John Stoecker Matt Wright Sheena Chandran

John Stoecker Matt Wright Sheena Chandran Emotive Motion: analysis of expressive timing and body movement in the performance of an expert violinist

Overview: • Goals/Hypotheses • Data Collection • Data Analysis • Anticipated Results

Goals • observe the variation of joint kinematics using the common violin bowing techniques • legato • Marcato • Spiccato • Ricochet • pizzicato

Goals (cont.) • use sonification to show how timing of violinist’s motion corresponds to the temporal evolution of the music

Background: Timing and Tempo • Each note has a duration • A beat is when you’d tap your foot • Tempo is the rate of beats (“beats per minute”) • A tempo curve is the tempo as a function of time • speeding up and slowing down • Deviation: note slightly earlier or later than expected • Expressive timing: tempo curves, deviation, etc., are important elements of musical expression

Hypothesis One • The greater the magnitude of the “expression” (the greater a section’s deviation from the metronomic standard), the larger the non-musical body movement

Hypothesis Two • The periodicity of various body parts will relate to the periodicity of differing levels of the music (such as note, beat, measure, phrase, and section)

Data collection • Using: • An 8 camera 3-D motion capture system • A force plate • A gazillion reflective markers (thanks, Erin!) • A famous violinist • A pair of hot shorts

Data collection (cont.) • We gathered force plate and motion capture data of: • Bowing techniques • 8 performances of J.S. Bach’s Chaconne (the fourth and final movement of Bach’s second Partita)

Data collection (cont.) • Emotions: • Normal • Angry • Trepidation • Mournful • Playful • Searching • No Emotion • Least Motion

Performance Video • In this clip you will see Barry Shiffman, the second violinist for the St. Lawrence String Quartet perform an excerpt of J.S. Bach’s Chaconne joyfully.

Data Analysis Programs Used: Matlab Audacity PureData MaxMSP

From Note Duration to Tempo • Note “duration” = time between this note’s beginning and the next note’s beginning. (“Inter-onset interval”) • If every eighth note is 400ms, then in a minute there would be 60 sec / 0.4 sec = 150 eighth notes. • This means 75 BPM (since an eighth note is half of a beat)

Results and Sonification • Hypothesis One: the greater a section’s deviation from the metronomic standard, the larger the non-musical body movement • Hypothesis Two: the periodicity of various body parts will relate to the periodicity if differing time levels of the music (such as note, beat, measure, and phrase)

Acknowledgments Prof. Jonathan Berger Erin Butler Sarah Emerson Dr. Amy Ladd Jonathan Norton Dr. Jessica Rose Agramonte Barry Shiffman Kingsley Willis

Any Questions?

John Stoecker Matt Wright Sheena Chandran