Author : Andrew Christopher Dubbert
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (141 download)
Book Synopsis The Effects of Musical Entrainment on Performance Quality and Socialization by : Andrew Christopher Dubbert
Download or read book The Effects of Musical Entrainment on Performance Quality and Socialization written by Andrew Christopher Dubbert and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of entrainment on performance quality and socialization of wind band instrumentalists in a trio setting. Specifically, (1) what effect does movement have on performance quality? (2) What effect does movement have on interpersonal likability? and (3) What effect does movement have on interpersonal affiliation? The phenomenon of entrainment has been under investigation by researchers for years but has lately grown in popularity over the past two decades. The concept of entrainment refers to the process of synchronization between two or more repetitive rhythmic onsets. Entrainment is observable between inanimate objects or human behaviors and includes either a symmetrical or asymmetrical relationship. In music when a performer synchronizes their performance to the speed of a metronome, it is considered asymmetrical entrainment as only one party can adjust to the other. A duet setting features symmetrical entrainment as both parties mutually adjust their performance to match or imitate each other. The synchronization between performers, and from performer to conductor are very common in a musical setting and are often intended to influence desirable performance outcomes. However, this entrainment has been found to influence humans in more areas than just musical performance. Social behaviors have been identified to entrain between people over time, such as speech patterns and mannerisms. These behaviors are often nonconsciously imitated or mimicked between individuals and commonly lead to prosocial behaviors such as feelings of empathy, likability, and affiliation. In a musical setting, performers constantly mimic and imitate each other; not only through musical interpretations, but often through expressive movement. Through a wholistic point of view, it can be concluded that musicians in an ensemble setting achieve optimal performance through entrainment to the conductor's instructions and the mutual negotiations with their performers. To investigate entrainment in an instrumental setting, participants (N = 30) were randomly assigned to trios and recorded a short etude. The control and entrainment group recorded the etude twice, where the control condition refrained from movement, but the entrainment group received a movement intervention prior to their second recording. While listening back to their performances, the participants answered questions regarding their likability and affiliation for their fellow performers. Free response opportunities allowed the performers to elaborate on the factors that contributed to their answers. The recordings were then distributed to expert adjudicators who graded the recordings for performance quality. Results indicated minimal growth in performance quality between recordings, but significant growth was found in likability and affiliation from both conditions. This finding highlighted the potential for positive social outcomes with and without the presence of movement. The incorporation of movement in this study was not found to have a significant influence on performance quality or interpersonal likability, but movement was found to have a significant influence on performer affiliation. As musicians must approach music performance from a collaborative perspective, the finding of movement's significant influence on affiliation indicated that performers feel heightened levels of interpersonal association and connectedness when moving together during performance. The free response questions regarding the factors that influenced their responses commonly pointed to performance quality as contributing factor to their feelings of interpersonal likability and affiliation. Overall conclusions indicated that movement has a positive influence on likability and a significant influence on affiliation. While movement was not found to influence performance quality, the unintentional finding of this study indicated how important performance quality was to the participants when they considered the factors that contributed to socialization. It is hopeful that this study can spark additional entrainment research in the ensemble setting, in addition to fostering pedagogical techniques for increased incorporation of movement in contemporary music education. Further results and implications are discussed in the paper.