Embodied Music Cognition and Mediation Technology. * Marc Leman.
David Borgo · Literary and Linguistic Computing · 2011
What does it mean to be ‘moved’ by music? Musical sounds can provoke strong emotions and profound physical and physiological experiences. In groups of people, music can synchronize or entrain participants and listeners. Yet music also generates highly personal evaluations of its meaning, and idiosyncratic interpretations of the intent of those who produced it. Given this considerable scope, can we investigate the foundations of musical experience? By what means does music signify? Might a better understanding of these complex issues lead to improved musical interactions in the digital age? Marc Leman, a Research Professor and Head of the Department of Musicology at Ghent University in Belgium, combines a thorough grounding in music cognition with an accessible writing style to explore these and other intriguing questions. Ultimately, Leman forwards a hypothesis about the nature of musical communication that foregrounds the role of the human body as a natural mediator of music. Leman's work, therefore, sits comfortably alongside other important research that explores the embodied and ecological dimensions of musical experience and maintains that actions form an important link between the mental and physical worlds.