In PART A an attempt was made to outline the total Background to performing tempi. The possible relevant areas of Time and Rhythm Psychology, Physiology, Personality and Movement Speeds, together with the many musical factors concerned, were detailed, and the literature reviewed. It was noted that multiples and fractions of 750 msecs frequently occurred in connection with the psychophysical parameters of discrimination and preference, and further that this figure is the duration equivalent of the traditional "normal" tempo of c. MM 80. Tempo origins and availability were discussed, together with the definitions of "choice" and "preference". Finally, the limited directly related experimental literature was supplemented by general views and answers to a questionnaire. The experimental work in PART B was designed to test the following hypothesis:- Within the broad range of speeds appropriate for any total musical situation, a musician has one or more relatively precise discrete preferences. These change consistently when any individual, musical or performing factors are varied. Because of the inevitable artificiality of the musical circumstances and the emphasis on one principal subject (the writer), conclusions must be tentative and preclude automatic universal application:- 1) The Hypothesis was generally supported. Individual mean tempi were significantly changed when the selected musical, instrumental or performing factors were varied. However, although intra-subject relative tempo preferences were consistent, not all subjects reacted in the same way to any given change. Several experiments supported the view that tempo choice is limited to different discretely available movement tempi in each total performing situation. 2) Factors affecting tempo production may have a corresponding implication for tempo estimation. 3) MM 80, the "normal" tempo, had no significance in relation to the experimental performances; neither could any other single tempo be associated unconditionally with one or more subjects, nor with any given musical circumstances.

The aesthetic response to music is the purest and highest kind of musical appreciation, In aesthetic listening the subject is absorbed in the music aesthetic enjoyment enriches the life and the capacity to experience of the individual . The qua. music, identifying himself with the developing system of musical relationships, 3 . Musical absorption tends to inhibit extra-musical experience. 4 Absorption or self-individuation in the music depends on the degree to which the musical system is grasped and followed. 5 Thus aesthetic listening has an intellectual basis. The subject grasps. follows and understands the relationships as regards pitch , rhythm amd the dynamic qualities . He may know these only intuitively, 6 , Progress from the lower levels of musical experience to the highest depends on the subject's musical recep tivity and t a s t e , and on how far these have been developed by training and/or experience, 7 Musical meaning is only definable in musical terms; and can only be understood by the subject who grasps the music as an organic whole. 6 , The associative features of music cannot be e ntirely discounted in musical listening . At the highest level t h e ir effect is at a minimum. 9 , The emotional element in aesthetic listening is bound up with the intellectual grasp of the musical system. Extramusical emotion may be aroused by extra-musical factors, either objectively present (e.g. a programme) or subjectively supplied. In aesthetic absorption such emotion, tends to be inhibited,, 10 Aesthetic emotion results from the subjective apprehension of a unique and significant musical whole, possessing beauty and value in the light of the subject's musical background, 11 , Aesthetic listening has no practical value, but conation enters the experience. Underlying interest in the music for itself is a certain exaltation due to self individuation, the power to predict, and the unconscious feeling of creator-ship,

The enclosed thesis consists of three components. The first is comprised of a portfolio of seven original compositions: THREE, 3 Fragments, Music for Flute and . Percussion Trio, Sixty-three, SJU, 3 Polish Songs, and Softly at Night the Stars are Shining. The second component is a music CD containing live recordings of all compositions, as well as supplementary recordings. A prose commentary, detailing all compositions in the portfolio, constitutes the final element in the thesis. The composition portfolio is written for acoustic instruments, as well as voice, and utilizes ensembles ranging from small chamber groups to full symphony orchestra. My main research goal was to establish quarter tones as a core part of my musical language, equal in status to standard pitches. Instrumental timbre and the formal architecture of music are also key elements investigated in my pursuit of a new compositional language.

This portfolio comprises twelve pieces that blend music, theatre and movement, working predominantly with instrumentalists and solely in acoustic performance. The defining principle of the portfolio is that music is theatre: music is as much a visual as it is an aural art. The theatre of music – musical gestures, the musician’s body, and musical performance contexts – is treated as compositional material. The portfolio demonstrates a development from a compositional to a collaborative devising process practice that incorporates techniques from contemporary theatre, dance and performance art. This approach advocates the use of workshop activities focused on enabling musicians to develop movement material. In collaborations with musicians, dancers and performance artists, the role of the composer was merged with that of a director, dramaturg, performer and choreographer. Several site-specific and participatory works also concern the role of the audience.

