Annalisa Mazzolari

Thesis

Thesis Title & Description

Improvisational wisdom. Nurturing human flourishing through music-making

• Supervisor: Andrea Schiavio

The project aims to combine research in music, philosophy, and cognitive science to open up new ways of thinking about musical improvisation and its role in education and human flourishing. Musical improvisation is often associated with the spontaneous creation of something musically new and valuable, but it also reveals a unique approach to skills such as imagination, strategy, interaction, and exploration. This raises the question of whether the capacity to improvise can be understood as a multifaceted skill whose teaching and exercise could nurture a positive mindset, encourage self-expression and affect people’s wellbeing. By combining empirical and theoretical research, my project will address this puzzle, inspiring new ways of thinking about improvisation in music and beyond, and proposing an innovative artistic-ethical account in the field of education.

Biography

Biography

My name is Annalisa Mazzolari. I am from Italy, where I spent the majority of my personal and professional life. I attended the Conservatory of my city (Brescia, Italy) with classical piano and opera singing; my classical studies have always been accompanied by those in pop and jazz music, especially in singing; that is why, from 2013, I began being interested in writing my own music publishing two musical albums (2016;2019). I graduated in Philosophy both in my BA and MA and this allowed me to combine my musical expertise with philosophical investigations, inspiring me to approach research in an interdisciplinary field, proposing the PhD project I am currently working on. Beside my experience as a professional musician, I started teaching music in 2022 in Italy and I am pursuing this passion holding vocal and piano lessons at the York Music Centre today.

Research

Research Interests

Music, philosophy, music cognition, virtue ethics, improvisation, embodied music cognition, music education.

Publications

Publications

- "Uomini Eroi", musical album published in 2016
- "Joan Quille", musical album published in 2019
- "The Virtue of Improvisation" , presented at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory (CPH)
for the conference Improvisation and Communities in April 2022
- "The Influence of Expertise in Musical Improvisation on Non-Improvised Musical Performance", presented at GAPS2 conference at the University of York in September 2023