“Dan DiPiero molds a convincing narrative and provides the theoretical groundwork for future studies of improvisation. This is a bold undertaking that melds two worlds (the musical and the social) often segregated in scholarship.”
—David Arditi, University of Texas at Arlington

- David Arditi

“Dan DiPiero deviates from the familiar tune that improvisation is necessarily rare, unpredictable, liberatory, and free. Instead, he locates improvisation where few ever think to look: ‘in the habitual, the pre-given, the mundane, or the ordinary.’ In other words, he finds it in the unrepeatable singularity that is each moment of life. Writing with the authority of both a musical improvisor and a theorist, DiPiero argues that improvisation is not special, but rather the very condition of humanity.”
—Mack Hagood, Miami University

- Mack Hagood

“In this bold and lucid book, Dan DiPiero writes, ‘There is improvisation anywhere there is contingency, and there is never not contingency.’ DiPiero has tackled head-on a central problem in improvisation studies, the field’s tendency to ‘defer defining improvisation directly,’ yet to often assume an ‘ideal’ version or ‘improvisation at its best.’ DiPiero supports his broad claim step by step, demonstrating why it is important we recognize improvisation as ubiquitous. When we acknowledge that improvisation occurs for nefarious as well as positive ends, in spaces of relative freedom and of crushing constraint, and is practiced by bond traders, contingent laborers, warriors, artists, indeed by everyone, all the time, in different, yet ultimately the same ways—as the play of contingency—we can move away from using improvisation in the service of our own theoretical projects and gain clarity on the very nature of being human.”   
—Tracy McMullen, Bowdoin College

- Tracy McMullen