Skip to main content

Cultural Theories of Gesture

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Future of Music

Abstract

In this chapter, we examine the role of gestures in musical performance. The focus of this examination is on the physical, symbolic, and psychological movements of musicians in different traditions—American Hip Hop, Free Jazz, Japanese Noh Theater, and Chinese Folk. We locate these gestures in the bodies, scores, and sounds of and made by performers. It is also necessary to honor and acknowledge the cultural specificity of each musical tradition by recognizing the importance of different geographies, power dynamics, and histories. We describe the role of gestures as cultural expressivity, complementing the mathematical theory of gestures (see Chap. 14).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. “DJ Q Bert 1991 DMC Championship,” uploaded by Boom Bap Focus (2017), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wITk8-7oNU

  2. M. Maurizio Gentilucci, M.C. Corballis, From manual gesture to speech: a gradual transition. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 30(7), 949–960 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. F. Moten, In the Break: The Aesthetics of the Black Radical Tradition (University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2003), p. 39

    Google Scholar 

  4. Y. Pang, Rural and Urban Explorations of Transnational Performance: A Dialogue Between Traditional Southwestern Chinese and Contemporary North American Music & Dance (2018). Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy. http://hdl.handle.net/11299/202159

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Mazzola, G. et al. (2020). Cultural Theories of Gesture. In: The Future of Music. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39709-8_21

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics