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Laban Movement Analysis For Conductors R PDF
Laban Movement Analysis For Conductors R PDF
Laban Movement Analysis For Conductors R PDF
Journal of
Laban Movement Studies
Official Publication of the
Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies-LIMS
Editor
Elin Lobel, Ph.D., CMA
Department of Kinesiology
Towson University, Towson, MD
Assistant Editors
Linda Almar Caldwell, Ph.D., CMA
Department of Dance
Texas Women s University, Denton, TX
Kate Jobe, M.A., CMA, Dipl. P.O. Psych., RSMT/E
Process Work Institute
Portland, OR
Editorial Board
Thomas Casciero, Ph.D., CMA
Karen Studd, MS, CMA, RSMT & RSME
Barbara Nordstrom-Loeb, MFA, CMA, ADTR, MAMFT
Ann Axtman, Ph.D., CMA
Martie Barylick, CMA
External Review
Karen Bradley, M.A. CMA
Julie A. Brodie, MFA
Volume 1, Number 1, 2009 Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies-LIMS, New York, New York
The Journal of Laban Movement Studies (JLMS) is requesting submissions in the area of Laban Movement Studies (Laban Movement
Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals) and its relationship to the
discipline of Theatre. Particular areas of interest at this time
include, but are not limited to, research, historical perspective,
applications to theatre practices, and the development and execution of pedagogy or training methodology.
The Journal of Laban Movement Studies (JLMS) is a publication of the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (LIMS). It publishes scholarly articles, book reviews, and reports of scholarly conferences,
archives, and other projects of interest to the field. We accept submissions for publication consideration from
both members and nonmembers of LIMS. Scholarly articles are peer reviewed.
The Journal of Laban Movement Studies (JLMS) considers for publication original manuscripts on topics related
to the theoretical, methodological, historical, and practical aspects of Rudolf Laban s movement studies and
their applications. Articles may present current research, scholarly reviews, or an application to a practice,
research, or teaching methodology. All manuscript submissions should follow the JLMS author guidelines.
The Journal of Laban Movement Studies (JLIMS) is a refereed publication, using a blind review process. The
Editor and at least one outside reader independently review all articles before an editorial decision is made.
Authors are advised of the editorial decision as soon as it is available.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to all who participated in making this journal possible by donating technical, personal and editorial
skills. Some of those people are: Ann Axtman, Karen Bradley, Martie Barylick, Linda Almar Caldwell,
Thomas Casciero, Kate Jobe, Elin E. Lobel, Alyson Nehren, Barbara Nordstrom-Loeb, and Karen Studd.
Journal and cover design: Kate Jobe
Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, LIMS - Board of Directors: Executive Committee, Virginia
Reed, President of LIMS. Regina Miranda, LIMS Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Karen Bradley, LIMS Vice-Chair and Director of Research. Board Members: Bob Bejan, Jane Bonbright, Nanette Burstein, Luis Cancel, Marcia Feuerstein, Marjorie Hamilton, Lucinda Lavelli, Bala Sarasvati, Keith Sedlacek, Jan
Whitener.
The Journal of Laban Movement Studies is published semi annually by the Laban/Bartenieff Institute, LIMS.
520 Eighth Avenue, Suite 304. New York, NY 10018. Tel: 1.212.643.8888; Fax: 1.212.643.8388. LIMS website:
www.limsonline.org. Contact LIMS at: info@limsonline.org
Copyright 2009,Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies (LIMS). No part of this publication
may be reproduced (except brief excerpts for the purpose of review or citation and except where otherwise
noted) by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the publisher. The opinions
expressed in The Journal of Laban Movement Analysis are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by
the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (LIMS).
All correspondance regarding the current issue should be directed to: Elin Lobel, Ph.D., Editor, Journal of
Laban Movement Studies, Department of Kinesiology, Towson University, 8000 York Road,
Journal of
Laban
Movement
Studies
Volume 1, Number 1, 2009
Editorial
Documenting Laban Movement Analysis in the 21st Century: The First
Issue of the Journal of Laban Movement Studies
Feature Articles
Applications of Laban Movement Analysis: An Integrated Approach to
Voice, Speech, and Movement Training for Actors
21
35
Most modes of live musical performance require the synchronized participation of mind and body. Some certainly
require greater physical activity than others,
formance
aurally
Continuous
experienced
and
the
external,
performance.
enables performers to
music thinking
20
music.
After adding a lengthy list of specific implications to support these two overarching themes, Bartee sums up his
exploratory thesis by concluding that the
conductor can improve his ability to use
expressive gesture by studying movement as
it is practiced in the movement arts. 8
7
Interest in LMA training for conductors has since waxed and waned in cycles
that seem to follow the publication of new
research studies and the introduction of
LMA workshops and seminars at academic
and professional conferences. Researchers
Hibbard (1994) and Benge (1996) arranged
for Certified Movement Analysts to observe
experienced conductors in rehearsal and/or
performance. Results from their analyses
revealed a number of possible connections
between the conductors gestures and the
expressive qualities of the music they were
conducting.9 Several additional studies used
various research models some experimental
and some descriptive to investigate the
effects of LMA training on conductors or
ensemble members.
