Deepening Musical Performance through Movement: The Theory and Practice of Embodied Interpretation.(Book review)

* Deepening Musical Performance through Movement: The Theory and Practice of Embodied Interpretation, by Alexandra Pierce. Indiana University Press, 2008.

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www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog; (800) 842-6796, 248 pp. $44.95. Deepening Musical Performance through Movement: The Theory and Practice of Embodied Interpretation answers the question: Why is it that some performers project the soul of music while others, although technically proficient, do not project the music's character? In her book, Alexandra Pierce suggests the why and how to. The musical elements of melody, meter and beat, harmonic cadence, structural levels, phrase, phrase climax, tone, character and reverberation and juncture, are presented in the context of engaging body motions.

As a teacher, you may know some of these movement ideas and exercises from recordings, concerts, books, master classes, seminars and music theory classes. The value of this book is that Pierce incorporates these movement ideas into one context--their relationship to the elements of music. She pulls her ideas from a variety of authors in the fields of music, dance, movement, sports and science. Pierce is professor of music and movement and research professor emeritus at the University of Redlands, California, and has written extensively on physical gesture, including two books: Expressive Movement: Posture and ...