Abstract:
Our music experiences are both highly idiosyncratic, special to each of us in each moment, and collective, with common influences across a listening crowd. Through a series of empirical studies on how people feel and behave during music listening, Finn Upham traces their trajectory from a basic model of performed stimulus and audience response to an empowered-listener view of musical engagement. If participation is an inherent part of musical experiences, this poses a question to all music producers: “What are you asking your audience to do?”
Bio:
Finn Upham has degrees in music theory and mathematics and a PhD in music technology from New York University. In previous research, they have looked at the coherence of listeners' reported emotional responses to live performances and how individuals and audiences breathe with the music (and musicians) they hear. As a postdoctoral fellow at RITMO, they continue to work on audience behaviour, both movement in the concert hall, from applause to stillness, and actions on social media during live-streamed shows. They are also an enthusiastic amateur dancer, former percussionist and bassoonist, and producer of the So Strangely Podcast on Music Science.
