Nugget 6 – Experimental Brain Research – Music & Expression

 

Expression in SInging
A figure from the 2008 paper in Experimental Brain Research

Measuring Expression in Musical Performance  Our 2008 paper, published in Experimental Brain Research. This paper outlines a clear application of Tau theory to try and understand and measure expression.

Quite technical at times, but necessary as this is the first peer reviewed paper outlining this methodology, so it had to be clear and detailed.  This paper was a first in many ways and incorporates quite a range of work across different experiments.  But I warn you it is quite dry, but with some exciting graphs.

The end result is a pretty clear case to show that using Tau theory you can measure, quantitatively a ecologically viable variable that relates to ‘expression’ in music. It leads to bigger questions in reference to what that means but it all points towards energy, and how we manipulate it to our own ends, in this instance to communicate and share feeling with others through the medium of sound, or music to you and me.