Billingham (2001) used the eight Basic
Effort Actions (BEAs) as the basis for a
vocabulary of conducting gestures that
proved to be partially successful.10 After preparing one choir with LMA training and the
other with traditional rehearsal technique,
choral conductor Holt (1992) found that the
LMA-trained choir performed better than
the traditionally prepared choir.11 Miller
(1988) split two populations of conducting
22
towards
corresponding
pairs
of
so
Dynamics
Articulations
Character
Precision
Phrasing
Light Weight
Increase
Decrease
Less Intensity
Light
Neutral
Neutral
Strong Weight
Decrease
Increase
More Intensity
Forceful
Neutral
Neutral
Flexible Space
Neutral
Neutral
Longer
Broad
Less
Pliant
Direct Space
Neutral
Neutral
Shorter
Focused
More
Strict
Sustained Time
Decrease
Neutral
Less Accented
Calm
Neutral
Stretched
Quick Time
Increase
Neutral
More Accented
Hurried
Neutral
Condensed
Free Flow
Neutral
Increase
Neutral
Carefree
Less
Fluent
Bound Flow
Neutral
Decrease
Neutral
Restrained
More
Controlled
[Table 2].21
The affinities are justified because the tendency for each Time Effort is clear.
Effort/Space and Effort/Shape Affinities
19
He observed
Motion Factor
Accepting
Effort
Element
Shape Affinity
Resisting
Effort
Element
ShapeAffinity
Space
Flexible
Spreading
Direct
Enclosing
Weight
Light
Rising
Strong
Sinking
Time
Sustained
Advancing
Quick
Retreatin
movements that contradict natural tendencies) often support some kind of musical
tension, and they can appear simultaneously
with additional affinities or disaffinities.
27
tion, some of which was related to conducting, but I did not teach the course as a
conducting class. No specific applications of
were prescribed, and the student conductors
received no counsel from instructors outside
the limits of the study. Participants were
asked to use homework assignments and in-
concur that the changes they observed constituted a positive development for all participants. One found that overall, all four
participants general performance improved
significantly in the posttest compared to the
pretest. All four used a wider range of
motion and involved different gestural solutions to inherent problems in the score. He
also reported that the participants were
more relaxed in the posttest. As a result,
the ensemble was more relaxed and
responded with overall better execution of
the piece.
noted:
24
28
The
tors.
26
29
27
29
Plays, Inc.
_____. 1971. Rudolf Laban speaks about movement and
dance. Edited by Lisa Ullmann. Addlestone,
Surrey: Laban Art of Movement Centre.
Lamb, Warren. 1965. Posture and gesture. London:
Gerald Duckworth and Company.
Lamb, Warren and Elizabeth Watson. 1979. Body
code: The meaning in movement. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Maletic, Vera. 1987. Body - space - expression: The development of Rudolf Laban's movement and dance
concepts. Approaches to Semiotics 75. Berlin
and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Maletic, Vera. 2004. Dance dynamics effort and phrasing workbook. Columbus: Grade A Notes.
Miller Stephen W. 1988. The effect of Laban movement training on the ability of student conductors to communicate musical interpretation
through gesture. Ph.D. diss., University of
Wisconsin-Madison.
Neidlinger, Erica Jean. 2003. The effect of Laban
effort-shape instruction on young conductors'
perception of expressiveness across arts disciplines. Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota.
Preston-Dunlop, Valerie and Charlotte Purkis. 1989.
Rudolf Laban The making of modern dance:
The seminal years in Munich 1910-1914. Dance
Theatre Journal 7, no. 3 (winter): 10-13.
Scherchen, Hermann. 1966. Handbook of conducting,
10th ed. Translated by M. D. Calvocoressi.
London:
Oxford University Press.
Yontz, Timothy Gene. 2001. The effectiveness of
Laban-based principles of movement and previous musical training on undergraduate
beginning conducting students ability to convey intended musical content. Ph.D. diss.,
University of Nebraska.
Endnotes
1. Hermann Scherchen, Handbook of Conducting, 10th
ed., trans. M. D. Calvocoressi (London: Oxford
University Press, 1966), 14.
30
2. The term gesture as used by Hermann Scherchen and the present author refers to a broad range of conducting movement possibilities that, in Laban terminology, may include gestures, postures and posture-gesture
mergers. Because the primary audience for this research consisted of conductors and musicians, distinctions between these categories were not made.
3. Rudolf Laban, Rudolf Laban Speaks about Movement and Dance, ed. Lisa Ullmann (Addlestone: Laban Art of
Movement Centre, 1971), 40.
4. Charles Gambetta, Creating a Fresh Approach to Conducting Gesture Through the Principles of Laban
Movement Analysis (D.M.A. diss., University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2005), 100-23.
