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Musical gcstures are musical acts. and our perception and understanding of
gestures involves understanding the physicality involved in their production. Al
one leve! this is a rather straightforward mauer, but when it comes 10 using rhe
concepl of 'gesture' 10 analyse meaning construction, sorne of our assumptions
leave problematic gaps in our cxplanations. For example, consider the following
claims by David Lidov ( 1987: 82, emphases added):
The variables of pulse are speed and intensity,
lntensity is involving. The values of simple pulse
trong, forcground pulse as in folk dances and
11101c111c111 directly. Attcnuatcd pulse is a factor in
Speed is excuing.
are fairly obvious:
marches controls
the sublimation o/
somaticforce.
On the surfacc there may not be a problcm here, since pulse is sornething we oflen
feel when listening to music and it does seern lo control movement in certain
coniexts. But there is a circularity here, for we could jusi as well say that a feeling
of moverncnt generales a fecling of pulse, and that the sublimation of somatic force
is a factor in attenuated pulse - or so 1 would claim. Wherc does this feclng of
pulse originatc? lfwe say tbat it is a property oftbe music (of the acoustic stimuli),
which we fcel when listcning to music, thcn we are lcd bnck lo whcrc \Vestartcd:
wc fccl pulse bccause pulse is thcre 10 be fcll. Thc problcm hcrc is onc shnrcd by
other concepts rclatcd to embodicd meaning, including 'gcsturc': How is it that
music rnakes us feel anything al ali? (1 am not refcrring nccessarily to emotional
feelings but 10 the more visceral sensations related directly lo movement.) In the
context of folk music and marches it might not seem that this is a matter in need of
explanation: peoplc dance to dance rnusic and march to mnrch music, and the
qucstion o how music works in thcsc contexts may not scern to sorne a crucial
arca of scholarly inquiry. However, Lidov is using these exarnples of obvious
physicnl engagernent as part oan cxplanation of how similar types of engagernent
occur in musical experience generally, including 'art music', and sincc this
engagemenl and its cause are not as obvious as in other repertoires, and because a
great deal is at stake, this claim requires a more explicit understanding of how
music engagcs us. What is at stake, to my mind, is the claim that musical meaning
is generated by our embodied experience of it - that our embodicd experience is
not only nccessary for expcricncing meaning that is somchow inhercnt in the music
Copyl'l<ll"llXI
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46
47
Mimctlc Participation
Co1..yr .1htcdir,-.1011
48
produce speech and song). To pul it another way, in each case thc sounds are
evidence of the motor actions that produce them, and our comprchension of the
sounds involves comprehension of the relevant motor actions. In addirion to the
clinical evidence, we also have (5) the indirect evidencc of our vocal descriptions
of non-vocal sounds: we regularly describe instrumental sounds in terrns of vocal
sounds (such as cantabile for an instrumental mclody), and thc voicc is rcgularly
uscd as a modcl for mclodic playing in instrumental pcdagogy. One implication of
this is that instrumental sounds are rcgularly conceptualized in tenns of vocal
cxpcrience, and that this is motivated by subvocal imitation of non-vocal music,
l.
Imitation in face-to-face comrnunication includes, among other tbings,
srudies of infant-parent intcractions.3 Babies imitatc ihosc around them and this is
pan of how we lcam to understand otbcrs: wc scc and hcar things - facial, vocal,
gestural - and wc imitare thcsc actions. Our specics sccms to have evolvcd in such
a way that succcssful imitation is crucial for succcssful communication, including
leaming to reproduce thc vocal sounds of spcech. Signi ficantly, when infants and
parents imeract it is not only the infants who do thc imitating but the parents as
well. Why should it be that parents spend any Limeirnitating their bables? One way
10 understand this is that mutual imitation fosters mutual understanding. In mutual
imitation we bccome likc those we are trying to undcrstand - we undcrstand (in
sorne mcasure) what it must be like to be thcm because we are being like them.
This son of empathy is fundamental 10 being human, which brings up another
point. While it might seem thai the imitation we praciise as infants is something we
outgrow. it appears instead that our imitation becornes more covert as wc mature and occasionally becomes overt in certain situations. We can understand this as
resuhing from thc gradual development of motor imagery: the capacity to
remcmber and plan motor actions in imagination, without having to rehcarse these
actions ovenly.
