Bodies and Sounds in Movement. Between Choreomusical Research and Sound-Performance Analysis

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Stephanie Schroedter
• Subject Area: Theatre and Media Studies ; Musicology
• Term: from 2017 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 388585797

Responding to latest developments in the contemporary music-/theater and dance scene, with its growing interest in interrelations between sound and (body)movement (that is, audio-visual-kinaesthetic sensations beyond narrative intentions), this project aims at a specifically choreomusical or sound-performance analysis. This research is vital because in current staging and performance analyses of theatre studies (which undoubtedly offer valuable starting points for this) the interplays of music/sound and (body)movements/dance are largely neglected. My main research questions focus on interrelations of audible and visual movements: How are music/sound and (body)movements/dance related in artistic processes? What models can be determined in this regard, and with which aesthetics of effect do they correspond? And: What are the consequences for their perception, the hearing and seeing of movements, as well as for their description and analysis?The staging of audible and visual movements and their relationship within selected scenes will be described on the basis of music- and movement-analytical (that is, formal and structural) parameters. The aesthetic dimension, that is how body and sound in movement are perceived, will be investigated by consulting models of performance analyses from theatre studies. The research will also engage music theory and music psychology oriented towards cognitive sciences. It will conclude by considering, film and media studies that comprise musicological aspects and/or a musicology that includes aspects of film and media studies. The range of investigated performances, drawn from a wide variety of areas, genres and styles, comprises compositional techniques and music practices that have been for the most part left out of choreomusical analyses, such as New Music of the second half of the 20th century, including (live) electronic music and electro-acoustic as well as music improvisations. Furthermore, the project also takes into account genres that dissolve the boundaries of the stage, such as installations or video productions. Three models for aesthetics of effect will serve as a starting point: a) interruptions or alienations, b) breakthroughs or estrangements and c) interdependency and the special case of interferences. It will be argued that these models lead to experiences of emergence, immersion or difference on the level of perception. An essential prerequisite for this approach is a physically located hearing of music/sounds/noises in/with/as movements. This will be defined as kinaesthetic listening.The relation between music and physicality as well as the implicit movement potential of music (thus encouraging choreographic/performative movement creativity) will be also be discussed with sensitivity to art theory and cultural studies.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Austria