This thesis engages with complex issues of musical expression and movement, and their relation, on the one hand, to musical structure and, on the other hand, to embodied musical experience. It aims to fill a gap in music theory and analysis: most methods overemphasise abstract conceptualisation of structural relations at the expense of the more dynamic, intuitive aspect of musical experience. As a solution, it offers a specific analytical method that can be used to explore dynamic aspects of music as experienced through the whole body. Drawing mainly on nineteenth-century piano music, I analyse aspects of structure in both composition and performance in terms of expressive and motional qualities, revealing the relationship between musical and physical movement. Expressivity in music derives its meaning, at least partly, from the embodied experience of music: performers shape expression through their whole body while listeners react to it in a comparable way, albeit less overtly. Two related systems of graphic notation are introduced, which provide a non-verbal means of representing expressive movement and at the same time encourage an immediate, visceral relationship to the music. The first notation captures the animated quality of expressive movement by analogy with the motion of a bouncing ball, while the second breaks down the expressive musical flow into discrete gestural patterns of specific motional character. While the ultimate value of this method lies in the analytical process it instigates, it also provides a novel theoretical framework that sheds light on the interaction, as well as integration, between structures such as metre, rhythm, harmony and voice-leading, which are traditionally studied mostly independently. In addition, it provides a useful tool for the study and communication of performance interpretation, based on data extracted from recordings in the form of tempo and dynamic fluctuation graphs.

Der Beitrag vermittelt Ansätze zu einem Theorie- und Gehörbildungsunterricht, der die Berufsziele und künstlerischen Neigungen der Studierenden als Inspiration zur Entwicklung innovativer Methoden nutzt. Dazu bedarf es seitens des Lehrenden einer genauen Kenntnis der wissenschaftlichen Inhalte einerseits sowie der künstlerischen und pädagogischen Praxis andererseits. Gleichzeitig ist eine Offenheit des Lehrer-Schüler-Diskurses für die schöpferischen Beiträge beider Seiten unabdingbar – nicht selten sind es die Anregungen von Studierenden, die faszinierende Erkenntnisse für Lernende und Lehrende möglich machen. So kann Gehörbildung anhand beliebter Titel aus Rock und Pop zur Entdeckungsreise in eine Welt musikalischer Archetypen werden – z.B. bizarr verkleidet in den Songs der Rockband Knorkator. Praxisverfügbarkeit von Theorie bedeutet, dass der Weg zwischen Konzept und klingender Umsetzung jederzeit in beide Richtungen begehbar ist. Sie impliziert, dass Musiker und Pädagogen sich als Künstler in umfassendem Sinn verstehen. Als Beispiel für ein Fächer und Institutionen verbindendes Projekt beschreibt die Autorin die Entwicklung eines Schulmusicals durch Studierende von der Auswahl des Sujets über szenische Konzeption, Textdichtung, Komposition bis hin zur Einstudierung und Aufführung. / The essay provides approaches to a teaching of music theory and ear training that uses the students’ professional goals and artistic inclinations as inspiration for the development of innovative methods. This requires the teacher to have precise knowledge of the scientific content on the one hand and of artistic and pedagogical practice on the other. The discourse between teachers and students has to be open for creative contributions on both sides – suggestions of students frequently afford fascinating insights. In this way ear training on the basis of well-known rock and pop songs can turn into an expedition to musical archetypes – as bizarrely disguised in the songs of the rock band Knorkator. Practical availability of theory means that the path between concept and audio implementation can be walked into both realms at any time. It implicates a self-concept of musicians and pedagogues as artists in a wide-ranging sense. As an example of a project linking subjects and institutions the author describes the development of a school musical by students, from the selection of the subject to scenic conception, text poetry, composition, rehearsal and performance.

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