2.
Some of the best evidence for mirnetic participarion gcnerally comes from
studics of mirror 11e11rom. These are neurons that firc not only when a goaloricruated action is pcrformed - particularly grasping gestures - but also whcn
similar actions are obscrved. Care must be takcn in applying this evidencc to
music-producing actions (which have yet to be studied direetly). but the findings
are suggestive.
3.
Perhaps the most spccialized motor imagery is that rclatcd to speech
production and comprehcnsion, and part of how wc comprehend speech is through
mimetic subvocalization (Gibson & Levin 1975; Gathercole & Baddcley 1993).5
Wc can vicw subvocalization in aduhs as a covcn form of what infants and
children do in acquiring language. We can also see this as a special case of motor
imagery: this aspee! of speech comprehension is comprehension of the motor
actions that produce thc sounds of spccch. In addition to the speaking voice, not
surprisingly, a similar process occurs in comprehending the singing voice,6 so that
pan of how wc undcrstand song (in real time and in reeaU) involves subvocal
imitation. Since subvocalization is groundcd in the physical cxpcricncc of ovcrt
vocalization, comprchension of heard song thus appears 10 involve comparison
with our own experience of singing or otherwise vocalizing. This subvocal
cmpathy is part of what wc fccl when listcning to singing, and difTerent kinds of
OL.Yr Jh"
49
singing (e.g. Dusty Springfield, Maria Callas, Janis Joplin, Ella Fitzgerald) can be
understood to generate dilTerent kinds of feeling in pan because they invite
differcnt kinds of mimetic participation.
4.
There is a similar story to be told about instrumental musical sounds but it
is twofold. There is little dircct evidencc for mimctic motor imagery regarding thc
motor actions of instrumental musicians - we have, for example, the fingcr
movemeots of pianists when listening to piano music (Haueisen & Knoschc 2001)
- but 1 believe that it is only a matter oftime before we have more evidence in this
domain. Clynes's (1977) work indicares a degrec ofisornorphic physical responses
across modalitics. By itself his work rnight be interpreted as indicating little more
than thc fact that music generales a physiological response that somchow marches
the intensity of the rnusic heard; however, in combination with thcse other kinds of
cvidence his work can be interpreted as part of an impulse to understand through
imitation - by matching (unconsciously, or normally so) the physiological intensity
that is somehow isomorphic with the rnusic and its meaos of production.
5.
Of panicular interest is the cvidcncc for subvocalizaticn for instrumental
mclodies (Baddeley & Logie 1992; Smith, Reisberg & Wilson 1992). Since most
of us havc a voice and havc used it to make and imitare sounds for most of our
lives, it should not be surprising that we would draw on vocal irnagcry to
understand instrumental musical sounds generally. But this means that musical
sounds generally are understood partly in terms of our embodied vocal experience,
making the exertions of specch and song relevant for understanding music
generally. In other words, pan of what we fccl when listcning to music are the
imagined, imitativc (sub)vocal cxertions along with the imagined, imitative intramodal exertions (the exertions specific to a given instrument). We can see this as
being reflected in our vocal descriptions of instrumental sounds: 'cantabile",
'cantilena' and 'mezza vocc' in music for strings and for piano; polyphonic
'volees': 'voicings' of piano hammers and organ pipes; 'choirs' of strings;
'scrcarning' jazz trumpets and rock guitars; and getting notes to 'speak' on wind
instrurnents. To feel what 1 mean, try the following: recall a favourite instrumental
mclody - perhaps the slow movcmcnt of a symphony or a chambcr work - and
while doing so, ask whether your voice is engaged in any way at ali: thc fccling of
singing along, or only the urge to somehow participare subvocally. With few
exceprions peoplc repon that they do indeed feel sorne son of subvocal
cngngement. (There are several ways in which this could be and should be tesred
cmpirically, along with the question of whether people subvocalize without being
aware of it.) This is a remarkablc phcnomcnon - that rccall of an instrumental
mclody should cngagc thc voice - because it indicates that pan of how we
cornprehend music (at least in rccall), is in terms of vocal cxpcriencc, rcgardless of
the medium of the sourcc. This would makc the exertions of vocal experience
relevan! for comprehension
and conceptualizarion
of music generally and
regularly, and this would give us une way of showing explicitly how musical
meaning is embodied. For this to be dircctly relevant to 'gesture', however, it
would have to be shown how exertions in the vocal modality are felt in other
modalities. 1 addrcss this in thc next scction.
