Body as a foundation of musical sound: An ecological attempt to explore the embodied nature of dexterity in musical performance

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24500333
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cognitive science
• Research Institution: Komazawa Women's University
• Principal Investigator: Maruyama Shin 駒沢女子大学, 人文学部, 准教授 (60530219)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): TOMITA Masao 藤田保健衛生大学, 医療衛生学部, その他(客員教授) (40367694) ; FURUYAMA Nobuhiro 早稲田大学, 人間科学学術院, 教授 (20333544) ; MISHIMA Hiroyuki 早稲田大学, 人間科学学術院, 准教授 (90288051) ; NOMOTO Yukio 玉川大学, 芸術学部, 教授 (50407748)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 巧みさ / 器楽演奏 / 姿勢 / 協調 / 生態心理学 / 理学療法 / 身体性認知科学 / 音楽教育

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of our research was, in the light of an ecological approach, to investigate musicians’ bodily skills and their coordinative body structure that acts as a foundation of “dexterity” in musical performance. First, in order to record the features of body movement, we designed an experiment with a professional violinist and asked her to play musical fragments before and after receiving ecological-physical therapy. We found differences in the sensor data and also in the therapist’s diagnosis after the treatment. This implied that, through the therapy, the violinist’s muscle tension was reduced and some coordinative structures between body segments emerged and/or were re-activated, which increased flexibility and allowed the violinist to improve her performance. Additionally, we attempted to describe the continuity between experts’ bodily skills and young infants’ musical activities with reference to studies on the development of children’s physical and musical abilities.

Free Research Field

認知科学