We analysed how expressive intentions are communicated and perceived in a special context of musical production: improvisation on a single piano note. Two experiments were designed in order to find relations between performer's expressive intentions, four acoustical parameters (pitch, intensity, articulation and rhythmic density), and listener's perception of expressive content. Differences between musicians and non-musicians were analysed as well. In the first experiment, 6 performers (3 musicians and 3 non-musicians) improvised on a digital piano according to 8 expressive intentions. The experiment was planned in 4 phases, progressively limiting the musical means available to the performer. In all phases, improvisations were limited to only one piano note. In the second experiment, listeners described performer's improvisations by means of adjective ratings. Results support the position that few low level parameters, mainly intensity and rhythmic density, are important factors in the communication of expressive content from the performer to the listener and that listeners recognize most expressive intentions even when very few acoustical parameters are used.

THE STUDY OF MUSICAL EMOTIONS IS A CHALLENGEfor psychology and neuroscience, but the ethnomusicological account is often excluded from the debate. The present article focuses on types of performances that differ from the model of Western classical music: weddings and funerals in a Gypsy community of Transylvania. Analysis of musical activity and expression of emotions in these contexts showed that aesthetic meanings are transformed when music is embedded in social action: the same tunes are played while people dance at weddings and while they cry at funerals. The major anthropological hypothesis suggested by this study is that music acts in rituals as a means for establishing and reinforcing the emotional experiences of different kinds of relationships. The hypotheses and data are discussed in light of recent psychological research on musical emotion.

Le présent article se concentre sur les veillées funèbres célébrées par les Tsiganes 1 de Transylvanie centrale (Roumanie) durant les deux nuits qui précèdent l'enterrement du défunt. Les études concernant de semblables réunions communautaires autour du mort sont nombreuses, ainsi que les cadres théoriques proposés pour leur interprétation (voir De Martino, 1958 ;Bloch et Parry, 1982). Rare est toutefois l'attention accordée aux pratiques sonores qui y sont associées (parmi les exceptions : Feld, 1982 ;Ricci, 1996). Dans le contexte euro-méditerranéen, une large attention a été accordée aux lamentations funèbres, pratique rituelle souvent chantée (voir, parmi d'autres, Brailoiu, 1932 ;De Martino, 1958 ; Alexiou, 1974 ; Auerbach, 1987). Cependant, l'attentionnourrie d'une certaine fascination -des chercheurs pour les lamentations s'est concentrée surtout sur les aspects textuels, plutôt qu'acoustiques, musicaux et performatifs. Or, dans les veillées, la pratique des lamentations s'inscrit dans un univers sonore riche, complexe et multisensoriel où pleurs, sanglots, gestes et paroles se mêlent et sont tous porteurs de sens.Chez les Tsiganes de la région Tîrnava Micǎ, cet univers sonore est enrichi par la Résumé L'article analyse le rôle de la musique dans les veillées funèbres célébrées par les Tsiganes de Transylvanie centrale (Roumanie) durant les deux nuits qui pré-cèdent l'enterrement. Les actions rituelles sont centrées sur une dimension affective: l'expression obligée de la jale (chagrin), la « contagion émotionnelle » par effet de la milǎ (pitié, compassion, empathie AbstractThis paper discusses the role of music in the funeral vigils celebrated by Gypsies of central Transylvania (Romania) during the two nights before the burial. The ritual actions are focused on an emotional dimension : the forced expression of the jale (grief), the "emotional contagion" effect of milǎ (mercy, compassion, empathy). Instrumental music structures the ritual experience in terms of emotional interactions and relationships established between the different participants.