50
Violin
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Example 3.l
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51
well as subvocal imitation of the pitch, contour, rhythm, accents (phenomenal and
agogic) and dynamic level. But I believe that most of us would also feel something
that was not located in either the limbs or the voice - something in the gut that
somehow matched the energy pattern of the music. This might well be manifest in
the modalities of toe-tapping, head-bobbing and/or conducting, but none of these
are specified by the music (the violin playing). The question of where in the body
an amodal representation might be located is irrlportant, and it may be that this is
only a phantasm resulting from the fact that embodied representations can be and
are manifest in any of several modalities.7 But the more crucial point here is that,
according to the mimetic hypothesis, a musical gesture motivates imitative
representations that are not confined to the modality in which they are produced
(for example, the finger and arm movements of a violinist). This means that a
gesture has a meaning which is at once in accord with its mode of production and
transcendent of its mode of production. The melodic 'sigh', for example, retains its
vocality while being comprehensible as a sigh in any instrumental medium. It is
not sigh-like only by exterior (acoustic) association with its origins in vocal
repertoire, because even in an instrumental realization it is comprehended in part
via subvocal imitation: it is sigh-like because it is comprehended by the sighproducing medium of the voice. At present, however, although the mimetic
hypothesis shows that comprehension is cross-modal, it can only suggest that there
might be an amodal, visceral representation.
52
rhythm) thcn 1scc lcss scnsc in using tcrms such as 'sigh' and 'gesturc'. In thc case
of the 'sigh , we might say that in each performance medium it sounds like a sigh.
This is true enough, and an exterior mapping - this event sounds like that event
sounds - might suffice to account for the metaphoric tcrm 'melodic sigh', \Ve
could also specify thc identity in terms of shared acoustic features in order to
cxplain the rcasoning. But 1do not fiad this satisfactory. for whcn 1 hcnr a 'sigh' 1
feel a sigh, or somcthing very much like the feeling of a sigh. 1 believe that this
feeling motivares and grounds the meaning ofterms like 'sigh' and 'gesturc', and 1
believe we ought to seek a theory that accounts for the viscerally afTective
dimension of musical meaning.
\Ve might apply Johnsoa's theory of image schemata (Johnson 1987) and
note that cach mclodic sigh performcd by vnrious instrumcnts maaifcsts. somchow,
thc samc irnagc schcrna; and wc rnight furthcr note that imagc schcmata are
grounded in ernbodied experience, and that this ernbodied grounding is thus the
basis for using the terms 'sigh' and 'gesturc'. Such an application of Johnson's
work gives usa very good conjecture, but we would still need to specify the means
by which musical gestures are ernbodied. This, thcn. is preciscly where thc
mimetic hypotbesis bccomcs relevan! for gcsture theory. First, sincc thc tcrm
'rnclodic sigh' makcs seosc in sorne measurc as a sigh, regardlcss of the
performance medium, and since the term 'musical gesturc' makes sense in sorne
measure as gesture, regardlcss of the performance medium, thcn we must considcr
what ihese have in common as sighs and other gestures. Second, since the acoustic
features by themselves motivare only a superficial understanding (this sounds like
tltat), thosc of us interested in embodied meaning must explain how events called
'rnelodic sighs' and 'musical gesrures' fee/ like gestures and sighs. According to
the mimetic hypothesis, events that wc call 'gcsrurcs' and 'sighs' not only souod
alike, but thcy also fccl alikc because thcy are ali comprehendcd in part via
mimctic participation. Specifically, cornprehcnsion of a mclodic sigh involvcs thc
following (in various rneasures, in both real time and rccall):
tire vio/in: ( 1) imitation of the fingering and the bowing; (2) subvocal
imitation of the musical sounds produced (the rwo-note dcscent, likely sbaped in
sorne mensure by timbre aod dynamic level); and (3) amodal. visceral imitation of
thc exenion dynamic of the evcnt.
