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Full Title

Human Bodily Micromotion in Music Perception and Interaction, 2012

Abstract

“Human Bodily Micromotion in Music Perception and Interaction, 2012” sought to investigate the close couplings between musical sound and human bodily micromotion. Micromotion was here used to describe the smallest motion that we are able to produce and experience, typically at a rate smaller than 10 mm/s. The last decades have seen an increased focus on the role of the human body in both the performance and the perception of music. Up to now, however, the micro-level of these experiences has received little attention. This project investigated music-related micromotion of people experiencing music (perceivers), with an aim of contributing to knowledge about how musical sound influences human motion at the micro-level. This was based on literature studies, theoretical modelling, and a longitudinal observational study as well as three large-scale experiments of sound-motion relationships. The project also provided knowledge to a large, annotated and metadata-rich database of the micromotion recordings mentioned above. The database was central to the current project, and will be made available for future research in the field. Further, the project provided conceptual models and software tools for using micromotion to control musical sound in computer-based systems. Such musical microinteraction can be used for music performance or production, or for "active listening". The project was based on recent theories of embodied music cognition, combining musical phenomenology with new models from cognitive neuroscience. Methodologically, the project span widely, from introspection and discussion in small groups to statistical analysis of motion capture recordings and development of new interactive music systems.

Funding Agency/Sponsor

Name Abbreviation Role Grant
The Research Council of Norway RCN   250698

Data Distributor

Name Affiliation Abbreviation
NSD – Norwegian Centre for Research Data   NSD

Notes

Original data from Alexander Refsum Jensenius, UiO are documented and prepared, first NSD-version.

Bibliographic Citation

"Human Bodily Micromotion in Music Perception and Interaction, 2012". Data collected by Alexander Refsum Jensenius, UiO. First NSD edition, Bergen 2017.

List of Keywords

  • Music
  • Listening to music
  • Locomotion
  • Nervous system
  • Psychology

Date of Collection

Start End Cycle
2012-03-08 2012-03-08  

Country

Norway  (NO)

Unit of Analysis

Individual

Universe

91 participants are included in the dataset. They participated in groups of 5-17 per trial.

Data Collector

Jensenius, Alexander Refsum, Department of Musicology, University of Oslo  (UiO)

Sampling Procedure

Motion capture data from participants standing still. The data consists of the 3D coordinates of the position of one marker placed on the head of the participants. Position data was post-processed and analysed to obtain other relevant metrics of human motion. Such metrics are also included in this repository, along with the scripts and protocols used for acquisition and analysis. Audio files used in the experiment are also included.

91 participants took part in groups consisting of 5-17 participants at a time. The task given to the participants was to attempt to stand as still as possible on the floor for 6 minutes in total, 3 minutes in silence and 3 minutes with music. They were aware that music would start after 3 minutes. Each participant wore a reflective marker on his/her head, and its position was recorded using a Qualisys infrared motion capture system. 91 participants (48 male, 42 female, 1 unspecified)

The participants reported quite diverse numbers for how many hours per week they spent listening to music (M=19, SD=15) and creating music (M=8, SD=8), reflecting that around half of the participants were music students.

Extent of Collection

One data file; different formats can be made.

Citation Requirement

Users are obliged to refer to producer and distributor of the data by writing the following in forewords or footnotes in eventual publications:

  • "(Some of) the data applied in the analysis in this publication are based on "Human Bodily Micromotion in Music Perception and Interaction, 2012". The survey was financed by The Reasearch Council of Norway. The data are provided by Alexander Refsum Jensenius, UiO and prepared and made available by NSD – Norwegian Centre for Research Data. Neither Alexander Refsum Jensenius, UiO, The Research Council of Norway nor NSD are responsible for the analysis/interpretation of the data presented here.

Related Publications

Exploring Music-Related Micro-Motion

Jensenius, A.R. (2017) Exploring music-related micro-motion i W?llner, C. (eds) Body, Sound and Space in Music and Beyond: Multimodal Explorations. Routledge, London, pp. 29–48.

The Musical Influence on People's Micromotion When Standing Still in Groups

Jensenius, A.R., Zelechowska, A. & Gonzalez, V. S. (2017) The Musical Influence on People's Micromotion When Standing Still in Groups. Proceedings of the Sound and Music Computing Conference, Espoo, 06. juli 2017.

Published July 21, 2019 8:27 PM - Last modified July 21, 2019 8:43 PM