Abstract
Established pedagogical theories for classical piano usually do not consider the essential relationship between the musical structure, whole body movements, and expression. Research focusing on musicians' expression has shown that body movements reflect the performer's understanding of the musical structure. However, most studies to date focus on the performance of a single piece at a time, leaving unanswered the question on how structural parameters of pieces with varied technical difficulties influence pianists' movements. In this study, 10 pianists performed three contrasting Romantic excerpts in terms of technical level and character, while motion data was collected with a passive infrared motion capture system. We observed how pianists modulate their performances for each of the three pieces and measured the absolute difference in percentage of duration and quantity of motion (QoM) between four expressive conditions (normal, deadpan, exaggerated, immobile). We analyzed common patterns within the time-series of position data to investigate whether pianists embody musical structure in similar ways. A survey was filled in by pianists to understand how they conceive the relationship between body movements and musical structure. Results show that the variation in duration between the exaggerated and deadpan conditions was significant in one measure for one of the excerpts, and that tempo was less affected by the QoM used than by the level of expression. By applying PCA on the pianists' position data, we found that the head QoM is an important parameter for communicating different expressions and structural features. Significant variations in head QoM were found in the immobile and deadpan conditions if compared to the normal condition, only in specific regions of the score. Recurrent head movements occurred along with certain structural parameters for two of the excerpts only. Altogether, these results indicate that the analysis of pianists' body movements and expressive intentions should be carried out in relation to the specific musical context, being dependent on the technical level of the pieces and the repertoire. These results, combined with piano teaching methods, may lead to the development of new approaches in instrumental lessons to help students make independent choices regarding body movements and expression.
Highlights
While it is common knowledge that musicians’ body movements contribute to the audience’s understanding of the musical score and the performer’s expressive interpretation of music (Vines et al, 2003; Dahl and Friberg, 2007; Weiss et al, 2018), the teacher rarely explicitly guides the students to connect their movements to the structural and stylistic features of a piece (Juslin and Persson, 2002; Young et al, 2003; Karlsson and Juslin, 2008)
-All conditions performed faster than normal -Large variations in quantity of motion (QoM) in the deadpan and immobile performances as compared to the normal condition -Hand movements in the z-axis vary more than other body parts between expressive conditions -Variations in amplitude of hand movement related to the loud dynamic level and accentuated chords -Similar QoM in the normal and exaggerated performances
-Exaggerated and immobile performance performed faster than normal and deadpan conditions -Largest differences in QoM between the conditions -Large amplitude of the head motion in the normal performance in the middle of phrases, and at the beginning of phrases for the exaggerated performance -Deadpan and immobile conditions are performed with almost no variations in amplitude of head movement
Summary
While it is common knowledge that musicians’ body movements contribute to the audience’s understanding of the musical score and the performer’s expressive interpretation of music (Vines et al, 2003; Dahl and Friberg, 2007; Weiss et al, 2018), the teacher rarely explicitly guides the students to connect their movements to the structural and stylistic features of a piece (Juslin and Persson, 2002; Young et al, 2003; Karlsson and Juslin, 2008). Previous research has been conducted on musicians’ expressive communication, the impact of the structural parameters of technically challenging pieces on pianists’ body movements and expressive parameters remains largely unexplored. A kinematic analysis of experienced pianists’ body movements and musical timing in relation to the structural elements from various pieces of music would bring invaluable information that may help student performers monitor their body movements to improve their expressive communication abilities while consistently manipulating acoustical and physical parameters. These results can contribute to the design of a coherent pedagogical framework that may impact piano pedagogy
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