Open AccessEmpathies of Musical Performance and Understanding
Author(s) -
Anton Vishio
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
empirical musicology review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1559-5749
DOI - 10.18061/emr.v10i1-2.4595
Subject(s) - empathy , musical , psychology , cognitive psychology , identification (biology) , simulation theory of empathy , cognition , cognitive science , epistemology , aesthetics , social psychology , art , visual arts , philosophy , botany , neuroscience , biology
In my commentary on Erin Heisel’s thought-provoking essay, I explore alternative responses to the masterclass she describes. I propose expanding the kinds of empathy that might be most useful to performers to include “cognitive empathy,” while suggesting ways in which an empathy of identification can be problematic. I consider as well expansions to her definition of empathy to engage considerations of musical structure and embodiment, and I close with a proposal to expand Heisel’s pedagogical techniques into situations where empathy may be hard to find.