Meaningless movement or essential expression : A study about gestures

Sammanfattning: The thesis investigates how body movements influence a musical performance, with the aim to reach a more expressive performance by an increased awareness of gestures. In the study, three versions of the same clarinet piece were recorded on video; one with me, one with my clarinet teacher and one with a fellow clarinet student. The study addresses the following research questions: - How do body movements correspond to musical intentions? - How are my gestures formed and influenced by my teachers’ gestures? - In what ways can a raised awareness of gestures affect my musical performance? The videos were coded and analysed using open coding. As a reference, each clarinettist notated their intended phrasing in the score. This was marked as phrases (slurs) and Goal Points, and was also annotated in ELAN. With the intention to answer the first research question, the body movements were compared with the performers intended phrasing. In order to answer the second research question, coded sequences from each performance were compared with each other to find similarities and differences, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Finally, I recorded a second performance of the same piece to investigate whether awareness of gestures affected my performance. Results align with previous research and indicate that body gestures are unique for each performer and connected to musical intentions. Results also indicate a resemblance in movement patterns between my teacher’s performance and my own, suggesting that gestures can be transferred from teacher to student.