ABSTRACT
People seem to be making gestures to music everywhere, swaying their bodies and waving their hands to the beat of the music while dancing, attending a concert, or walking down the street while listening to their MP3 players. Listeners often imitate the gestures of musicians by playing air guitar, for example, or mimicking the facial movements and body language of pop stars or conductors, and they often do so without any formal musical training. Why is it that so many listeners are able to spontaneously make gestures that seem to fit the music? Why do they make these gestures? Furthermore, how are these gestures related to the music, and how are these gestures related to the gestures of performers? Or in general, what are gestures? And how do gestures function in the contexts of music performance and listening?
