A COMPARISON OF CONDUCTING EFFECTIVENESS, INSTRUMENTALISTS PERFORMANCES, AND THE UNDERLYING BIOMECHANICS OF A CONDUCTOR WHILE PERFORMING EXAGGERATED AND UNDERSTATED VARIATIONS OF STACCATO AND LEGATO GESTURES

Author

Jonathan Herbert Schallert

Date

2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Music

Committee Chair

Ryan Fisher

Committee Member

Douglas Powell

Committee Member

Albert Nguyen

Committee Member

Heather Klossner

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to compare the biomechanical characteristics, musicians performances, and ratings of perceived conducting effectiveness of exaggerated and understated staccato and legato conducting gestures using motion capture data, clarinet and saxophone audio recordings, and a researcher created conducting effectiveness scale. Participants included one professional conductor, clarinet and saxophone players (n = 11), and university level large ensemble instrumentalists (n = 41) and vocalists (n = 34) from one large urban university in the Mid-South region of the United States. Results revealed that staccato gestures had higher vertical ranges of motion than horizontal, while legato gestures had higher horizontal ranges of motion than vertical. Peak acceleration measurements revealed that the largest cross gestural difference occurred between exaggerated legato and exaggerated staccato, where the exaggerated staccato gesture had a maximum vertical acceleration that was 28.8 times faster than the exaggerated legato condition. Results of a one-way within subjects ANOVA revealed an overall main effect for the average note lengths of the clarinet and saxophone recordings across the four conducting conditions F(2.66, 26.57) = 29.15, p < .001, p2 = .745. Results of two separate mixed ANOVAs revealed main effects for effectiveness ratings in understated and exaggerated staccato conditions F(1, 67) = 11.83, p = .001, p2 = .15 and understated and exaggerated legato conditions F(1, 67) = 30.31, p < .001, p2 = .31 with participants rating overstated gestures more effective than understated gestures. Participants rated the exaggerated legato condition as the most effective gesture and the understated staccato condition as the least effective gesture.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest

Recommended Citation

Schallert, Jonathan Herbert, "A COMPARISON OF CONDUCTING EFFECTIVENESS, INSTRUMENTALISTS PERFORMANCES, AND THE UNDERLYING BIOMECHANICS OF A CONDUCTOR WHILE PERFORMING EXAGGERATED AND UNDERSTATED VARIATIONS OF STACCATO AND LEGATO GESTURES" (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2757.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/etd/2757