Interpretations : What do they mean for audiences?

Despite the wide number of performance-analysis studies conducted on a vast array of instruments and musical genres, we are still unclear about how particular human performances affect the way we hear a certain piece. Why do some renditions of a piece feel as if we are hearing this music for the first time in a completely new way? Studies on the effect of pitch and rhythm in composed pieces have demonstrated a certain amount of knowledge in how we perceive a piece of music, but within different renditions of the same music, how is it possible for us to “hear” it differently? This study aims to answer these questions by exploring the nature of perceptual cues in expressive performance, in an effort to determine their causal effects.

Aims

This study aims to examine this perceptual issue from both the source (the performance) and the result (the perception of the same performance). By looking at both sides of this communication, we may be able to make links between certain performance choices and how they affect the audience's general perception of the music.

Methods

A few pieces will be chosen, known to have several different "interpretations". These will be performed live and recorded in a manner amenable to performance analysis of features such as tempo and dynamics.

These pieces will be presented to audience judges asked to rate them in terms of phrasing (i.e. structural features) and tension (i.e. emotional features). Agreements and differences between subjects will be examined as well as their links to any particular performance features.

Publications

MacRitchie, J. (2011) "Exploring the Perceptual Effects of Performers' Interpretations" Conference on Interdisciplinary Musicology, Glasgow, UK (Forthcoming)