011
011 tite oboe: (1) irnitation of the fingcring, cmbouchurc and blowing; (2)
subvocal imitation of the musical sounds produced (thc two-note dcsccnt); and (3)
amodal, visceral imitation of the exertion dynamic of the event,
on the piano: ( 1) imitation of tbe finger and arm movernents; (2) subvocal
imitation of the musical sounds produced (thc two-note dcsccnt); and (3) amodal,
visceral imitation of thc cxcrtion dyoamic of the cvcnt.
Notice that only the superficial medium difTers(the fingcrings and so forth), which
is not where the essence of 'sigh' tics. Rcgardless of thc performance medium,
Capyri<;bled rnot ri
53
each is comprchendcd via subvecal imitarion, and in this way each not only sounds
likc a sigh butfee/s like a sigh.
11is worth noting here that in each case the fingcr movernents are nlso
imitated, and we ought to ask why this docs not motivare a compcting
conceptualization. There are severa! factors that work against a digitally based
conceprualization. Onc is that there is not necessarily a one-to-one correspondence
in each case, since a stepwise dcsccnt on the oboe might involvc a combinarion of
severa! fingers. Anotber reason is that the finger acrions here are out of proponion
with thc most salicnt features o the cvent - thc duration, contour, timbre, dynamic
levcl and harrnonic/tonal context - and are instead rcsponsible for only the vertical
dimension of the contour. Nonetheless, in another context the finger acrions could
easily bccome much more salient, as in a virtuosic passage work, and in sucb a
case a different sort of conceptualization would be motivated - sucb as the
rnctaphors of 'passagc' or 'run' (including thc corrente).
Returning now to Hauen's prcsuppositions. the first ofthesc also leads to
anothcr importan! qucstion: how might gcstures bccome abstractcd into gesturcs of
a charactcr or a persona? According 10 ihc mirnctic hypothcsis, we experience
pauerns of exenion by way of mimetic participation. and in this way it is as if we
are acting - acting in a way that is more or less isomorphic with the soundproducing actions heard (and sccn). In conceptualizing these patterns of exertion.
wc rnap these amo our own experiencc of making similar cxcnions. and among thc
most straighrforward rnappings is that omo gestures: wc do not fcel only abstrae!
sensarions of cxertion; wc also undcrstand these as the intentional, expressive
gestures that we have madc and have scen made in other domains of experience.
One result of this mimetic participation is that we enact the role of a character or
persona - that oan ideal gesturing perforrner (at once making music and not, since
tbc excrtions are not confined to tbe spccific domain of sound production), At tbe
same time. howcvcr, thc othemcss of the music rcmains, sincc wc are not thc
principie (original) souree of the sounds with wbich we are engaging. The fact that
the musie is produced by a source exterior 10 ourselves may be what motivares a
projcction of our rnimetic musical agency outwards, perhaps towards this exterior
source. 8111sincc this agency cannot be identified directly with the actlons of the
performers, it remains nn ideal agency 1ha1 is noi-us. We call this agent 'the
music', and its genesis might follow this pattern: (1) the sound-producing actions
ofthe pcrforrncrs are (2) henrd/scen and imitatcd by a listcner, which (3) morivatcs
a participatory agcncy within the listcncr, which (4) is thcn projectcd ourwards
towards the original sourcc but which (5) cnnnot be identified directly with this
source and so rcmains ideal.
