THE EFFECT OF MUSICAL GESTURES ON AN AUDIENCE: EXAGGERATED OR DEADPAN GESTURES

Abstract

In the last two decades the scope of scientific papers related to the study of musical gestures increased enormously thanks to the development of data collection technology. The aim of this paper was to contribute to this topical area of psychology of music through the study of musical gestures during performance, i.e. to explain and systematise the visual experience of the audience when a performer made exaggerated or deadpan gestures during performance. This study was based on the questionnaire research method where examinees rated the performance of two performers by using a scale from 1 to 5. During his performance the first performer made exaggerated gestures, while the other made deadpan ones. The results that we obtained proved that exaggerated gestures disturbed visual experience of the listeners regardless whether they were formally educated in music or not. The results also showed considerable achievements in the domain of musical gestures and could be largely used for both pedagogical and performing purposes.