Music Listening Is an Action Verb: Phoronomy, Sound Tracking and Morphodynamic Transformation

Area of Science:

• Musicology
• Cognitive Science
• Acoustics

Background:

• Previous work defined music as flowing matter, advocating a rheological approach to listening.
• This article extends the concept of music as a dynamic, time-evolving virtual object.

Purpose of the Study:

• Introduce phoronomy (kinematic study of motion) to the analysis of music listening.
• Explore how listeners perceptually track sound using motor imagery and ideomotor simulation.
• Characterize music listening as an active, real-time engagement with the sonic world.

Main Methods:

• Conceptualizing listening as an action verb involving active engagement.
• Utilizing the root metaphor of drawing an imaginary curve to describe the listening experience.
• Applying principles of kinematics and motor imagery to auditory perception.

Main Results:

• Listening is framed as a real-time phenomenon, keeping pace with unfolding music.
• Sound tracking involves sensory immediacy and perceptual bonding with the sonic environment.
• The listening experience is described as a virtual trajectory through virtual space via a gestural approach.

Conclusions:

• Music listening can be understood through the lens of motion and active tracking.
• Motor imagery and simulation play a crucial role in perceptual bonding with music.
• A gestural, kinematic approach offers new insights into the embodied experience of music.