This project investigated respiration and heart rate in Indian instrumental performance, to discover how these physiological processes are related to musical structure and interpersonal coordination. Indian music is a new but rich area for research into respiration given its variety of well-defined metrical and phrase structures. It is also an ideal case study with which to connect respiration research to our work on interpersonal coordination (entrainment), in order to broaden the perspective of embodied music cognition.
We are grateful to the musicians who have collaborated with this research: Ustad Dharambir Singh MBE (sitar), Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya (slide guitar), Ustad Shahadat Hossain Khan (sarod), Gurdain Rayatt, Bhupinder Chaggar and Yousuf Ali Khan (tabla). Thanks also to our friends at South Asian Arts UK for their help.
The research was funded by the British Academy and Leverhulme Trust.
Investigators: Martin Clayton, Tuomas Eerola, Laura Leante.
Music & Science 