Embodiment in composition: 4E theoretical considerations and empirical evidence from a case study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to theorise on a composer’s corporeality from the point of view of the embodied, enacted, embedded, and extended cognition paradigm, in the light of empirical data that cover the compositional process of creating one particular piece of music. The data include related manuscripts and the composer’s verbal account of those manuscripts. Composition is seen as an interactive coping behaviour and an adaptive process of knowledge acquisition and production in a sonic environment. In this epistemic process, the composer begins working with various kinds of ideas: sounds, timbres, musical structures, experiences, philosophical thoughts. They explicate these intuitive or reflective embodied representations through different kinds of externalisations, such as musical gestures, narratives, visualisation, and finally, musical notation. This study substantiates the way in which embodied, extrabodily, embedded, and enactive processes constitute the cognitive acts of a composer, usually considered as almost purely mental. It shows how musical composition may not only be grounded but also depend on embodied knowledge that the score only partly conveys. In addition to helping composers and performers communicate in real life, the findings may be useful for identifying the different cognitive premises and circumstances that can result in discrepancies between the ways in which they interpret musical notation.

Mind the body: Materiality and physicality in a composer’s thinking process

“…Aligned with 4E cognition paradigm (holding that cognition is embodied, embedded, extended, and enactive; Ryan & Schiavio, 2019), they show through an open-ended questionnaire data of 15 composers how they engage with music and connect to music more than generate it, how they “develop intimate forms of reciprocal interplay with musical instruments” (Schiavio et al, 2020, p. 10) and how “the interactions established between composers and their music are therefore not only figurative, but rather based on agency and bodily connections” (p. 11). Similarly, my recent study showed that even the most abstract configurations of compositional cognition are fundamentally rooted in the physicality of sound that has material origins because having been produced by the material instruments (or by other objects/functionalities) through the physicality of the performers (Pohjannoro, 2020; see also Hovland, 2017, 2019; Reybrouck, 2006). In this study, ecologically valid evidence will be presented to support the claim on compositional materiality through a case study of an academically trained sheet music composer.…”

“…The data analysis was grounded in the analytic frames of mapping the timeline of the process (Pohjannoro, 2008), identifying different modes of intuitive and analytic compositional actions (Pohjannoro, 2014(Pohjannoro, , 2016 and knowledge (Pohjannoro & Rousi, 2018), and exploring the levels of explication between those (Pohjannoro, 2020). For the purpose of this study, qualitative data-driven thematic analysis was executed to extract verbalisations that expressed material and physical aspects or conceptual metaphors.…”

“…Then, I will substantiate my argument with the empirical data covering one complete compositional process by a professional composer. These data have already lent themselves to various theoretical frames in studies addressing different research aims (Pohjannoro, 2008(Pohjannoro, , 2014(Pohjannoro, , 2016(Pohjannoro, , 2020Pohjannoro & Rousi, 2018).…”

“… 7. These two fermatas are tricky to interpret and might exemplify a break in the communication between composers and performers (Pohjannoro, 2020). However, when recently consulting a professional percussionist accustomed to contemporary repertoire, they realized the difference.…”

Taiteellisen tutkimuksen arkihuolia

“…Vastaavat sanat englannin kielessä tarjoutuvat synonyymeinä: construction, production, creation. Sävellyksen valmistamisessa tarvitaan ja tuotetaan erilaatuisia tiedon representaatiota (Bruner, 1966;Pohjannoro, 2022a;Pohjannoro & Rousi, 2018) ja sävellykset tehdään muiden esitettäväksi. Musiikkielämä ja sen eri yhteisöt ammattikuntineen, erityisesti muusikot, ovat läsnä sävellyksen teossa konkreettisella tavalla sävellyksen kehollis-materiaalisena vastuksena, keksintää rajoittavina ja innoittavina elementteinä silloinkin, kun säveltäjä työskentelee yksin (Pohjannoro, 2022b;ks.…”