A1 Journal article (refereed)
All Eyes on Me : Behaving as Soloist in Duo Performances Leads to Increased Body Movements and Attracts Observers’ Visual Attention (2020)

Küssner, M. B., Van Dyck, E., Burger, B., Moelants, D., & Vansteenkiste, P. (2020). All Eyes on Me : Behaving as Soloist in Duo Performances Leads to Increased Body Movements and Attracts Observers’ Visual Attention. Music Perception, 38(2), 195-213. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2020.38.2.195

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Küssner, Mats B.; Van Dyck, Edith; Burger, Birgitta; Moelants, Dirk; Vansteenkiste, Pieter

Journal or series: Music Perception

ISSN: 0730-7829

eISSN: 1533-8312

Publication year: 2020

Publication date: 25/11/2020

Volume: 38

Issue number: 2

Pages range: 195-213

Publisher: University of California Press

Publication country: United States

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2020.38.2.195

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access: 

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/78699

Abstract

Duo musicians exhibit a broad variety of bodily gestures, but it is unclear how soloists’ and accompanists’ movements differ and to what extent they attract observers’ visual attention. In Experiment 1, seven musical duos’ body movements were tracked while they performed two pieces in two different conditions. In a congruent condition, soloist and accompanist behaved according to their expected musical roles; in an incongruent condition, the soloist behaved as accompanist and vice versa. Results revealed that behaving as soloist, regardless of the condition, led to more, smoother, and faster head and shoulder movements over a larger area than behaving as accompanist. Moreover, accompanists in the incongruent condition moved more than soloists in the congruent condition. In Experiment 2, observers watched videos of the duo performances with and without audio, while eye movements were tracked. Observers looked longer at musicians behaving as soloists compared to musicians behaving as accompanists, independent of their respective musical role. This suggests that visual attention was allocated to the most salient visuo-kinematic cues (i.e., expressive bodily gestures) rather than the most salient musical cues (i.e., the solo part). Findings are discussed regarding auditory-motor couplings and theories of motor control as well as auditory-visual integration and attention.

Keywords: performance of music; duos (ensembles); soloists; solo parts; gestures; audience; eye tracking; motion capture; attention

Free keywords: bodily gestures in musical duo performances; motion capture; eye tracking; auditory-motor coupling; audio-visual perception and attention

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2021

JUFO rating: 2