A Study to Discover Metrics to Measure Kinesthetic Empathy in Interactive Music Performance

Kinesthetic empathy is a term used in performance and kinesthetic interaction, defined as the ability of participants to "read, decode and react to each other's input". In prior studies, performers of interactive music self-reported sensing the presence of other musicians. The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify kinesthetic empathy between two individuals in a live electronic performance reported as perceived interactivity. Participants viewed eight videos, both real duets, and spliced solos appearing as real duets, rating each video. The questions guiding this study were: (a) is there a difference in perceived interactivity between the live and spliced duets, (b) is there a relationship between performance rating and perceived interactivity. Results showed a significant difference in the perceived interactivity of the video conditions. Further, the results showed a significant relationship between performance rating and perceived interactivity of the performers. The results suggest that perceived interactivity between performers could be a metric to measure kinesthetic empathy between performers facilitated by an interactive performance system that could be used to objectively measure the effectiveness of design and pedagogical interventions for new interfaces for musical expression.