Singer-songwriter Alex Whorms and doctoral researcher Dana Swarbrick met while attending McMaster University. Last year, they collaborated to produce a concert research study at McMaster’s renowned LIVELab, a state of the art performance theatre and research facility, to study social bonding between performers and audience members at live music events. The concert-study involved both in-person and livestreaming audiences, a specially designed set list, and motion capture technology worn by the band and audience. Surveys were conducted during the concert to determine how manipulated audience participation influenced a sense of connection between the audience and Alex’s band.
We talked about:
- Neel’s experiment writing a chord progression in Mixolydian in preparation for our upcoming songwriting challenge. BONUS: Neel also made an explainer video with his keyboard to better show his process.
- The Mindful Harmony online app to help you write chord progressions – let us know how it works for you!
- Dana’s background with music cognition and music psychology
- McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind
- The effects of audience participation, with sing- and clap-alongs, compared to no audience participation on audience engagement and connectedness with the musicians and the other audience members
- Measuring audience and performer movements through motion capture technology
- The potential role of stage banter on audience engagement and Alex’s performance
- Alex and Dana on answering the big “so what?” about this research
- How many variables go into audience enjoyment (HINT: it’s a very complex question with many variables to measure and study)
Check out the concert: