Hearing and Seeing Musical Expression

Abstract

Everybody assumes (1) that musical performances are sonic events and (2) that their expressive properties are sonic properties. This paper discusses recent findings in the psychology of music perception that show that visual information combines with auditory information in the perception of musical expression. The findings show at the very least that arguments are needed for (1) and (2). If music expresses what we think it does, then its expressive properties may be visual as well as sonic; and if its expressive properties are purely sonic, then music expresses less than we think it does. And if the expressive properties of music are visual as well as sonic, then music is not what we think it is—it is not purely sonic.

Sight over sound in the judgment of music performance

“…Visual information may be powerful through its associations with expressive behavior (16,56) and through its emotional impact. Professional musicians may value novelty (57), involvement (58), motivation, and passion (59) as essential to the quality of creative performance.…”

“…Although people often make evaluations quickly on the basis of visual cues (4-7, 13, 14), these cues have traditionally been neglected (15) and discounted as peripheral to the meaning of music (16). However, people can lack insight into their own preferences and cognitive processes (17)(18)(19), or be unable or unwilling to report their beliefs (20,21).…”

“…However, research points to the influence of visual information on the perception and processing of sound (22,23), extending even to the domain of music (16,24). Given that the literature suggests that either audition (25)(26)(27) or vision (28)(29)(30) may dominate, and that the two modalities can be complementary (31)(32)(33)(34)(35) and share many similarities in their cognitive processing (36,37), these experiments offer a direct comparison of the extent to which auditory versus visual cues affect our evaluations and decision making.…”

Playing for a Virtual Audience: The Impact of a Social Factor on Gestures, Sounds and Expressive Intents

“…Such practice still remains in our mediatized society [34]. The visual component of the live music performance contributes significantly to the appreciation of music performance [35,36]. Malin (2008) even concludes that a "variety of musical properties and types of evaluations can be affected by the visual information" [37].…”

Interpretivistic Conception of Quantification: Tool for Enhancing Quality of Life?

“…More pertinently, how are broadly based responses elicited and what salience can be attributed to various features that elicit these responses? To take just one example, the perception of musical sound can evoke a broad spectrum of emotional repertoire, with origins in multiple cognitive centers (Bergeron & Lopes, 2009). …”