2026-10-09T20:18:04Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/32641407 2026-10-01T16:23:26Z portal_1172 item_type_8 month_year_10_2026

Musical pathways: exploring bodily movement and the context of others in improvised drumming Conor McAuley (24169965) PUREID: 642579425 improvisation autoethnography embodied cognition enactive cognition music performance performance studies musical pathways drum kit improvised drumming This portfolio employs an autoethnographic approach to the development of my own improvisatory practice. Through video documentation with voice-over commentary, I reflect on key moments in exploratory improvisation. These commentaries serve both my own learning and the experience of the listener. The process is iterative: what is discovered is enfolded back into the playing, where knowledge re-emerges embodied, enacted, and extended, imbued with layers of meaning for myself and others. The written text provides further sensory context, with language placing the reader inside the act of discovery. The portfolio is structured in three main parts. The first examines trajectory as a guiding principle for navigating the multidirectional pathways of the drum kit. Here, trajectory implies a sense of direction informed by momentum and physical engagement, an open but intentional path shaped through motion. The second section investigates the playing of other drummers, using video, text, and embodied analysis. Focusing on four improvisers, I examine physical movement as the basis for imitation and eventual assimilation. This leads to critical questions around identity and influence: when does copying someone, stop becoming copying someone? The third section reflects on professional practice and how research manifests in the public sphere. Through documented live performances, studio recordings, and collaborative projects, I explore how research is embedded in the act of music making itself. Throughout, the work draws on enactive and embodied perspectives from the social sciences, not as contributions to those fields, but to highlight how we as highly skilled improvising musicians have inherent bodily knowledge of these principles, that which is felt understood and shared in the moment and in the movement. This research offers value to drummers, improvisers, and researchers interested in embodied cognition, with its primary contribution being to the field of improvisation and the role of autoethnography in practice-based inquiry. 2026-10-01T16:23:26Z Text Thesis 10.17034/32641407.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Musical_pathways_exploring_bodily_movement_and_the_context_of_others_in_improvised_drumming/32641407 All Rights Reserved