About the project
This project investigates when and how performers' and audience members' bodies act together during classical music concerts. Music performances bring bodies into different relationships, and we study coordination across performance roles and musical arrangements.
RITMO has teamed up with leading Scandinavian Symphony Orchestras to collect data during concerts and show some data-capturing methods and analyses live on stage. This includes performances with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in 2023, 2024, and 2025, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK) in 2024, and Aarhus Symphony Orchestra in 2025.
Preliminary results
These concert experiment measurements will be studied for years to come, and we will be sharing initial findings and published results as we go.
Methodology
We use state-of-the-art technologies to capture body activity from musicians and audience members. The video below shows some of these technologies in action.
We are interested in:
- Body motion, which we capture using video, accelerometers, or motion capture suits.
- Heart activity and breathing, which we capture using electrocardiography (ECG) and breathing belts.
- Visual attention and cognitive effort, which we capture using gaze tracking and pupillometry (measurement of pupil diameter).
- Concert experiences, which we tap into using questionnaires and interviews.
