Motion in Music: A Neurobiological Perspective

The topic of musical motion has generated a considerable amount of controversy in the past few years (P. Desain, H. Honing, H. van Thienen, & L. Windsor, 1998). In this essay it is argued that motion is central to our understanding of many aspects of music, particularly to our understanding of rhythm, and that an adequate account of motion in music requires a neurobiological perspective. Two possible mechanisms are discussed that may form a neurobiological basis for the association of motion in music: a vestibulomotor mechanism and an audio-visuo-motor mechanism. These two mechanisms in turn may mediate two distinct kinds of musical motion: gesture and locomotion.