Swinging, Fast and Slow: Multiscale Synchronisation Dynamics Reveals the Impact of an Improvisatory Approach to Performance on Music Experience

Takayuki Nozawa, Madalina I. Sas, David Dolan, Hardik Rajpal, Fernando E. Rosas, Christopher Timmermann, Pedro A.M. Mediano, Keigo Honda, Shunnichi Amano, Yoshihiro Miyake, and Henrik J. Jensen

DOWNLOAD   psyarxiv/cqxya   10.31234/osf.io/cqxya  

Abstract. Experiences of collective creative activities play an essential role in human societies, yet these experiences are particularlyhard to capture, making their scientific scrutiny extremely challenging. Here we investigate the experience of audience members during a musical concert associated with collective improvisation by analysing the audience’s subjective reports and movement patterns. Our results show that performance with improvisational elements affect movement synchronisation dynamics between performers and audience members differently at different timescales, which are predictive of changes inthe subjective perception of music. These results provide a first step towards the quantification of some of the fundamental aspects of these collective experiences. Moreover, the reported findings shed new light on the relevance of the often-neglected multiscale coordination between audiences and performers, and explains how this rich tapestry of physical behaviour is connected with the quality of the collective subjective experience.