Music at Hand: Instruments, Bodies, and Cognition (Oxford Studies in Music Theory)

From Prehistoric Bone Flutes To Pipe Organs To Digital Synthesizers, Instruments Have Been Important To Musical Cultures Around The World. Yet, How Do Instruments Affect Musical Organization? And How Might They Influence Players' Bodies And Minds? Music At Hand Explores These Questions With A Distinctive Blend Of Music Theory, Psychology, And Philosophy. Practicing An Instrument, Of Course, Builds Bodily Habits And Skills. But It Also Develops Connections Between Auditory And Motor Regions In A Player's Brain. These Multi-sensory Links Are Grounded In Particular Instrumental Interfaces. They Reflect The Ways That An Instrument Converts Action Into Sound, And The Ways That It Coordinates Physical And Tonal Space. Ultimately, These Connections Can Shape Listening, Improvisation, Or Composition. This Means That Pianos, Guitars, Horns, And Bells Are Not Simply Tools For Making Notes. Such Technologies, As Creative Prostheses, Also Open Up Possibilities For Musical Action, Perception, And Cognition. Throughout The Book, Author Jonathan De Souza Examines Diverse Musical Case Studies-from Beethoven To Blues Harmonica, From Bach To Electronic Music-introducing Novel Methods For The Analysis Of Body-instrument Interaction. A Companion Website Supports These Analytical Discussions With Audiovisual Examples, Including Motion-capture Videos And Performances By The Author. Written In Lucid Prose, Music At Hand Offers Substantive Insights For Music Scholars, While Remaining Accessible To Non-specialist Readers. This Wide-ranging Book Will Engage Music Theorists And Historians, Ethnomusicologists, Organologists, Composers, And Performers-but Also Psychologists, Philosophers, Media Theorists, And Anyone Who Is Curious About How Musical Experience Is Embodied And Conditioned By Technology [publisher Description] Introduction -- Beethoven's Prosthesis -- Sounding Actions -- Idiomaticity, Or, Three Ways To Play Harmonica -- Voluntary Self-sabotage -- Compositional Instruments -- Horns To Be Heard. Jonathan De Souza. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 169-186) And Index. Musical instruments ground players’ actions and the sounds they create. Yet this book further claims that instruments mediate perception and imagination. Practicing an instrument builds bodily skills, while also fostering auditory-motor connections in players’ brains. These intersensory links reflect the ways that a particular instrument converts action into sound, the ways that it coordinates tonal and physical space. Reactivated in various ways, these connections can influence instrumentalists’ listening, improvisation, and composition. To investigate these effects, the book engages both classical and popular styles, from Bach to electronic music, from Beethoven to the blues. It uses Lewinian transformational theory to model instrumental interfaces and to analyze patterns of body-instrument interaction. Though based in music theory and analysis, the book also draws on psychology, including cognitive neuroscience, and the phenomenological philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Martin Heidegger. Ultimately, it argues that music cognition is not simply embodied; it is also conditioned by musical technology. Musical instruments ground players' actions and the sounds they create. Yet this work further claims that instruments mediate perception and imagination. Practicing an instrument builds bodily skills, while also fostering auditory-motor connections in players' brains. These intersensory links reflect the ways that a particular instrument converts action into sound, the ways that it coordinates tonal and physical space. Reactivated in various ways, these connections can influence instrumentalists' listening, improvisation, and composition. To investigate these effects, the text engages both classical and popular styles, from Bach to electronic music, from Beethoven to the blues Music at Hand shows how sound, action, and perception are connected in instrumental performance, asking how this integration affects listening, improvisation, and composition. Traversing disciplinary boundaries and diverse musical styles, this innovative book analyzes forms of musical experience that are both embodied and conditioned by technology Content: Cover Series Music at Hand Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments About the Companion Website Introduction 1. Beethoven's Prosthesis 2. Sounding Actions 3. Idiomaticity or, Three Ways to Play Harmonica 4. Voluntary Self-​Sabotage 5. Compositional Instruments 6. Horns To Be Heard References Index