Jennifer MacRitchie

Inferring musical structure through bodily gestures

Despite the idiosyncrasies present in bodily motion during musical performances, it is suggested that these movements are not incidental but instead contribute to the meaning of performed music. Nine pianists performing two Chopin Preludes are recorded using Vicon motion capture, in synchrony with audio and MIDI recordings. Using principal components analysis (PCA) on the recorded upper body motion, motion profiles for each pianist are formed from the weighted combinations of these components. This measure of global body movement produces a comparable measure across performers and pieces, whilst keeping the performers’ interpretative gestures in view of their whole concept of the piece intact. This study proposes that performers use these motions as a way of corporeally manifesting their interpretative choices. It is suggested that their overall body motion is underscored by such structures as interpreted from the written music. Results show evident underlying musical structure across performers’ motion profiles. These profiles are seen to be constructed from functions of harmonic and melodic relationships in the score. These findings hold significant implications for research into music perception, pedagogy and development of computational technologies for the analysis of music performance.

The art and science behind piano touch: A review connecting multi-disciplinary literature

The touch used to play the piano, representing aspects of body posture, hand posture, movement, speed, force and pressure on the key, has been addressed over the centuries by pedagogues, famous pianists and composers. Piano touch not only underpins basic technique in piano playing, but is also the route through which pianists can communicate their expressive intentions. This review pulls together literature concerning touch from piano pedagogy, engineering, performance analysis and biomechanics. Studies have advanced understanding in the actions behind a typical keypress motion, the influence of training by examining differences between novice and expert pianists, and the various joint contributions that discern a struck versus a pressed touch. Although individual differences are widely identified, the influence of hand anthropometry, choice of technique and difference in training between experts remains understudied. A trade-off between accuracy and ecological validity is also identified in the use of current measurement systems: to encourage wider participation and incorporation into instrumental lessons, there is a need for the development of un-intrusive measurement systems that can be used outside the laboratory environment without restrictions concerning the instrument. Implications include furthering understanding across the arts and sciences and aiding teachers and students looking to minimise the risk of injury.

Integrating optical finger motion tracking with surface touch events.

This paper presents a method of integrating two contrasting sensor systems for studying human interaction with a mechanical system, using piano performance as the case study. Piano technique requires both precise small-scale motion of fingers on the key surfaces and planned large-scale movement of the hands and arms. Where studies of performance often focus on one of these scales in isolation, this paper investigates the relationship between them. Two sensor systems were installed on an acoustic grand piano: a monocular high-speed camera tracking the position of painted markers on the hands, and capacitive touch sensors attach to the key surfaces which measure the location of finger-key contacts. This paper highlights a method of fusing the data from these systems, including temporal and spatial alignment, segmentation into notes and automatic fingering annotation. Three case studies demonstrate the utility of the multi-sensor data: analysis of finger flexion or extension based on touch and camera marker location, timing analysis of finger-key contact preceding and following key presses, and characterization of individual finger movements in the transitions between successive key presses. Piano performance is the focus of this paper, but the sensor method could equally apply to other fine motor control scenarios, with applications to human-computer interaction.

Using historical accounts of harpsichord touch to empirically investigate the production and perception of dynamics on the 1788 Taskin

This article investigates the extent of production and perception of dynamic differences on a French historical harpsichord, extensively revised in 1788 by Pascal Taskin. A historical review reports on the descriptions of two different types of touch found in treatises of the 18th century. These two touches (loud/struck and soft/pressed) were used to perform single tones on the lower, upper, peau de buffle (PDB) registers (the last of which Taskin is credited with having invented) and the coupled 8-foot registers to investigate differences in dynamics. Acoustic measurements show varied differences of up to 11 dB for the two types of touch over different pitches in each register. The strongest difference is measured in the first harmonic of note F2 on the PDB. A listening experiment was conducted to test whether these differences are perceivable. Participants performed a discrimination task using pairs of single tones. Participants were able to perform significantly better than chance in correctly identifying whether pairs of single tones were same or different with respect to loudness [t(24) = 12.01, p < 0.001]. Accuracies were influenced by pitch and register, the PDB providing the strongest accuracies over the four registers tested.

Negotiating between individual and joint goals in ensemble musical performance

Successful joint action requires negotiation, especially in the event of goal incongruence. This article addresses goal incongruence in joint musical performance by manipulating the congruence of score instructions (congruent/incongruent) regarding tempo (speed) and dynamics (sound intensity) given to piano duos. The aim is to investigate how co-performers negotiate incongruent instructions for tempo and dynamics by balancing the prioritisation of individual goals versus the joint outcome and how this negotiation is modulated by musical expertise and personality (locus of control). In total, 14 pairs of pianists, who were not informed of the congruence manipulation, were placed back-to-back and were directed to achieve a successful performance over four repeated performances without verbal communication. Interpersonal coordination generally improved from the first to final performance in the congruent and incongruent conditions for both the tempo and dynamics tasks. Furthermore, in incongruent conditions, results suggest that performers prioritise the joint performance in the tempo task, but prioritise their own performance in the dynamics task. Although individual performance appears to be modulated by musical expertise, the balance of individual/joint performance across the duo is not influenced by musical part (melody vs accompaniment), expressive instruction, musical expertise or locus of control.

Audience engagement with community music performances: Emotional contagion in audiences of a ‘pro-am’ orchestra in suburban Sydney

Research into audience engagement in the arts is a growing area of interest because of the need to build audiences and to provide convincing evidence of the value of arts programs to funding bodies. In addition, the way in which music works so as to touch the listener is of ongoing interest to music psychologists and is increasingly being considered in the context of live listening situations. This paper considers the phenomenon of emotional contagion, or the transference of emotion between audience members, and how this contributes to the audience experience. Audience members (N = 105) were surveyed at three concerts by a ‘pro-am’ orchestra – an orchestra made up of both professionals and amateurs – about their response to the concerts and factors that influenced that response. It was found that emotional contagion can enhance the emotional response of audience members at concerts, and that this is mediated by the sense of social bonding participants have with other people present. Social bonding is also associated with attendance at enhancement events such as pre-concert talks.