Une preuve du rôle des mouvements posturaux des violoncellistes dans la cohésion métrique de la partition

International audienceWhile playing expressively, cellists tend to produce postural movements, which seem to be part of their musical discourse. This article actually highlights the existence of a metric embodiment, i.e. a natural encoding of the score metric structure through specific periodicities of the musicians' postural movements. By the means of constrained postu-ral conditions, we assess the degradation of the metric coupling between postural and bowing gestures among several cellists. Results reveal that bowing displacements should be in coherence with their postural behavior in order to ensure a correct encoding of the metric hierarchy

An evidence of the role of the cellists' postural movements in the score metric cohesion

International audienceWhile playing expressively, cellists tend to produce postural movements, which seem to be part of their musical discourse. This article actually highlights the existence of a metric embodiment, i.e. a natural encoding of the score metric structure through specific periodicities of the musicians' postural movements. By the means of constrained postu-ral conditions, we assess the degradation of the metric coupling between postural and bowing gestures among several cellists. Results reveal that bowing displacements should be in coherence with their postural behavior in order to ensure a correct encoding of the metric hierarchy

Timbre from Sound Synthesis and High-level Control Perspectives

International audienceExploring the many surprising facets of timbre through sound manipulations has been a common practice among composers and instrument makers of all times. The digital era radically changed the approach to sounds thanks to the unlimited possibilities offered by computers that made it possible to investigate sounds without physical constraints. In this chapter we describe investigations on timbre based on the analysis by synthesis approach that consists in using digital synthesis algorithms to reproduce sounds and further modify the parameters of the algorithms to investigate their perceptual relevance. In the first part of the chapter timbre is investigated in a musical context. An examination of the sound quality of different wood species for xylophone making is first presented. Then the influence of instrumental control on timbre is described in the case of clarinet and cello performances. In the second part of the chapter, we mainly focus on the identification of sound morphologies, so called invariant sound structures responsible for the evocations induced by environmental sounds by relating basic signal descriptors and timbre descriptors to evocations in the case of car door noises, motor noises, solid objects, and their interactions

Multisensory learning in adaptive interactive systems

The main purpose of my work is to investigate multisensory perceptual learning and sensory integration in the design and development of adaptive user interfaces for educational purposes. To this aim, starting from renewed understanding from neuroscience and cognitive science on multisensory perceptual learning and sensory integration, I developed a theoretical computational model for designing multimodal learning technologies that take into account these results. Main theoretical foundations of my research are multisensory perceptual learning theories and the research on sensory processing and integration, embodied cognition theories, computational models of non-verbal and emotion communication in full-body movement, and human-computer interaction models. Finally, a computational model was applied in two case studies, based on two EU ICT-H2020 Projects, "weDRAW" and "TELMI", on which I worked during the PhD

Connecting orchestral conductors' interpretational intentions to conducting movement kinematics: a mixed-methods approach using Deviation Point Analysis

During orchestral performance, conductors play a role in which they provide their interpretations of the musical composition, communicating these interpretational intentions via their body movement. Pedagogical sources propose movement emblems for stock actions by which a conductor may deliver compositional and interpretational features in conducting practise. This thesis reports a mixed-methods study which provides empirical observations on the kinematic features evident in conducting practise, and which aims to explore the connection between such movements with compositional features and conductors’ interpretative intentions. Six conductors’ interpretational intentions were collected in interviews, and their conducting movements were recorded using a Qualisys motion capture system, while they worked on excerpts of repertoire by Mozart, Dvořák, and Bartók with a small string ensemble. In the interviews, conductors reported their general thoughts and beliefs about conducting. They were also prompted to identify the compositional events which they sought to highlight in their conducting, and to describe the conducting strategies they intended to use to highlight these musical events. The resulting qualitative data were thematically analysed. The conductor-identified compositional features were also used to guide kinematic investigations, using an innovative analysis method original to this project, Deviation Point Analysis (DPA). Conductors’ movements are described using four dependent variables of baton tip (movement distance, speed, acceleration, and jerk). Results are reported for two-way repeated measures ANOVAs (repertoire x trial), and for t-tests revealing significant differences between cross-correlation coefficients for within-conductor trial pairs and between-conductor trial pairs. Further examination of the data using DPA serves to distinguish time-points with observable kinematic deviations from the conducting trials. These kinematic deviations were compared with conductors’ stated intentions. Prominent clusters of kinematic deviations were seen to be associated with key musical events which conductors intended to emphasize temporal, melodic, dynamic, and instrumental aspects. Minor clusters of kinematic deviations were seen to be connected with interpretational intentions in a less stable manner, some occurring remotely from the conductor-identified locations. DPA method and findings are fully reported. The implications, advantages and limitations of this novel analysis approach are also discussed

Assessing the Influence of Constraints on Cellists’ Postural Displacements and Musical Expressivity

International audienceThis article presents the preliminary results from an exper- iment investigating the influence of cellists’ ancillary gestures on their musical expressivity. Seven professional cellists were asked to play a score while their movements were recorded by a force platform (on which they were seated) and a 3D motion capture system for joint kinematics. Spe- cific torso and head contributions to their global postural displacements were analyzed through the use of 4 playing conditions: (a) a normal con- dition without any constraints, (b) a mentally static condition where the cellists were asked to keep their posture as static as possible, (c) a phys- ically semi-constrained condition where the cellists’ torso was attached to the back of a chair by a safety race harness, and (d) a physically fully constrained condition where the cellists wore a neck collar in addition to the race harness to limit their head movements. We here investigate the influence of these constraints on global postural features computed from the force platform data, and on fundamental acoustical features linked to musical expressivity for one cellist. The first results reveal that the cel- lists’ immobilization conditions give rise to different postural adaptation strategies depending on the torso-head coupling, and alter significantly the expressive intentions through changes in spectro-temporal features and rhythmical variations of the produced sounds