Linked Auditory and Motor Patterns in the Improvisation Vocabulary of an Artist-Level Jazz Pianist

54 Pages Posted: 12 Mar 2022

See all articles by Martin Norgaard

Martin Norgaard

Georgia State University

Kevin Bales

Georgia State University

Niels Chr. Hansen

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Abstract

Improvising musicians possess a stored library of musical patterns forming the basis for their improvisations. According to a prominent theoretical framework by Pressing (1988), this library includes linked auditory and motor information. Though examples of libraries of melodic patterns have been shown in extant recordings by some improvising musicians, the underlying motor component has not been experimentally investigated nor related to its auditory counterparts. Here we analyzed a large corpus of ~100,000 notes from improvisations by one artist-level jazz pianist recorded during 11 live performances with audience. We compared the library identified from these recordings to a control corpus consisting of improvisations by 24 different advanced jazz pianists. In addition to pitch, our recordings included accurate micro-timing and key velocity (i.e., force) data. Following a previously validated procedure, this information was used to identify the underlying motor patterns through correlations between relative timing and velocity between notes in different iterations of the same pitch pattern. A computational model was, furthermore, used to estimate the information content and generated entropy exhibited by recurring pitch patterns with high and low timing and velocity correlations as perceived by a stylistically enculturated expert listener. Though both corpora contained a large number of recurring patterns, the single-player corpus showed stronger evidence that pitch patterns were linked to motor programs in that within-pattern timing and velocity correlations were significantly higher compared to the control corpus. Amongst recurring 5-tone pitch patterns, those exhibiting more consistent motor schema also used less idiomatic pitch transitions that were both more unexpected and generated more uncertain expectations in enculturated experts than less consistently repeated patterns. Interestingly, we only found partial evidence for fixed pattern boundaries as predicted by the Pressing model and therefore suggest an expanded view in which the beginning and ends of idiomatic audio-motor patterns are not always clear-cut. Our results indicate that the library of melodic patterns may be idiosyncratic to the individual improviser and relies both on motor programming and predictive processing to promote stylistic distinctiveness.

Keywords: Improvisation, jazz, music, audiomotor coupling, expectation, Entropy

Suggested Citation

Norgaard, Martin and Bales, Kevin and Hansen, Niels Chr., Linked Auditory and Motor Patterns in the Improvisation Vocabulary of an Artist-Level Jazz Pianist. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4055913 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4055913

Martin Norgaard (Contact Author)

Georgia State University ( email )

35 Broad Street
Atlanta, GA 30303-3083
United States

Kevin Bales

Georgia State University ( email )

35 Broad Street
Atlanta, GA 30303-3083
United States

Niels Chr. Hansen

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

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