This is work presents two studies investigating the existence of a lexicon of gaze in conducting, and its possible different mastery in musicians and laypeople.
An observational qualitative study
singled out 17 items of gaze used by Conductors in music
rehearsal and concert, conveying interactional, affective and
musical meanings to musicians in the ensemble, and exploiting
four semiotic devices: the Conductor may use the same gaze
types as laypeople and with the same meaning (generic codified),
or with meaning more specific of musical performance (specific
codified), and directly or indirectly iconic gaze items. In a
subsequent perceptual study, 8 of the gaze items singled out
were submitted to 177 between musicians and naïf subjects
asking them to interpret their meanings through open and closed
questions. Results show that some gaze items, especially those
conveying intensity (piano, forte) and other technical indications
(high note, attack) are fairly recognized; yet, no significant
differences result between expert and naïf subjects. Gaze
constitutes a lexicon also in music performance and exploits the
same semiotic devices as gaze in everyday life.
With the advent of artificial intelligence and natural user interfaces,the need for multimedia material that can be semantically interpreted in real time becomes critical. In