Conexões entre música e movimento corporal

Um estudo à luz das correspondências intermodais com participantes de um contexto universitário português

Abstract

The relationship between music and body movement has been investigated from different perspectives. In the emerging field of crossmodal correspondences (Spence - Parise 2012), known for elucidating the different mechanisms of interaction and combination between sensory modalities, this topic has recently gained prominence. However, some aspects of this relationship remain relatively unexplored, such as how this connection is perceived from the perspective of the observer, i.e., an individual who observes others in contexts involving movement and music. From this standpoint, this paper presents an empirical investigation that explores the relationship between scenes of bodily movement and musical excerpts when mediated by figures of contrasting shapes. Thirty-four Portuguese participants (mean age of 25.13, ranging from 18 to 45 years, SD = 7.17) assessed the degree of correspondence between four kinesthetic stimuli (movement scenes) and four auditory stimuli (musical excerpts) through a questionnaire. The results indicated that scenes with faster movements, higher muscular tension, and muscular energy obtained strong to very strong correspondence with similar-character music excerpts, such as in Music of Change by Cage (61.8 % to 70.6 %). Meanwhile, scenes with slower movements, lower muscular tension, and muscular energy also obtained strong to very strong correspondence with similar-character music excepts, as seen in Prélude à l'après midi d'un Faune by Debussy (81.8 % to 67.7 %). The evidence of a non-arbitrary connection between the auditory, kinesthetic, and visual senses, strongly guided by the sharing of inherent qualities in both music and bodily movement, is discussed in this study. These findings inspire theoretical and practical reflections in the fields of music pedagogy, perception, and cognition.