Marc Thompson: Embodied music cognition in dyadic performance

This talk will be followed by an RA3 meeting from 12:00-1:00pm in the same room.

ABSTRACT

Embodied cognition is a research framework that stresses the role of the body, its sensorimotor capacities, and the external environment in the explanation of various cognitive abilities. In this talk, I’ll go through some of the prominent ideas and controversies that shape the wide-spanning area of embodied cognition, and highlight its application to music performance studies. The talk will cite projects carried out at the University of Jyväskylä by researchers and graduate students, including my own work on interaction in dyadic music performance using optical motion capture. I’ll also demonstrate the MoCap Toolbox for MATLAB, which was developed at the University of Jyväskylä, and show its many functions for analyzing and visualizing motion capture data.

Mark ThompsonBIOGRAPHY

Marc R. Thompson graduated from McGill University in 2005 with a Bachelors in Music with a Minor in Music Technology. He went on to receives his doctorate from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland in 2012. His dissertation focused on embodiment in musical production and perception, and comprised of studies exploring the role of the body within various musical activities including piano performance, conducting, and African dance. As a member of the Finnish Centre for Interdisciplinary Music Research, his interests include entrainment in music performance, gesture-controlled musical interfaces and university pedagogy. Employed by the University of Jyväskylä’s Department of Music, his current post is Senior Lecturer in Music, Mind & Technology.