In my previous post, I outlined an approach to the teaching of music theory that took music perception and cognition as its point of departure. In this post, I'll introduce a performance studies-based approach, the second of three approaches that I outlined in another post.
Performance studies takes a variety of forms. My approach to the topic is most in line with the field as defined by Richard Schechner. A performance-studies approach to music theory is rooted in the assumption that music is something that people do. By comparing characteristics of a variety of performances, we can arrive at high-level commonalities that all performances share. As such, it moves away from the autonomy of the score and explores the myriad manifestations of that score in performance. This approach is greatly facilitated by the widespread availability of inexpensive audio and video recordings of performances.
A performance studies approach to music theory might encompass any of the following topics: embodiment, music and gesture, music (concerts) as ritual, enhancing musical performance, and/or theatrical aspects of performance.
Embodiment theory suggests that we understand the world through our bodily experiences in it. This theory originates largely with the (non-musical) work of Lakoff and Johnson. As an example, if someone says "Things are looking up today," we understand that to be a positive, optimistic statement, since "up" is generally mapped onto several reactions of the body to positive feelings: when we're happy, our head is held higher, we look up, we smile, etc. An embodied music theory (there are many already out there: see Cumming's The sonic self or Zbikowski's Conceptualizing music for two prominent examples) would examine how we experience music in relation to our bodies. For example, we say that pitch is either high or low, but on the piano, high = right and low = left; on the cello, high = down and low = up.
An extension of this might be seen in the phenomenon of air guitar, whereby a listener "understands" and experiences the music he or she is listening to in a bodily way, mimicking the movements of the guitar player to some extent or another.
Music and gesture can be split into two broad fields: empirical studies of the body in motion during performance and more humanistic approaches to the study of musical (as opposed to bodily) gesture. The first approach yields insight into how the body is used in performance. One might take Hans Sturm's work with Francois Rabbath, The art of the bow, as a starting point here:
The DVD was designed to help students of the double bass refine their bowing technique, but the gestures themselves could be analyzed in a variety of ways. Here, a piece of music isn't notes on a page, but a compendium of bodily motion. I chose this particular clip because of the technology involved: this infrared dot to computer mapping seems particularly useful for abstracting motion. (I think it's the same technique, basically, that is used in the creation of video games.)
The more humanistic approach to gesture is best exemplified by some of Robert Hatten's recent work, builds on work by theorists of gesture in language to suggest that we can understand musical gestures (here, groupings of notes on the page; like motives) in the same ways we understand the gestures that accompany speech.
Many aspects of musical behavior have become ritualized. Christopher Small's book Musicking is an in-depth study of the ritualization of the typical Western Classical concert. Studies of music as ritual might produce new and interesting ways of presenting musical performances that force us to negotiate the reverential nature of conventional musical performance.
I've written previously on this blog about performance enhancement, and I have an article forthcoming in 2009 in this journal on that very topic. I won't spoil the fun here.
One could also examine theatrical aspects of musical performance. How important is the visual component of music? Virtuosity seems a particularly apt topic of study in this arena. An example I like to use with my students asks them to watch the following two videos with the sound off and discuss the expressive qualities of each:
Certainly, there are reasons that Vengerov's physical presence may be more exaggerated than Szeryng's (orchestra vs. piano; recorded vs. "live," etc.), but these are all worthwhile considerations to discuss.
In summary, a performance studies approach views music fundamentally as a human activity and examines all of the ways that bodies participate in music making. The biggest advantage of this approach that I see is almost immediate practical application: this approach complements nicely what students are learning in their private lessons. I suspect this approach might also produce more critically-minded students, since they've spent their days comparing and contrasting a variety of different performances, much like a newspaper critic would have to do. The down side (and maybe this isn't a down side at all) is that notated music takes a distant backseat to the visual (i.e., performing body) and aural manifestations of that score.
Look for the final installment of this series sometime next week.
P.S. I'm teaching my performance studies course again this summer session. I have the students keeping a blog here. Feel free to stop by and heckle them.
Performance studies takes a variety of forms. My approach to the topic is most in line with the field as defined by Richard Schechner. A performance-studies approach to music theory is rooted in the assumption that music is something that people do. By comparing characteristics of a variety of performances, we can arrive at high-level commonalities that all performances share. As such, it moves away from the autonomy of the score and explores the myriad manifestations of that score in performance. This approach is greatly facilitated by the widespread availability of inexpensive audio and video recordings of performances.
A performance studies approach to music theory might encompass any of the following topics: embodiment, music and gesture, music (concerts) as ritual, enhancing musical performance, and/or theatrical aspects of performance.
Embodiment theory suggests that we understand the world through our bodily experiences in it. This theory originates largely with the (non-musical) work of Lakoff and Johnson. As an example, if someone says "Things are looking up today," we understand that to be a positive, optimistic statement, since "up" is generally mapped onto several reactions of the body to positive feelings: when we're happy, our head is held higher, we look up, we smile, etc. An embodied music theory (there are many already out there: see Cumming's The sonic self or Zbikowski's Conceptualizing music for two prominent examples) would examine how we experience music in relation to our bodies. For example, we say that pitch is either high or low, but on the piano, high = right and low = left; on the cello, high = down and low = up.
An extension of this might be seen in the phenomenon of air guitar, whereby a listener "understands" and experiences the music he or she is listening to in a bodily way, mimicking the movements of the guitar player to some extent or another.
Music and gesture can be split into two broad fields: empirical studies of the body in motion during performance and more humanistic approaches to the study of musical (as opposed to bodily) gesture. The first approach yields insight into how the body is used in performance. One might take Hans Sturm's work with Francois Rabbath, The art of the bow, as a starting point here:
The DVD was designed to help students of the double bass refine their bowing technique, but the gestures themselves could be analyzed in a variety of ways. Here, a piece of music isn't notes on a page, but a compendium of bodily motion. I chose this particular clip because of the technology involved: this infrared dot to computer mapping seems particularly useful for abstracting motion. (I think it's the same technique, basically, that is used in the creation of video games.)
The more humanistic approach to gesture is best exemplified by some of Robert Hatten's recent work, builds on work by theorists of gesture in language to suggest that we can understand musical gestures (here, groupings of notes on the page; like motives) in the same ways we understand the gestures that accompany speech.
Many aspects of musical behavior have become ritualized. Christopher Small's book Musicking is an in-depth study of the ritualization of the typical Western Classical concert. Studies of music as ritual might produce new and interesting ways of presenting musical performances that force us to negotiate the reverential nature of conventional musical performance.
I've written previously on this blog about performance enhancement, and I have an article forthcoming in 2009 in this journal on that very topic. I won't spoil the fun here.
One could also examine theatrical aspects of musical performance. How important is the visual component of music? Virtuosity seems a particularly apt topic of study in this arena. An example I like to use with my students asks them to watch the following two videos with the sound off and discuss the expressive qualities of each:
Certainly, there are reasons that Vengerov's physical presence may be more exaggerated than Szeryng's (orchestra vs. piano; recorded vs. "live," etc.), but these are all worthwhile considerations to discuss.
In summary, a performance studies approach views music fundamentally as a human activity and examines all of the ways that bodies participate in music making. The biggest advantage of this approach that I see is almost immediate practical application: this approach complements nicely what students are learning in their private lessons. I suspect this approach might also produce more critically-minded students, since they've spent their days comparing and contrasting a variety of different performances, much like a newspaper critic would have to do. The down side (and maybe this isn't a down side at all) is that notated music takes a distant backseat to the visual (i.e., performing body) and aural manifestations of that score.
Look for the final installment of this series sometime next week.
P.S. I'm teaching my performance studies course again this summer session. I have the students keeping a blog here. Feel free to stop by and heckle them.