Expressiveness in music performance
2014
Abstract What does it mean to be expressive in music performance in diverse historical and cultural domains? What are the means at the disposal of a performer in various time periods and musical practice conventions? And what are the conceptualizations of expression and the roles of performers that shape expressive performance? For the first time, a wide variety of perspectives are assembled in one volume investigating expressiveness in performance in various styles and cultures, including the ways in which the improvisations of Louis Armstrong, studio-fashioned electronic dance music, and the songs of Bedzan Pygmies can be considered expressive. The volume is unique in combining historical, systematic, computational, and phenomenological approaches to performance, and in including empirical investigations of western and non-western classical music as well as western and non-western popular and folk music. The highlighted conceptualizations and materializations of expressiveness in performance are as diverse as one would hope them to be. More awareness of and focus on oral traditions and player interaction are needed for performance research to break away from the dogma of notation. While this challenges existing methods, computational and empirical approaches are nevertheless not only crucial, but also may become central to furthering our understanding of what makes music performance expressive.