Gesture
姿态/Zi1 Tai4
n/a
CHEARS: False
EARS: True
CMT: False
EARS2 Encyclopedia: True
CHEARS:
EARS:
The term gesture has been used widely but inconsistently in describing music, largely in terms of analogies and metaphors of human physicality and rhetoric.
The term is useful in electroacoustic music studies, where it also receives wide, and precise, usage in the areas of Interactivity and Spectromorphology.
Much research in the field of Interactivity and the construction of new musical instruments and interfaces is concerned with the detection and translation of physical movement. The terms gesture mapping and gesture capture are apropos in this context.
Denis Smalley has written extensively on the concept of the pairing of Gesture and Texture as structuring principles in electroacoustic composition and analysis.
Gesture is concerned with action directed away from a previous goal or towards a new goal; it is concerned with the application of energy and its consequences; it is synonymous with intervention, growth and progress, and is married to causality. (Source - Denis Smalley (1986). Spectro-morphology and Structuring Processes, in Simon Emmerson, ed. The Language of Electroacoustic Music. Basingstoke: Macmillan.)
EARS 2:
Music is full of gestures: an action or sound that is going somewhere.
We will explore and learn how we can use them in our own compositions.
What is a Gesture?
Gestures go from point A to point B. These might be Up, Down, Left, Right, Quiet, Loud, Around in a loop etc. or any combination of these.
The basic point is that they begin somewhere and end somewhere else.
Defining a Gesture
Gesture in sound is difficult to define because it comes from all aspects of sound (a bit like Timbre / sound quality). It can be found within traditional pitch based music, or even in individual sounds themselves.
A single sound might be a gesture.
Swoosh!
This is a single gestural sound.
Glug, glug, glug.
This glugging sound contains a number of individual 'glug' gestures, but each glug is also part of a larger 'glugging' gesture.
Gestures might also occur within a single sound, for example as a swell.
Swell (granular) sound
This sound is made up of many small grains, but the gesture is in the overall shape of the sound, as it fades in and then back out again.
Gesture and Dance
It might be useful to think about gesture in terms of movement, such as within dance. When people dance they react to the music, physically moving their body. When they move they are responding to the sound gestures within the music. Often this will be the pulsating gestural rhythm of the bass or drums, but might also be the melody
Gesture in the Voice
We also use gestures within our voice to communicate. If we listen to a language that we don’t understand we can sometimes still work out how the speaker is feeling (and perhaps even some of their message) by listening out for the gestures in their voice.
Take a simple statement: “I love puppies“.
Everyone will read this out-loud in a different way, it is even possible for the same person to read it in many different ways. The way in which the statement is spoken might even change the meaning.
Activity One
Experiment with saying the above statement (“I love puppies“) in as many different ways as you can. Try to identify what particular properties of the spoken statement affect the way that it sounds, and whether these affect how the phrase is understood.
You can change the pitch, speed and phrasing to create new gestures. Try starting at a high pitch and ending low, OR starting at a low pitch and ending high.
Gestures in Sounds
Sounds themselves can be gestural. Often the gesture within the sound is related directly to the way in which it is performed. For example: Hitting a cymbal hard will produce a different sound to lightly tapping the cymbal.
Practice with creating sounds can help us to listen out for, and recognise, gestures within sounds.
Activity Two
Select actions from the following list which you can perform. Experiment with they way that you are able to perform the actions and listen to the sound gestures that are created. Which are the most impressive gestures. Are some sounds more textural than gestural?
How can you change the way that you create the sounds in order to modify the gesture? Think about trying different speeds, different sizes and changing the volume.
Present your selection of actions to others and explain to them how the sound gestures that you create are connected to the way in which you perform them.
Composition Tip
Gestures might be thought of as the opposite of Textures.
Denis Smalley described how Gestures enhance the impression of time passing.
So if you want to give the impression of forward motion within a composition then you could try to use many gestural sounds.
Reference
DENIS SMALLEY (1997). Spectromorphology: explaining sound-shapes. Organised Sound, 2, pp 107-126
Encyclopedia:
A Gesture is an energy trajectory (pathway), moving from one point to another. They always move forwards and give the impression of passing time (the opposite would be texture, which is static and focuses attention on inner details). Gestures are all about movement and articulation. Sonic gestures might be made up of a few different individual parts edited together (Composite Gesture). Gesture might be contrasted with textures or might lead into, or trigger, further gestures (Multiple Gesture).
Music is full of gestures: an action or sound that is going somewhere.
We will explore and learn how we can use them in our own compositions.
What is a Gesture?
Gestures go from point A to point B. These might be Up, Down, Left, Right, Quiet, Loud, Around in a loop etc. or any combination of these.
The basic point is that they begin somewhere and end somewhere else.
Defining a Gesture
Gesture in sound is difficult to define because it comes from all aspects of sound (a bit like timbre / sound quality). It can be found within traditional pitch based music, or even in individual sounds themselves.
A single sound might be a gesture. [example - swoosh] OR a gesture may be made up out of a number of sounds [glug glug glug - pitch].
Gestures might also occur within a single sound, for example as a swell [granular swell sound].
Gesture and Dance
It might be useful to think about gesture in terms of movement, such as within dance. When people dance they react to the music, physically moving their body. When they move they are responding to the sound gestures within the music. Often this will be the pulsating gestural rhythm of the bass or drums [example with /\/\/\/\/\ diagram], but might also be the melody [singing example with diagram].
Gesture in the Voice
We also use gestures within our voice to communicate. If we listen to a language that we don’t understand we can sometimes still work out how the speaker is feeling (and perhaps even some of their message) by listening out for the gestures in their voice.
Take a simple statement: “I love puppies“.
Everyone will read this out-loud in a different way, it is even possible for the same person to read it in many different ways. The way in which the statement is spoken might even change the meaning.
Activity One
Experiment with saying the above statement (“I love puppies“) in as many different ways as you can. Try to identify what particular properties of the spoken statement affect the way that it sounds, and whether these affect how the phrase is understood.
You can change the pitch, speed and phrasing to create new gestures. Try starting at a high pitch and ending low, OR starting at a low pitch and ending high.
Gestures in Sounds
Sounds themselves can be gestural. Often the gesture within the sound is related directly to the way in which it is performed. Hitting a cymbal hard will produce a different sound to lightly tapping the cymbal. Practice with creating sounds can help us to listen out for, and recognise, gestures within sounds.
Activity Two
Select actions from the following list which you can perform. Experiment with they way that you are able to perform the actions and listen to the sound gestures that are created. Which are the most impressive gestures. Are some sounds more textural than gestural?
How can you change the way that you create the sounds in order to modify the gesture? Think about trying different speeds, different sizes and changing the volume.
Present your selection of actions to others and explain to them how the sound gestures that you create are connected to the way in which you perform them.
Composition Tip
Gestures are the opposite of Textures.
Denis Smalley described how Gestures enhance the impression of time passing. So if you want to give the impression of forward motion within a composition then you should use many gestures.
Encyclopedia:
A Gesture is an energy trajectory (pathway), moving from one point to another. They always move forwards and give the impression of passing time (the opposite would be texture, which is static and focuses attention on inner details). Gestures are all about movement and articulation. Sonic gestures might be made up of a few different individual parts edited together (Composite Gesture). Gesture might be contrasted with textures or might lead into, or trigger, further gestures (Multiple Gesture).
参看其它/See Also
术语翻译/Terms Translator
术语校对/Terms Proofreader
术语顾问/Consultant to terminology
参考文献/Bibliography
讲座/Lecture
评论/Comments
发表评论(预先注册)/Add comment on this term(members ONLY)