Measurable Changes in Piano Performance Following a Body Mapping Workshop

Abstract

Body Mapping has emerged among movement education techniques as one of the only somatic methods to focus specifically on musicians. Little research has been conducted to determine what changes, if any, participants in Body Mapping workshops experience. This study used MIDI to examine pitch, tone, tempo, and articulation of scale and arpeggio piano performance one day before and after a Body Mapping workshop. Participants were found to exhibit few measurable changes in these aspects of scale and arpeggio. A series of exploratory analyses were then conducted, which found greater changes in the visually observable aspects of piano performance than in aurally perceptible ones. The results suggest that immediately following a Body Mapping workshop, piano performance may improve in visually observable measures, but not in the aurally perceptible measures of scale and arpeggio performance.