Visual Perception of Expressiveness in Musicians' Body Movements

MUSICIANS OFTEN MAKE GESTURES and move their bodies expressing a musical intention. In order to explore to what extent emotional intentions can be conveyed through musicians' movements, participants watched and rated silent video clips of musicians performing the emotional intentions Happy, Sad, Angry, and Fearful. In the first experiment participants rated emotional expression and movement character of marimba performances. The results showed that the intentions Happiness, Sadness, and Anger were well communicated, whereas Fear was not. Showing selected parts of the player only slightly influenced the identification of the intended emotion. In the second experiment participants rated the same emotional intentions and movement character for performances on bassoon and soprano saxophone. The ratings from the second experiment confirmed that Fear was not communicated whereas Happiness, Sadness, and Anger were recognized. The rated movement cues were similar in the two experiments and were analogous to their audio counterpart in music performance.

Strategies for interaction in construction 3

This paper describes the interactive strategies adopted during the composition and realisation of construction 3 for soprano saxophone and multiple media, by Tony Myatt and Peter Fluck. This work is an interactive multiple media composition for computer, computer-enhanced saxophone and computer graphics projected onto irregularly shaped screens. Derivation of the performer sensing system and mapping strategies to control signal processing, computer generated materials and communication gestures between the performer and computer are described. These processes include generative mapping techniques using neural networks for the recognition of gestural information and the development and application of wireless, wearable sensing technology. This work is described as a holistic approach to the derivation of performer sensing, data mapping and the application of reactive and interactive processes in the context of the creation of a new musical and multiple media composition.