This thesis explores the communication of musical structure between performers and listeners; in particular, the prolongational structure of music (as defined by Heinrich Schenker). The concept of musical performance is explored at the intersection of the psychological and musicological agendas corresponding to different musical cultures. Accordingly, although this study is focused on the performance of 19th century western classical piano music, it also examines two sub-cultures that utilise this repertoire. The study starts by considering the objective performance's framework, which is epistemologically related to classical cognitive science. However, since the postmodern musicological context claims that music performance goes beyond classical cognitivism, another theoretical and methodological framework is proposed. First, an empirical study was undertaken that was based on the classic cognitive perspective. It took communication to be a linear, rule-governed circulation of perceptual and/or conceptual contents. The results of the analysis of a series of piano performances and listening tests indicate that, although certain regularities of the prolongational features emerge in both performance and reception, these do not clarify the role of this structure in the performer-listener dyad. Second, a new perspective on the role of structure in communication during performance is proposed that acknowledges that need for originality and individuality characteristic of current performance practice. It is based on three theoretical pillars: (a) Transposition, which characterizes a dialectic relationship between composition and performance; (b) Intersubjectivity, which alludes to states of mutuality in which sharing a particular temporal configuration is crucial; (c) Narrativity, which is presented as psychogenetically linked to the configuration of time in music performance. An experiment shows (i) how the prolongational structure of a composition can form the material of two different transpositions (one cinematographic and one pianistic), and (ii) that listeners comprehend that material by means of crossmodal capacities, which are communicated by the particular temporal configuration of the performance.

The production and perception of music is a multimodal activity involving auditory, visual and conceptual processing, integrating these with prior knowledge and environmental experience. Musicians utilise expressive physical nuances to highlight salient features of the score. The question arises within the literature as to whether performers’ non-technical, non-sound-producing movements may be communicatively meaningful and convey important structural information to audience members and co-performers. In the light of previous performance research (Vines et al., 2006, Wanderley, 2002, Davidson, 1993), and considering findings within co-speech gestural research and auditory and audio-visual neuroscience, this thesis examines the nature of those movements not directly necessary for the production of sound, and their particular influence on audience perception. Within the current research 3D performance analysis is conducted using the Vicon 12- camera system and Nexus data-processing software. Performance gestures are identified as repeated patterns of motion relating to music structure, which not only express phrasing and structural hierarchy but are consistently and accurately interpreted as such by a perceiving audience. Gestural characteristics are analysed across performers and performance style using two Chopin preludes selected for their diverse yet comparable structures (Opus 28:7 and 6). Effects on perceptual judgements of presentation modes (visual-only, auditory-only, audiovisual, full- and point-light) and viewing conditions are explored. This thesis argues that while performance style is highly idiosyncratic, piano performers reliably generate structural gestures through repeated patterns of upper-body movement. The shapes and locations of phrasing motions are identified particular to the sample of performers investigated. Findings demonstrate that despite the personalised nature of the gestures, performers use increased velocity of movements to emphasise musical structure and that observers accurately and consistently locate phrasing junctures where these patterns and variation in motion magnitude, shape and velocity occur. By viewing performance motions in polar (spherical) rather than cartesian coordinate space it is possible to get mathematically closer to the movement generated by each of the nine performers, revealing distinct patterns of motion relating to phrasing structures, regardless of intended performance style. These patterns are highly individualised both to each performer and performed piece. Instantaneous velocity analysis indicates a right-directed bias of performance motion variation at salient structural features within individual performances. Perceptual analyses demonstrate that audience members are able to accurately and effectively detect phrasing structure from performance motion alone. This ability persists even for degraded point-light performances, where all extraneous environmental information has been removed. The relative contributions of audio, visual and audiovisual judgements demonstrate that the visual component of a performance does positively impact on the over- all accuracy of phrasing judgements, indicating that receivers are most effective in their recognition of structural segmentations when they can both see and hear a performance. Observers appear to make use of a rapid online judgement heuristics, adjusting response processes quickly to adapt and perform accurately across multiple modes of presentation and performance style. In line with existent theories within the literature, it is proposed that this processing ability may be related to cognitive and perceptual interpretation of syntax within gestural communication during social interaction and speech. Findings of this research may have future impact on performance pedagogy, computational analysis and performance research, as well as potentially influencing future investigations of the cognitive aspects of musical and gestural understanding.

