The Embodiment Phase: Designing for Participation
Designing Musical Growth – Essay 3
In the previous essay, I argued that the purpose of the Technical phase is not technical excellence; it is technical fluency. As students become more fluent, they devote less attention to notes, rhythms, fingerings, breathing, vocal production, and countless other technical decisions. Their working memory begins to open up. That raises an important question.
What should students do with that newly available attention?
For years, I assumed the answer was obvious. If students knew the notes and rhythms well enough, surely expression would naturally follow. Sometimes it did. Often it didn't. Students played accurately. They sang accurately. But something was still missing. They had learned how to produce the music, but they hadn't yet learned how to participate in it.
I have come to believe there is an important phase between technical fluency and sharing music with others.
I call it Embodiment.
Participating Through the Body
Embodiment is the phase in which students begin to participate through their whole bodies in music. During the Technical phase, students learn to produce music. During the Embodiment phase, they learn to participate physically in it. Instrumentalists always use their fingers, hands, arms, breath, embouchure, and posture to produce sound. Singers always use their breath, vocal folds, mouth, jaw, tongue, and facial muscles to sing. Those body parts are essential for making music.
But embodiment begins when students move beyond simply producing sound and begin physically participating in the musical experience.
They breathe with phrases.
They sway with the pulse.
They nod with the groove.
They step to the beat.
They look up from the page.
They make eye contact.
They smile.
Their whole body begins responding naturally to the music. The goal is not movement for movement's sake. The goal is participation. Movement is one of the primary ways human beings participate in music.
Musicologist Marc Leman argues that musical understanding is fundamentally embodied, suggesting that bodily interaction is central to how people experience and make meaning from music (Leman, 2007). Research has further shown that movement is not simply an outward expression of musical understanding but an active part of how people perceive and experience music (Maes, Leman, Palmer, & Wanderley, 2014).
I believe one implication for music educators is clear. If we want students to experience music more deeply, we must design opportunities for them to participate through their bodies, not simply produce musical sounds.
We Don't Teach Embodiment on Day One
One of the biggest changes in my own teaching has been recognizing when not to teach embodiment. When students sight-read a new piece, I don't spend much time talking about movement. I don't ask them to look expressive. They're learning. Their attention belongs in the Technical phase. In fact, I expect them to look like statues. That isn't a problem.
It's exactly what students often need to look like as their technical fluency develops. Embodiment isn't something we rush. It's something we prepare for.
Modeling Participation
As my technical fluency develops, I begin to change the environment. At the Colorado Masonic Band Camp, I spend much of the week playing guitar and singing with the students. If we need a metronome, I never use a simple click. Instead, I'll use a drum groove. While the band rehearses, I'm constantly moving. I dance. I nod with the beat. I rap along with the groove. I physically respond to the music while cueing entrances and shaping phrases.
I'm not trying to entertain the students and I'm not asking them to imitate my movements. I'm modeling what it looks like to participate physically in music. Students learn much more than notes from teachers. They learn what a relationship with music looks like.
Creating Space for Participation
One of the ways we intentionally design for embodiment at the Colorado Masonic Band Camp is by memorizing a small number of selections. Although the goal is memorization for the Fourth of July parade, the ultimate goal is freedom.
When students no longer have to devote every moment to reading notation, they begin looking up. They notice one another. They move naturally with the pulse. They begin to experience the music rather than merely decode it. Memorization doesn't create embodiment. It creates the opportunity for embodiment.
Start Small
Many students have never been encouraged to move while making music. Some worry about looking silly. Others simply don't know how. So we begin with simple invitations.
A gentle sway.
A nod with the beat.
A clap.
A step-touch.
Move their instrument with the phrase.
Breathing together before a phrase.
Feeling the groove before picking up the instrument.
These are not performances. They're entry points. As students become more comfortable, I encourage them to develop movements that feel natural to them. There isn't one correct way to embody music. In fact, I tell students exactly that.
At the Colorado Masonic Band Camp, we often teach a few simple movements that everyone can do together. Then I tell them, "These movements are just the beginning." "We don't want everyone in the band looking exactly the same." I encourage students to add their own personality. Some move more. Some move less. Some dance. The goal isn't uniformity. The goal is authentic participation.
If every student moves exactly the same way because I required it, they may appear expressive. But they haven't necessarily embodied the music. Embodiment occurs when students discover a way to participate physically in music that genuinely feels like their own.
What Embodiment Looks Like
One of my favorite examples of embodiment is the PS22 Chorus. When people watch those students perform, they certainly hear beautiful singing. But they also see something else.
The students smile.
They sway naturally.
They lean into phrases.
They make eye contact with each other.
They react to one another.
Their bodies participate in the music.
The movement doesn't feel added to the performance. It grows naturally out of the students' relationship with the music. That's what makes the performances so compelling. The goal isn't to make every school ensemble look like PS22. The goal is to create the conditions where students develop that same authentic relationship with music.
Evidence of Embodiment
If embodiment is about participating physically in music, then our assessment should reflect that purpose. We're no longer asking only, "Can students produce the correct notes?" We're asking different questions.
Do they look up?
Do they breathe together?
Do they move naturally with the pulse?
Do they seem comfortable inside the music?
Do they take expressive risks?
Do they contribute ideas?
Do they appear physically engaged?
Those are signs that students are no longer simply producing music. They're participating in it. And as they participate more deeply, something remarkable begins to happen. The music begins to feel like it belongs to them. That is ownership.
Looking Ahead
Technical fluency teaches students how to produce music. Embodiment teaches students how to participate in music through the body. Once students begin participating fully, their attention naturally expands again. No longer focused only on themselves. No longer focused only on the music. They begin thinking about the people around them.
Their fellow musicians.
Their audience.
Their community.
The music is no longer just something they make. It becomes something they can offer. That is where the final phase of musical growth begins: the Sharing phase.
References
Leman, M. (2007). Embodied Music Cognition and Mediation Technology. MIT Press.
Maes, P.-J., Leman, M., Palmer, C., & Wanderley, M. M. (2014). Action-based effects on music perception. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, Article 1008.https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01008
