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The Intrinsic Duality of Movement and Sound: Investigating the Intersections of Dance and Music Through Bach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2013

Abstract

To the musician, the polyphony inherent within Bach's music offers multiple interpretations for a persuasive performance. “Which measures are climactic? Which phrases deserve rubato?” These notations of a violin score translate into movements of the bow arm and fingering for the left hand, which then convey intentions and emotions. The score does not merely imply the music to be played, but instead describes how a body moves in order to play the music and, thus, in the case of Bach, express emotion. How might the relation of polyphony and space be conceptualized through the embodiment of music to the dance artist? My research examines the musical score as a text where these intersections exist. As I integrate my training as a classical musician and dancer, I have discovered an intrinsic duality of music and movement that has led me to explore the embodiment of sound. Psychologist and music theorist, Eric Clarke, in his writings on the ecology of listening, further emphasizes this relationship by stating that the significance of music lives within its ability to convey motion and, inversely, that sound gives evidence to motion. I believe the score embraces the greater context of the performance of the music and the dance. To explore this argument, I have chosen J.S. Bach's first violin partita, where the melodic and harmonic relationships within Baroque music are well defined. This paper will demonstrate several ways in which I employ Bach's text as the point of origin and basis to inform my choreography.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Josephine Amber Kao 2012 

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References

Works Cited

Bach, Johann Sebastian. 2001. Three Sonatas and Three Partitas for Solo Violin BWV 1001–1006. Edited by Haubwald, Gunter. Kassel, Germany: Barenreiter.Google Scholar
Cox, Arnie. 2011a. “Embodying Music: Principles of the Mimetic Hypothesis.” Society for Music Theory 17(2), 1–24.Google Scholar