5. Bartee, The Development of a Theoretical Position on Conducting Using Principles of Body Movement as
Explicated By Rudolf Laban (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1977), 2, 17-8.
6. Ibid., 160.
7. Ibid., 161.
8. Ibid., 192-200.
9. Therees Tkach Hibbard, The Use of Movement as an Instructional Technique in Choral Rehearsals
(D.M.A. diss., University of Oregon, 1994), 226-37. Timothy John Benge, Movements Utilized by Conductors in the Stimulation of Expression and Musicianship (D.M.A. diss., University of Southern California, 1996), 59-61.
10. Lisa Adalade Billingham, The Development of a Gestural Vocabulary for Choral Conductors Based on
the Movement Theory of Rudolf Laban (D.M.A. diss., University of Arizona, 2001), 65-72.
11. Michele Menard Holt, The Application to Conducting and Choral Rehearsal Pedagogy of Laban Effort/
Shape and its Comparative Effect upon Style in Choral Performance (D.M.A diss., University of Hartford, 1992), 9, 64.
12. Stephen W Miller, The Effect of Laban Movement Training on the Ability of Student Conductors to
Communicate Musical Interpretation Through Gesture (Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison,
1988), 105-6.
13. Timothy Gene Yontz, The Effectiveness of Laban-based Principles of Movement and Previous Musical
Training on Undergraduate Beginning Conducting Students Ability to Convey Intended Musical Content (Ph.D. diss., University of Nebraska, 2001), 102-3.
14. Erica Jean Neidlinger, The Effect of Laban Effort-Shape Instruction on Young Conductors' Perception of
Expressiveness across Arts Disciplines (Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota, 2003), 126-32.
15. Though far beyond the limits of the present article, a more thorough examination of Laban s theories
would lead to an understanding of his fundamental views of movement as a dynamic process on a continuum between polarities. Maletic, Body - Space - Expression, 52. Apart from Effort, for example, Laban organized his concept of bodily rhythms . . . in terms of polarities. Preston-Dunlop and Perkins explain: He
had developed two sources, Ionian opposites (hot/cold, right/left, big/small, etc.) and the colour contrast
theory described in Kandinsky s work. Valerie Preston-Dunlop and Charlotte Perkins, Rudolf Laban
The Making of Modern Dance: The Seminal Years in Munich 1910-1914 Dance Theatre Journal 7, no. 3
(winter 1989): 10-13.
16. Music educator Edwin Gordon defines audiation as a cognitive process by which the brain gives meaning to music. Edwin E. Gordon, Learning Sequences in Music: Skill, Content and Patterns (Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc., 1980), 4-5. It is the convergence of this inward hearing that Gordon refers to as audiation
and Laban s concept of thinking in terms of movement allows me to find genuine equivalence between my
gestures and the sounds of music.
17. The author has been experimenting and refining this approach for nearly ten years and has expanded the
list of affinities to include combinations of two and three Efforts as well as Effort/Shape and Effort/Space
affinities.
31
18. While all four Motion Factors are not visible in States and Drives, the absent Efforts in such cases result
from conscious or unconscious choices made by the mover. In contrast, the neutrality associated with
Effort/Conducting affinities is not the result of choice. Just as an Effort/Shape affinity exists between
lightness and rising but not lightness and retreating, an Effort/Conducting affinity exists between Weight
and dynamics but not Weight and precision.
19. Rudolf Laban, The Language of Movement: A Guidebook to Choreutics, ed. Lisa Ullman (Boston: Plays, Inc.,
1974), 30-2.
20. Vera Maletic, Dance Dynamics Effort and Phrasing Workbook, 37.
21. Warren Lamb, Posture and Gesture, (London: Gerald Duckworth and Company, 1965), 63-4.
22. Gambetta, 269-70.
23. Ibid., 280.
24. Ibid., 306.
25. Gambetta, 332.
26. Ibid., 336-7.
27. Ibid., 341-2.
28. Gambetta., 346.
29. Ibid., 351-3.
30. Warren Lamb and Elizabeth Watson, Body Code: The Meaning in Movement (London: Routledge and Kegan
Paul, 1979), 81.
Conductor/composer Charles Gambetta holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro. He is currently on the music faculties of Greensboro College, Guilford College and WinstonSalem State University in North Carolina. A student of LMA since 1995 when he studied for a semester with Jackie Hand
at Teachers College, Columbia University, Charles addressed the 2006 Laban and the Performing Arts conference in Bratislava, and he will speak at the 2008 Laban International Conference in London. Maestro Gambetta has served as Music
Director of the Young American Symphony Orchestra, the Greensboro Symphony Youth Orchestra and Assistant Conductor
of the Greensboro Symphony, the Fayetteville Symphony and the Philharmonia of Greensboro. In 2008 he accepted an
appointment to the faculty of the prestigious International Institute for Conductors.
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