Interactive expertise in solo and joint musical performance

Abstract

The paper presents two empirical cases of expert musicians-a classical string quartet and a solo, free improvisation saxophonist-to analyze the explanatory power and reach of theories in the field of expertise studies and joint action. We argue that neither the positions stressing top-down capacities of prediction, planning or perspective-taking, nor those emphasizing bottom-up embodied processes of entrainment, motor-responses and emotional sharing can do justice to the empirical material. We then turn to hybrid theories in the expertise debate and interactionist accounts of cognition. Attempting to strengthen and extend them, we offer 'Arch': an overarching conception of musical interaction as an externalized, cognitive scaffold that encompasses high and low-level cognition, internal and external processes, as well as the shared normative space including the musical materials in which the musicians perform. In other words, 'Arch' proposes interaction as a multivariate multimodal overarching scaffold necessary to explain not only cases of joint performance, but equally of solo improvisation.

Music Teachers’ Perspectives and Experiences of Ensemble and Learning Skills

“…Such actions-as-perceptions, therefore, include affective and empathic elements as they bring together a full range of experiences involving perceptual, bodily, and interactive dimensions (Loaiza, 2016;Schiavio and De Jaegher, 2017). They can also transform a solitary activity into a collective effort where musical meanings are negotiated and fluidly integrated into one's performance (Høffding and Satne, 2019), and can lead to richer understandings of the different roles to be taken and exchanged in a musical passage (see Schiavio and Høffding, 2015). Accordingly, it comes as no surprise that groups with different levels of expertise can benefit from "listening, " conceptualized as an integral part of learning and performing music.…”

“…While learning music together may help them to be optimized collectively, the influence from a broader cultural and historical environment is also present. This interplay between groups and broader ecological constraints may create novel relationships and interactivities even in contexts that are not explicitly collaborative (see Høffding and Satne, 2019). In the following excerpt, for instance, a female pianist highlighted the need for collaborative learning even in one-to-one settings:…”

Dimensions of Musical Creativity

“…Remarkably, there is also an important sense in which these considerations speak to situations where subjects make music alone, by themselves. Indeed, recent work in the field has highlighted the compenetration of solo and joint aspects of musical practice, suggesting that individual settings are, in fact, intrinsically collaborative (see e.g., Høffding and Satne, 2019 ; see also Cuffari et al, 2015 for similar insights developed with respect to language). This work provides an apt counterpoint to research that focuses on more explicitly interactive creativity–where collective outcomes are conceived of as emergent properties of the joint effort of collaborating agents–and complements existing studies that engage with lone individuals and their solitary creative achievements (e.g., solo improvisation).…”

“…Perhaps, it could be argued that adopting certain instrumental techniques while improvising, realizing an ornament on the flute when interpreting a baroque piece, or choosing a tempo where not explicitly indicated in the score reflects an already intersubjective structure constituted by a community of practice (see Wenger, 2002 )—a product of a historically sedimented creative work to which one skillfully adapts. In other words, individual musical choices and solutions are here understood as part of broader cultural, historical, and technical milieux and therefore never fully independent from their social components (see again Høffding and Satne, 2019 ).…”

Meshed Architecture of Performance as a Model of Situated Cognition

“…If one is playing music with others, there will be an intersubjective and affective resonance between an individual's performance and the performance of other musicians. This may be mediated by the music itself, by conscious, non-conscious, and/or non-verbal perceptual cues in the others' embodied performance (see Høffding, 2019;Høffding and Satne, 2019). In some cases, there may also be resonance between the musical group and the audience.…”