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DOGANTAN-DACK, M. - The Body Behind Music
DOGANTAN-DACK, M. - The Body Behind Music
M I N E D O G A N TA N - DA C K
M I D D L E S E X U N I V E R S I T Y, L O N D O N , U K
sempre :
450 Psychology of Music 34(4)
way the expressive profile of a given piece onto another one in performance
indicates that the basic features of expressive performance cannot be
explained without reference to the structural properties of the performed
music.
The recent theoretical studies on the relationship between the listener’s
experiences of musical structures and bodily image-schemas have not yet
been extended so as to explore the role of the body in music performance.
However, in studies of expressive performance there is an increasing interest
in modelling the various features of musical performance in terms of physical
movement, and in this connection researchers frequently evoke body-based
conceptions of musical phenomena. One such model concerns the timing of
musical phrases in performance. The gradual slowing of the tempo towards
phrase endings in performances of tonal music is a well-documented fact. It
has been suggested that the temporal shape of such a ritardando at the end of
a tonal phrase is similar to the shape observed when other rhythmic motor
activities, such as locomotion, come to a smooth halt. Kronman and Sundberg,
for instance, allude to the motion of a runner slowing down with constant
deceleration in order to explain the universal tendency of performers to slow
down at phrase endings. They write that:
the sequences of impulses we perceive when we walk or run are similar to the
regular sequences of tones in moto-rhythmic music. If the music reminds the
listener of physical motion, it would be natural to insert a final ritard, as the
listener knows from experience that locomotion is usually slowed down before it
is arrested. (Kronman and Sundberg, 1987: 58)
systematic relationships other than structural slowing between the local and
global expressive variations remains an important issue that is yet to be
rigorously investigated. Further research is also required to explore whether
the local and global expressive variations in a music performance can be
modelled on the same bodily phenomena. At the present state of research in
expressive performance the consensus of the researchers is that:
Virtually all the contemporary studies mentioned so far locate the historical
roots of research on expressive performance in the work of psychologist Carl
Seashore (1866–1949) and his team who were active at Iowa University
during the 1920s and 1930s. Seashore is certainly one of the most
important pioneers in empirical studies of expressive performance. However,
the theoretical foundations of these studies as well as the first establishment
of the connections between bodily phenomena and expressive music
performance go back to the 19th century. The historical background for the
recently proposed body-based models of expressive performance was shaped
in the light of several important developments that took place during this
period. These are:
psychology. The last decades of the 19th- and the first decade of the 20th-
century abound in studies that scrutinize kinesthesis as it relates to rhythm,
and motor theories of musical rhythm are typical of this period.4
One specific discovery made in 19th century physiology by the German
scientist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–94) had particularly important
implications for music psychology. In 1850, Helmholtz measured for the first
time the speed of transmission of nerve impulses. The finding that the
transmission was much slower than had been assumed invalidated the
assumption – held in earlier Cartesian physiology – that the passage from
sensation to bodily movement was instantaneous. Following this discovery,
the relationship between mental sensations and bodily response could now be
studied as a temporal sequence of events with various phases. The most impor-
tant implication of this finding for music psychology has been a new
conceptualization of the musical experience as comprising various temporal
stages. Indeed, research in psychology of music during the latter half of the
19th- and early decades of the 20th-century is represented by works that
specifically focus on one or the other of these stages. Hence, we find tone-
psychologists like Helmholtz and Carl Stumpf (1848–1936) exploring the
initial stage of the musical experience by investigating the relations between
acoustical stimuli and aural sensations, and music psychologists such as Hugo
Riemann (1849–1919) and Ernst Kurth (1886–1946) scrutinizing the
second stage consisting of the interpretation of the incoming sensations by
the musical faculty.
This interest in the different stages of a unified experience also charac-
terizes the late 19th century theories of musical rhythm, within which the
musical phrase came to be defined as a unit composed of differentiated
temporal phases – for instance, a phase of action combined with a phase of
repose. To be sure, the idea that a rhythmic unit consists of differentiated
phases of movement is very old, as is evident in the ancient terminology of
arsis and thesis, from the Greek words for ‘raising’ and ‘lowering’ respectively.
However, the nature of these phases was empirically studied in detail for the
first time during the 19th century. Thus, one of the important hypotheses of
recent research concerning the similarity between the temporal shape of a
musical phrase in performance and that of a motor activity has its root in
19th century theories of rhythm, which in turn were largely shaped by the
physiological discoveries of the period.
prominent were motor theories of the perception of space and time. In this
connection, two names stand out: German physicist Ernst Mach (1838–
1916), and Austrian philosopher and psychologist Christian von Ehrenfels
(1859–1932).
In a paper published in 1865, and called ‘Bemerkungen zur Lehre vom
räumlichen Sehen’ (Observations on the experience of three-dimensional
vision), Mach discussed how we perceive and categorize spatial and temporal
figures. His argument was that we recognize various spatial and temporal
shapes as the same or as alike due to the involvement of what he called
Muskelempfindungen – ‘Muscular sensations’: whenever we see, for instance, a
circle, our perception is accompanied, according to Mach, by a particular
nervous sensation resulting from the muscular activity of the eyes, which is
repeated every time we perceive a similar shape. Accordingly, each visual or
aural shape is associated with its characteristic muscular sensation; in fact, a
body-feeling stamps every sensation. This theory put forward by Mach is the
first theory of perception based on the input of the body proper.5
As for Ehrenfels, his best-known work today is the article titled ‘Über
Gestalqualitäten’ (On Gestalt qualities), and published in 1890. The central
idea of this work, i.e. that our perceptions contain ‘form qualities’ or Gestalten,
which are not contained in isolated sensations, is often quoted. What is not so
well known about Ehrenfels’ famous article is that he further developed
Mach’s ideas on the perception of spatial and temporal forms.6 Ehrenfels
argued that each experience we have of a Gestalt or form in any sensory
modality is cognized as structurally analogous to the experience of a spatial
shape. In other words, spatial Gestalten serve in his view as references for our
comprehension of forms in other modalities. An immediate implication of
this idea is that concepts related to the perception of spatial shapes can be
applied to shapes extended in time – for instance, melodies. Indeed, the idea
that there are similarities of form between different fields of experience is one
of the most important conclusions of Ehrenfels’ article. During the 20th-
century, various authors including Susanne Langer (1942) and Daniel Stern
(1985) have argued along similar lines for the existence in our minds of
abstract ‘amodal’ forms that we utilize in making sense of the world through
different modalities of perception.
