During the past few decades, one of the core issues in the debate on human musicality has become explaining how we understand, or make sense of the musical material. Embodied music cognition and mediation technology 1 was written by Marc Leman with the aim to clarify this sense-giving process focusing on the cognitive relationship, in the broadest sense, that ties musical subjects and objects. His approach assumes that the (musical) mind results from an embodied interaction with music: The human body can be seen as a biologically designed mediator that transfers physical energy up to a level of action-oriented meanings, to a mental level in which experiences, values, and intentions form the basic components of music signification. The reverse process is also possible: that the human body transfers an idea, or mental representation, into a material or energetic form. (p. xiii) This perspective has been developed according to the previous literature in different disciplines such as psychology, neuroscience, musicology and cognitive science. We will discuss later the peculiar way Leman tackles the problem of musical understanding, as well as its internal and external coherence. For now, we will explore some implications and sub-problems that arise from the adoption of an embodied approach to the study of musical experience. Overcoming of the subjective-objective dualism. Musical intentionality: how can we define a conceptual topography of musical contexts? The simulation issue: what kind of enaction could account for musical understanding? Mediation in musical practice and experience: what roles for musical instruments and the body?
Embodied music cognition and mediation technology: A critical review
MENIN, Damiano
2013
Abstract
During the past few decades, one of the core issues in the debate on human musicality has become explaining how we understand, or make sense of the musical material. Embodied music cognition and mediation technology 1 was written by Marc Leman with the aim to clarify this sense-giving process focusing on the cognitive relationship, in the broadest sense, that ties musical subjects and objects. His approach assumes that the (musical) mind results from an embodied interaction with music: The human body can be seen as a biologically designed mediator that transfers physical energy up to a level of action-oriented meanings, to a mental level in which experiences, values, and intentions form the basic components of music signification. The reverse process is also possible: that the human body transfers an idea, or mental representation, into a material or energetic form. (p. xiii) This perspective has been developed according to the previous literature in different disciplines such as psychology, neuroscience, musicology and cognitive science. We will discuss later the peculiar way Leman tackles the problem of musical understanding, as well as its internal and external coherence. For now, we will explore some implications and sub-problems that arise from the adoption of an embodied approach to the study of musical experience. Overcoming of the subjective-objective dualism. Musical intentionality: how can we define a conceptual topography of musical contexts? The simulation issue: what kind of enaction could account for musical understanding? Mediation in musical practice and experience: what roles for musical instruments and the body?I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
