School
of Creative
Industries

Alesia Arnatovich

Alesia Arnatovich

MA Arts Pedagogy and Practice
2019 — 2020

Alesia Arnatovich is a classical pianist, piano teacher and music educator whose pedagogical practice is informed by an ongoing experience as a professional musician and vice versa. Her teaching experience is multi-faced and includes conducting one-on-one piano lessons and general classroom music lessons for students of different ages and levels, preparing them for both performances and exams. Her performing experience includes both solo piano recitals in Europe, Latin America and Asia and a wide body of work as a collaborative pianist at festivals and cultural conventions around the world. She has a Master's Degree in Arts Pedagogy and Practice from LASALLE College of the Arts, awarded by Goldsmiths, University of London.

Work

As an educator, Alesia believes in a flexible methodology and mutually transformative pedagogical process. While working with students, her main goal is to provide a relationship with music which students may use for their own personal growth.
Her research interests encompass music cognition as an individual and social phenomenon.

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Thesis abstract

Music cognition through dynamic interaction

This thesis investigated the process of music cognition stressing the role of sensorimotor visualisation and emphasising the importance of embodied and enactive approaches in this process. An exploratory process-based action research was conducted to inquire how music cognition can be shaped by the dynamic interaction between sound and human sensorimotor systems, and what methodological technique can be used to engage the human sensorimotor system in the process of the music cognition. I designed the experimental activity, which incorporated a constant interplay between musical sound, sensorimotor responses and music cognition. The cornerstone of the experiment was the sensorimotor visualisation, which was focused on activating and bringing out bodily sensory (auditory, visual) and motor responses simultaneously. Participants listened to three different excerpts of music and generated responses in reaction to the changes in the musical structure. The sensorimotor visualisation provided a methodological approach to connect, experience and interact with music, engaging participants in a highly personal way and providing the autonomous experience of the processes. The course of the study revealed the performative nature of music cognition. The idea of the study is to expand the boundaries of standard academic approaches and address different aspects of experiencing music that is not accessible through purely verbal explanation and instruction.

Keywords. Music cognition, interaction, sensorimotor visualisation, embodied approach, enactive approach, music experience.