The theories put forward by Mach and Ehrenfels provided several impor-
tant hypotheses for studies of expressive performance during the latter half of
the 19th century. These can be summarized as follows:
All four hypotheses reappear in recent research, which has been briefly
reviewed in the first section of this article. As we shall see in the following
section, they were already incorporated into theories of rhythm and perfor-
mance by 19th century authors.
stated that the unity and identity of a rhythmic group is established through
the bodily involvement of the listener in the act of perception (Miner, 1903).
Another researcher argued similarly that:
If one moves the hand or the arm in a circle, there will be no feeling of rhythm
so long as the hand moves uniformly in a circle. In order to become rhythmic in
the psychological sense, the following change in the movement is necessary: the
path of the hand must be elongated to an ellipse, and the velocity of the move-
ment in a part of the orbit must be much faster than in the rest of the orbit; just
as the hand comes to the end of the arc through which it passes with increased
velocity, there is a feeling of tension, of muscular strain; at this point the
movement is retarded, almost stopped; then the hand goes on more slowly until
it reaches the arc of increased velocity. The rapid movement through the arc of
velocity and the sudden feeling of strain and retarding at the end of this rapid
movement constitute the beat [the accent]. In consciousness they represent one
event, and a series of such events connected in such a movement-cycle may be
said to constitute a rhythm. There is, then, a radical difference between the two
phases of a rhythmic movement. (Stetson, 1905: 258, emphases added)
In the first movement of the ball, three instants, three phases, or if you like,
three spans must be distinguished: a) point of departure, or élan, b) trajectory
depicted by the ball, c) the point of arrival or the fall of the ball. (Mocquereau,
1908: 108)9
legato does not, even in the most favorable conditions, involve a really
continuous vocalization during the phrase; it is not the mere continuity of the
tone that is responsible for the smooth, uninterrupted effect. Instead, the
outstanding trait of legato singing is the unbroken level of the force of the tone
indicated by the air-pressure just outside the mouth: it is dynamically uniform,
and steady. No matter how interrupted the tones may be, like a dotted line, the
actual level is maintained throughout. (Large, 1980: 32, emphasis added)
The spatial trajectory depicted by the moving ball in the model proposed by
Mocquereau is supposed to capture just these continuous, smooth internal
dynamics of the legato performance of a musical phrase by the singing voice.
In accordance with the premises of Ehrenfels, such a spatial representation
can also capture the temporal phases of a typical tonal phrase, which almost
always starts in relative repose, builds up tension, and relaxes into a cadence.
Closer scrutiny, however, reveals that the behaviour of a ball thrown in the
air does not precisely represent the performance of a musical phrase by the
460 Psychology of Music 34(4)
Concluding remarks
As expression is related in its basic features to the performer’s conception of
the structural, i.e. tonal–rhythmic properties of music, then a model of
expressive performance should indeed be based on a model of musical
structure. In this connection, researchers have essentially two models to
work with, both of which were already employed in 19th century theories of
rhythm and performance. These are:
NOTES
1. An earlier version of this article was presented at the ‘Music and Gesture’
conference, University of East Anglia, 28–31 August 2003, Norwich, UK.
2. Scholarly interest in expressive musical performance is indeed very old. Already
during the 11th century, authors (Guido of Arezzo in Micrologus c.1030, John
Cotton in De Musica c.1100) started to discuss the proper performance of chant
and described a gradual slowing of the tempo for phrases that end on certain
structural tones, or a lengthening of the last two notes. For certain modes,
acceleration towards the cadence was preferred. More systematic studies of the
expressive aspects of musical performance started with the proliferation of
pedagogically oriented treatises during the 17th and 18th centuries. Best known
among these treatises are: François Couperin, L’art du toucher le clavecin, 1716;
Johann Joachim Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte travesiere zu spielen,
1752; Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen,
1753; Leopold Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, 1756; Daniel
Gottlob Türk, Klavierschule, 1789.
3. Weber observed that in order to bring about a noticeable difference in sensory
experience, there is a minimum magnitude by which the intensity of the stimulus
must be changed, and that the threshold for the difference is lawfully related to
the magnitude of the stimulus.
462 Psychology of Music 34(4)
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464 Psychology of Music 34(4)
M I N E D O G A N TA N - DA C K
holds a BA in Philosophy (Bogazici University, Istanbul), and
a BM and MM in piano performance (The Juilliard School, New York). She received her
PhD in Music Theory from Columbia University and has published articles on
expressive performance, history of music theory, and affective responses to music. She
is the author of the book titled Mathis Lussy: A Pioneer in Studies of Expressive
Performance (2002, Peter Lang). She performs as a chamber musician and soloist, and
has recorded for the Turkish Radio and TV, and WNCN in New York. Currently, she is
the head of research at Middlesex University, London.
Address: Music Department, Middlesex University, Trent Park Campus, Bramley Road,
London, N14 4YZ, UK. [email: dogantanm@yahoo.com]