As a performer of firstly acoustic and latterly electronic and electro-instrumental music, I constantly seek to improve my mode of interaction with the digital realm: that is, to achieve a high level of sensitivity and expression. This thesis illustrates reasons why making use of haptic interfaces—which offer physical feedback and resistance to the performer—may be viewed as an important approach in addressing the shortcomings of some the standard systems used to mediate the performer’s engagement with various sorts of digital musical information. By examining the links between sound and touch, and the performer-instrument relationship, various new compositional and performance strategies start to emerge. I explore these through a portfolio of original musical works, which span the continuum of composition and improvisation, largely based around performance paradigms for piano and live electronics. I implement new haptic technologies, using vibrotactile feedback and resistant interfaces, as well as exploring more metaphorical connections between sound and touch. I demonstrate the impact that the research brings to the creative musical outcomes, along with the implications that these techniques have on the wider field of live electronic musical performance.

It is common to learn to play an orchestral musical instrument through regular one-to-one lessons with an experienced musician as a tutor. Intuition suggests that the principal activity during these meetings would be playing, however conversation is important, not just as a way to analyse musical contributions, but to organise them within the lesson flow. Activities are managed conversationally, discussion interleaved with performance, demonstration and musical experimentation, resulting in a rich multi-modal social interaction. This thesis presents a detailed ethnographic study of five one-to-one clarinet lessons. Conversation transcription notation was developed specifically to capture the musical sounds produced alongside dialogue. Analysis of the shape and timing of the musical contributions shows that many aspects of music produced in this context are shaped by the way that playing can function as a conversational turn. For example, during student performance the volume, duration and timing of the tutor's utterances, in relation to the student's musical phrasing, determines whether they are interpreted as encouraging backchannels, or a bid for the floor to provide immediate feedback. Non-verbal behaviours such as gaze and changes in posture are used to encourage a student to self-repair and continue with their performance, despite mutual acknowledgement that a problem has occurred. Fine-grained analysis of a video-mediated remote lesson reveals what happens when this organisation is disturbed. The change in medium reduces the availability of non-verbal cues, and the disruption caused by latency has divergent effects on the sequence and placement of turns, as they are experienced at each location. For example, students find it more difficult to anticipate tutor interruption of their performance or correctly identify backchannels, leading to miscommunication. Our understanding of the importance of these phenomena to lesson flow leads to recommendations for tools to better support student-tutor interaction during the remote lesson experience.

Taiwan has many high-level music colleges that prepare students for performance and teaching careers. These music colleges are competitive environments in which students are potentially learning to cope with musical performance anxiety (MPA). MPA has been widely researched in recent years. Studies have found that college musicians use their own unique coping strategies or rely on past experiences of coping with MPA to manage it. Nevertheless, literature that focuses on MPA self-management is still limited. The aim of this thesis is to fill this gap by investigating the ways in which MPA is self-managed by Taiwanese college musicians (TCMs). The research questions are: 1) How do TCMs define and perceive MPA? 2) How do TCMs self-manage MPA? 3) What strategies for managing MPA do the TCMs believe they will use with their students when they carry out teaching as part of their future portfolio careers? Fifty-three undergraduates were recruited from a music college in Taiwan. Each participant was interviewed before all of their performances taking place in one semester: formal concert, exam, and graduate recital. The data was analysed through a qualitative approach by using thematic analysis in order to examine the strategies used and the process of managing MPA. The findings are presented as four themes: 1) Strategies used in preparation for different types of performance, during different time periods of preparation and performance. 2) Strategies in context: people and places. 3) Understanding the strategies: metacognition in musical learning and managing MPA. 4) MPA self-management and the teaching-learning cycle. Results revealed that it is possible for TCMs to self-manage their MPA through developing metacognitive processes with support networks in the conservatoire environment and with various external resources. However, information on MPA-coping strategies are like pieces of a puzzle that are scattered rather than being coherently fitted together. Therefore, recommendations for further research and applications to practice are made.