Two-Level Model of Embodied Cognition in Music

Abstract

In this paper, I propose that embodied cognition in music has two distinct levels. The “surface” level relates to the apparent corporeal articulation such as the activated psychomotor program of a music performer, visible gestures in response to music, and rhythmic entrainment. The primary (though concealed) “deep” level of embodied cognition relates to the main coding aspects in music: the tonal relationships arranged in time. Music is made of combinations of a small number of basic melodic intervals that differ by their psychophysical characteristics, among which the level of tonal stability and consonant-dissonant dichotomy are the most important for the formation of tonal expectations that guide music perception; tonal expectations are at the heart of melodic intentionality and musical motion. The tonal/temporal relationships encode musical content that dictates the motor behavior of music performers. The proposed two-level model of embodied cognition connects core musicology with the data from studies in music perception and cognition as well as studies in affective neuroscience and musicianship-related brain plasticity. The paper identifies the need for collaboration among various subdisciplines in musicology and cognitive sciences in order to further the development of the nascent field of embodied cognition in music. The presented discourse relies on research in the tonal music of European tradition and it does not address either aleatoric music or the exotic musics of non-Western traditions. To make the proposed model of embodied cognition in music available for nonmusicians, the paper includes the basics of music theory.