Embodying music theory: Image schemas as sources for musical concepts and analysis, and as tools for expressive performance
Author:
Urista-Quehl, Diane Jean
The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the body's role, both metaphorically and directly, in structuring musical concepts, analysis, and expressive performance. In the field of music theory much has been written about musical conceptualization, analysis, cognition, and perception as a process that occurs exclusively in the mind. However, few of these studies address the body's involvement, which has been for the most part ignored. Recently, this separation of body from mind has given way to new strategies of thinking. Some music theorists are starting to recognize the relationship between the body and musical understanding. The idea of body-derived image schemas and metaphorical projection set forth by philosopher Mark Johnson and linguist George Lakoff will serve as a philosophical underpinning for this dissertation. Although Johnson and Lakoff do not correlate image schemas with any musical concepts in their writings, this project will explore how image schemas structure basic musical concepts and analyses. The tonal theories of Schenker, Zuckerkandl, and Schoenberg will also be analyzed from an image-schematic perspective. Only music from the Western European tradition will be considered. Some of the current cognitive and neurobiological literature that provides evidence to support an embodied perspective of musical understanding will also be explored. Finally, the project looks beyond using words altogether, and explores using the moving body as a means to understanding music. Aspects of Jaques-Dalcroze's movement-to-music method, as well as Alexandra Pierce's ideas about performance, are included to demonstrate the advantages of moving to music as a means to enhance kinesthetic awareness and expressive performance. Movement metaphors reveal deep visceral knowledge that verbal analyses cannot access. The notion of imaginative transference, an extension of Johnson's ideas, as it relates to musical understanding, is also considered.
