_id":"uhi-uk","name":"University of the Highlands and Islands","base_url":"https://pureadmin.uhi.ac.uk/ws/oai"},"display":{"title":"The Joy of Improvising Music Together – An Autoethnographic study into using simplicity and humour in music improvisation as a vehicle to elicit joy and build community","abstract":"Music improvisation has been the subject of a vast body of research, a lot of which has focused on techniques and pedagogy. This paper accompanies its author’s creative work and argues that the practice of group music improvisation can be used to elicit joy and build communities.<br/>Drawing from positive psychology and theology, this research defines joy as a positive emotional state encompassing happiness, empathy, empowerment, and engagement with others. The community origin of music improvisation is compared with its current niche academic status, before referring to sociology and pedagogy literature and arguing in favour of improvisation’s role in the musical experience of children and community groups. Using a mixed methodology including artistic practice, autoethnographic reflection and analytic autoethnography, this paper analyses the author’s original recordings alongside the interviews of small groups of adults and young people after they improvised music in a peer group setting. Throughout, the author employs a practice approach based on musical simplicity and humour, to encourage the participant’s engagement.<br/>This research concludes that music improvisation is a joy-promoting activity and adds another perspective to the ongoing conversation around the merits of improvising music in a group, which may be especially relevant in relation to pedagogy and community music.","abstract_html":"Music improvisation has been the subject of a vast body of research, a lot of which has focused on techniques and pedagogy. This paper accompanies its author’s creative work and argues that the practice of group music improvisation can be used to elicit joy and build communities.&lt;br/&gt;Drawing from positive psychology and theology, this research defines joy as a positive emotional state encompassing happiness, empathy, empowerment, and engagement with others. The community origin of music improvisation is compared with its current niche academic status, before referring to sociology and pedagogy literature and arguing in favour of improvisation’s role in the musical experience of children and community groups. Using a mixed methodology including artistic practice, autoethnographic reflection and analytic autoethnography, this paper analyses the author’s original recordings alongside the interviews of small groups of adults and young people after they improvised music in a peer group setting. Throughout, the author employs a practice approach based on musical simplicity and humour, to encourage the participant’s engagement.&lt;br/&gt;This research concludes that music improvisation is a joy-promoting activity and adds another perspective to the ongoing conversation around the merits of improvising music in a group, which may be especially relevant in relation to pedagogy and community music.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Cassani, Roberto"],"institution":"University of the Highlands and Islands","degree_name":"Master of Research (awarded by UHI)","degree_level":"Master's Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-3-25","date_published":"2025-3-25","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:12:10Z","subjects":[],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["oai:pure.atira.dk:studenttheses/1353e868-4c99-48dd-8f0e-791084ac9914"],"render_values":[{"text":"oai:pure.atira.dk:studenttheses/1353e868-4c99-48dd-8f0e-791084ac9914","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/1353e868-4c99-48dd-8f0e-791084ac9914","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Cassani, Roberto"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-3-25"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2025-3-25"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["UHI Perth"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of the Highlands and Islands"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/1353e868-4c99-48dd-8f0e-791084ac9914"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Master's Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["Master of Research (awarded by UHI)"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["oai:pure.atira.dk:studenttheses/1353e868-4c99-48dd-8f0e-791084ac9914","https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/1353e868-4c99-48dd-8f0e-791084ac9914"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/files/60458131/CASSANI_R.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Music improvisation has been the subject of a vast body of research, a lot of which has focused on techniques and pedagogy. This paper accompanies its author’s creative work and argues that the practice of group music improvisation can be used to elicit joy and build communities.<br/>Drawing from positive psychology and theology, this research defines joy as a positive emotional state encompassing happiness, empathy, empowerment, and engagement with others. The community origin of music improvisation is compared with its current niche academic status, before referring to sociology and pedagogy literature and arguing in favour of improvisation’s role in the musical experience of children and community groups. Using a mixed methodology including artistic practice, autoethnographic reflection and analytic autoethnography, this paper analyses the author’s original recordings alongside the interviews of small groups of adults and young people after they improvised music in a peer group setting. Throughout, the author employs a practice approach based on musical simplicity and humour, to encourage the participant’s engagement.<br/>This research concludes that music improvisation is a joy-promoting activity and adds another perspective to the ongoing conversation around the merits of improvising music in a group, which may be especially relevant in relation to pedagogy and community music."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Joy of Improvising Music Together – An Autoethnographic study into using simplicity and humour in music improvisation as a vehicle to elicit joy and build community"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Cassani, Roberto"],"dc:date":["2025-3-25"],"dc:date.issued":["2025-3-25"],"dc:description.abstract":["Music improvisation has been the subject of a vast body of research, a lot of which has focused on techniques and pedagogy. 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