The only oiher of Hallen's cight prcsuppositions that 1 wish to consider
here is that regarding posture (presupposition 8), which he says 'rnay be considered
as gesture "under a fermata." A "frozen rnotion" or pose may revea! the energy and
affect with which it is invested. Sucb momcnts can be among the most powerful in
music. Part of their affect results simply frorn the anticipation of what will follow.
hui part ofit results from the feeling ofbolding an imagined pose. According to the
mirnetic hyporhesis, in the case of a hcld mamen! we fecl vicariously thc cnergy
rcquired to sustain a sound - ar 10sustain a silcncc - in sorne cornbination of intra-
54
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imitation of the ann gesrurcs, subvocal imitation of the sounds produced, nnd a
visceral exertion that matches the excrtion dynamic manifest in thc music. Again,
the degree and combination of participation will vary from pcrson to pcrson, so
that more properly 1 should say that thcse are ihe specific kinds of participation that
the music affords and motivates. With respect to the bass-line chords, we feel the
rwo-part arm gcsturcs and thcir gradual progression 'up' the keyboard (that is, their
progression 10 thc right), Wc also fccl what it would be like to sing the sounds that
are produced by these gesrures, including the difference in tcrms of what wc cali
'pitch', which in this case gives us 'asccnt'. Finaliy, we also fecl an amodal,
visceral excrtion that is in this case more or less isomorphic with the imagined ann
and vocal excrtions. As in other domains of experience, the embodied feelings
motvate conccptualization in tenns of basic, concrete experience (Lakoff &
Jobnson 1980, 1999; Johnson 1987), and these include 'gesture as wcli as the
quasi-objective spatial conceptions. Tite pattern of cxcrtion in the Schubert, within
and between the succcssive lefl-hand gcsturcs, activares thc conceptual metaphors
greater is higher and states are locations, along with the related metaphors of
change o/ state is motion between locations (change is motion} and difference
56
excrtions involvcd in thc sound's production, and the exertion dynamic that we fecl
is more or lcss isomorphic with the fecling of striving, progressing and gesturing.
CopyrllJltlodmal "
57
have the advantage of aligning with our more general epistemology but which also
have the disadvantage of objectifying a non-objective, embodied experience.
But we have another way of conceptualizing knowledge in English, and
that is in terms of 'grasping' (Johnson 1987; Sweetser 1990; Cox 1999b).
'Comprehend', 'conceive' and 'perceive' are each grounded in the experience of
grasping. Much like our visual bias, the importance of grasping objects in the
history ofour species makes it unsurprising that 'grasping' should structure our
conception of conceiving and comprehending. But grasping has a different feel
than seeing: grasping is more immediate; and while it still objectifies that which is
grasped, our knowledge of the thing grasped is more intimate and visceral than it is
when we simply regard it. The large-scale 'structure' of a musical work is perhaps
not easily graspable, but in contrast to this, we know a work more intimately in our
moment-to-moment experience of its more easily graspable events and relations
(Levinson 1997), and these events and relations are at the level of motives, figures
and gestures. But 'motive' and 'figure' do not reflect that quasi-tangible feature
indicated by 'gesture', which focuses our attention on a more physically intimate
understanding of how the music works.
To see this - to feel this - compare the following conceptualizations of
the opening two-note event of the finale of the Beethoven Violin Concerto: (1) a
figure, (2) a motive, (3) a leap and (4) a gesture. 'Figure' suggests something that
is external to us and fixed. 'Motive' highlights the dynamic of change, conceived
as motion, but still leaves the event(s) as extemal. 'Leap ' suggests a more
embodied sense of motion, but it is too big for us to feel directly in terms of our
own experience of leaping: to leap requires a much greater exertion than the
exertion reflected in this opening event; it has an analogous dynamic, or exertion
'contour', but it is out of proportion. However, 'gesture' suggests not only an
analogous exertion dynamic, but one of the same proportion, and this isomorphism
affords a closer comparison with our own embodied experience.
'Gesture' seems to match best the level at which we grasp (comprehend)
music most viscerally and intimately, and in this way it highlights a kind of
musical knowing that is distinct from our more visual and quasi-objective
conceptualizations. By focusing on musical gestures we draw attention to a crucial
area of musical meaning, and by understanding how musical gestures are grasped
and conceived we strengthen our understanding of how musical meaning is
constructed.
Notes
1. This is a slightly different formulation than that in Cox 2001.
2. One exception is Clynes (1977), who offers a particular kind of empirical
evidence which I discuss below. Lidov (1987) bases his arguments on Clynes's
work.
58
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