Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses three main areas of research: computational feature extraction techniques, the kinematics of conductors' gestures, and musician conductor synchronization. In recent years there has been a veritable explosion of work on aspects of the music-gesture interface. The book focuses on physical engagement with music and also focuses on conducting, ensemble playing and solo piano performances. The book is grounded in the premise that musical gestures are cross-modal and that gestures include non-sounding physical movements as well as those that produce sound. Alongside these recurrent general assumptions concerning aesthetic ideology, a number of broad epistemological issues concerning scholarly methodology. They study the gestures and glances produced by singers and pianists as they work with their regular duo partners and in new combinations.