What it is like to improvise together? Investigating the phenomenology of joint action through improvised musical performance

Negotiating between individual and joint goals in ensemble musical performance

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1080/17470218.2017.1339098 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 71 (7) ◽

pp. 1535-1551 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jennifer MacRitchie ◽

Steffen A Herff ◽

Andrea Procopio ◽

Peter E Keller

Keyword(s):

Locus Of Control ◽

Joint Action ◽

Sound Intensity ◽

Individual Performance ◽

Musical Performance ◽

Interpersonal Coordination ◽

Successful Performance ◽

Joint Performance ◽

Final Performance ◽

Musical Expertise

Successful joint action requires negotiation, especially in the event of goal incongruence. This article addresses goal incongruence in joint musical performance by manipulating the congruence of score instructions (congruent/incongruent) regarding tempo (speed) and dynamics (sound intensity) given to piano duos. The aim is to investigate how co-performers negotiate incongruent instructions for tempo and dynamics by balancing the prioritisation of individual goals versus the joint outcome and how this negotiation is modulated by musical expertise and personality (locus of control). In total, 14 pairs of pianists, who were not informed of the congruence manipulation, were placed back-to-back and were directed to achieve a successful performance over four repeated performances without verbal communication. Interpersonal coordination generally improved from the first to final performance in the congruent and incongruent conditions for both the tempo and dynamics tasks. Furthermore, in incongruent conditions, results suggest that performers prioritise the joint performance in the tempo task, but prioritise their own performance in the dynamics task. Although individual performance appears to be modulated by musical expertise, the balance of individual/joint performance across the duo is not influenced by musical part (melody vs accompaniment), expressive instruction, musical expertise or locus of control.

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A hard choice for Tomasello

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x19002346 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 43 ◽

Author(s):

Philip Pettit

Keyword(s):

Joint Action ◽

The Other ◽

Hard Choice ◽

Margaret Gilbert ◽

Michael Bratman ◽

Human Sense ◽

Sense Of Obligation

Abstract Michael Tomasello explains the human sense of obligation by the role it plays in negotiating practices of acting jointly and the commitments they underwrite. He draws in his work on two models of joint action, one from Michael Bratman, the other from Margaret Gilbert. But Bratman's makes the explanation too difficult to succeed, and Gilbert's makes it too easy.

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Social epistemic actions

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x19002802 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 43 ◽

Author(s):

Giovanni Pezzulo ◽

Laura Barca ◽

Domenico Maisto ◽

Francesco Donnarumma

Keyword(s):

Social Interaction ◽

Joint Action ◽

Niche Construction ◽

Cultural Practices ◽

Learning Processes ◽

Epistemic Actions ◽

Target Article ◽

Online Social Interaction

Abstract We consider the ways humans engage in social epistemic actions, to guide each other's attention, prediction, and learning processes towards salient information, at the timescale of online social interaction and joint action. This parallels the active guidance of other's attention, prediction, and learning processes at the longer timescale of niche construction and cultural practices, as discussed in the target article.

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