Alpha oscillations related to self-other integration and distinction during live orchestral performance: A naturalistic case study

Abstract

Ensemble music performance requires musicians to achieve precise interpersonal coordination while maintaining autonomous control over their own actions. To do so, musicians dynamically shift between integrating other performers’ actions into their own action plans and maintaining a distinction between their own and others’ actions. Research in laboratory settings has shown that this dynamic process of self-other integration and distinction is indexed by sensorimotor alpha oscillations. The purpose of the current descriptive case study was to examine oscillations related to self-other integration and distinction in a naturalistic performance context. We measured alpha activity from four violinists during a concert hall performance of a 60-musician orchestra. We selected a musical piece from the orchestra’s repertoire and, before analyzing alpha activity, performed a score analysis to divide the piece into sections that were expected to strongly promote self-other integration and distinction. In line with previous laboratory findings, performers showed suppressed and enhanced alpha activity during musical sections that promoted self-other integration and distinction, respectively. The current study thus provides preliminary evidence that findings from carefully controlled laboratory experiments generalize to complex real-world performance. Its findings also suggest directions for future research and potential applications of interest to musicians, music educators, and music therapists.

A framework for joint music making: behavioral findings, neural processes, and computational models

“…Conversely, alpha oscillations were enhanced when the players were familiar with each other's parts but their performances were slightly desynchronized. This was associated with greater reliance on self-other segregation processes (Novembre et al, 2016; see also Christensen et al, 2022 for a similar result obtained measuring from a small orchestra). Shifting to multi-brain measures, a recent study reported higher INS in the gamma band when pianists were unfamiliar with each other's part (Gugnowska et al, 2022).…”