Bodily movement and facial actions in expressive musical performance by solo and duo instrumentalists: Two distinctive case studies

Abstract

The research literature concerning gesture in musical performance increasingly reports that musically communicative and meaningful performances contain highly expressive bodily movements. These movements are involved in the generation of the musically expressive performance, but enquiry into the development of expressive bodily movement has been limited. In two studies this paper explores the expressive components of bodily movement in both solo and ensemble musical performance. The first study examined flute and clarinet performers in both solo and duo settings. Whilst each player had a specific way of expressing musical goals through their bodily movement, there were features common to the woodwind instruments investigated. Detailed analyses revealed that, although many movements were possible, performers used only six basic expressive gesture types. The second study described a performance of the internationally celebrated pianist, Lang Lang, focusing on the relationship between musical affect, bodily movement and facial expression. Analysis also revealed extensive and striking use of combined bodily and facial expression, which were involved in articulating structural features of the music and the narrative of the work. Findings suggest the existence of a repertoire of expressive information used for the generation of expressive ideas, and available to the observers of music performers.

Musical disembodiment: A phenomenological case study investigating the experiences of operatic career disruption due to physical incapacity

“…The authors surmised that singers needed to develop a range of characteristics not required by other musicians, such as bodily gestures and facial expressions as a means of communication. Although body movement and facial expression are now frequently employed by instrumentalists to convey musical expression to an audience (Davidson 2007(Davidson , 2012, emphasis on body work is a particular issue in contemporary opera production. Opera singers are required to have film star looks and execute feats of athleticism while still producing a beautiful vocal tone.…”

Music as a manifestation of life: exploring enactivism and the ‘eastern perspective’ for music education

“…Such insights have prompted a range of interdisciplinary research that is developing a much more nuanced and embodied view of what communication and meaning-making (musical or otherwise) entails (Searle, 1967; Streek, 1980; Runeson and Frykholm, 1983; Davidson, 2005, 2012; Johnson, 2007; DeNora, 2011). Above all, this work highlights the fact that meaning is not communicated solely through linguistic abstractions, and that action, feeling and lived embodied histories involving participatory forms of sense-making are central to the construction of meaning in creative living communication (Sheets-Johnstone, 1999, 2010; De Jaegher and Di Paolo, 2007; Jensen and Cuffari, 2014).…”

An Expressive Bodily Movement Repertoire for Marimba Performance, Revealed through Observers' Laban Effort-Shape Analyses, and Allied Musical Features: Two Case Studies

“…Looking at the relationship between basic effort actions and shape features, the results of the present study suggest that while ancillary movements and instrumental actions can occur separately, equally as much they appear as tightly coupled, or integrated actions. The observation in Case Study 2 that “goal-directed” basic effort action and shape features, reflecting postural effort, could co-occur or occur separately might suggest that expressive bodily movement is hierarchically organized (Davidson, 1994, 2002, 2005, 2012; Davidson and Correia, 2002). That is, postural shaping movements operate at a global level and “goal-directed” basic effort actions at a local level.…”