How classical musicians experience the sensation of playing together

When performing in groups, classical musicians experience a profound sense of shared connection that relies on physical alignment, emotional openness, and specific ensemble skills. A small study published in the Psychology of Music details how performers define this sensation of togetherness, revealing that while musical accuracy matters, reaching peak harmony requires trust and adaptability. The results offer practical guidance for music pedagogy and highlight the social aspects of playing an instrument.

People routinely coordinate their actions in time and space with others. This phenomenon, known as joint action, applies to everyday activities like crossing the street as well as specialized tasks like team sports and dance. Joint actions can provide a sense of joint agency, which researchers define as a feeling of shared control over physical movements and their effects. During successful joint actions, participants often report an optimal state of deep concentration and absorption called flow.

Within musical performances, this shared flow produces a feeling of social and musical connectedness, often referred to as togetherness. Past research has examined togetherness by looking at objective measurements, such as the synchronized breathing, shared head movements, or matched sound intensity of the performers. Sara D’Amario and Laura Bishop, researchers at the University of Oslo, wanted to bridge the gap between these physical measurements and the subjective experiences of the artists. They set out to document how classical musicians consciously perceive their connections with co-performers, as well as the external factors that enhance or disrupt the experience.

The researchers conducted semi-structured phone interviews with 22 advanced music students. The participants included 10 piano students and 12 singing students from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. During the interviews, which lasted an average of 15 minutes, D’Amario asked the participants open-ended questions about their experiences playing in ensembles. The questions prompted the musicians to define togetherness, describe how their repertoire and co-performers influenced the feeling, and share any strategies they used to achieve it.

After transcribing the audio recordings, the researchers used a thematic inductive process to analyze the responses. This method involves reviewing raw text to identify recurring concepts, which researchers then group into broader categories and overarching themes. Both researchers independently coded the transcripts to ensure consistency and minimize the chance of misinterpreting the responses.

Free daily newsletter

Through this analysis, four primary themes emerged regarding how musicians experience togetherness. The first theme centered on the raw sensation of the experience. Participants described togetherness as an embodied feeling, heavily reliant on aligned breathing, synchronized body movements, and eye contact. They characterized these moments as joyful, effortless, and highly rewarding.

The musicians noted that while the sensation is unmistakable when it happens, it remains largely unpredictable and fluctuates throughout a performance. The study distinguished between mechanical precision and deeper emotional synchronization. Some participants described instances of low togetherness as merely vertical. In these cases, the musicians aligned their timing and rhythm with technical accuracy but lacked shared commitment.

High levels of togetherness, described as horizontal, involved true adaptability and a feeling of operating as a single entity. The second theme highlighted the quality of interpersonal relationships that make this horizontal connection possible. The participants indicated that simply playing the right notes at the right time is not enough to establish a strong connection. Performers must share a similar interpretation and emotional understanding of the piece.

The musicians emphasized the necessity of trust and reciprocal responsiveness, meaning they felt free to express themselves because they knew their partner would adapt. Opinions varied on leadership, with some preferring an equal distribution of control and others accepting a clear leader-follower dynamic. As long as both musicians contributed to the shared goal, the specific division of leadership did not prevent the sensation of togetherness.

A third theme focused on the performance setting. Rehearsing generally improved the potential for togetherness, though some participants recalled rare instances of immediate connection without practice. The musicians noted that traditional formal training, such as lessons where a teacher simply accompanies a student, often fails to cultivate this shared focus. Live concerts, by contrast, frequently facilitated high levels of togetherness, as the presence of an audience created an energy exchange that pushed the performers to connect more deeply with the music.

The final theme revolved around specific ensemble skills. The researchers found that an open attitude and a willingness to adapt were essential for musical connection. Instances of poor togetherness usually occurred when a musician focused entirely on their own performance, ignored their partner’s cues, or approached a piece rigidly. To improve group cohesion, the participants recommended that students direct their attention away from the sheet music and actively listen to their co-performers.

Environmental distractors, such as room temperature or background noise, frequently hindered the shared flow. Personal fatigue, bad moods, and a lack of preparation also negatively impacted the ensemble’s ability to sync. The musicians highlighted that external life stressors could easily bleed into the performance space and ruin the delicate balance required for a successful joint action.

The study relies on a small sample of highly skilled classical musicians, meaning the results may not universally apply to amateur players or performers in other musical genres. The participants also conducted the interviews in English, which was not their native language. While they demonstrated a firm grasp of the concepts, conducting the interviews in their primary languages might have yielded more precise descriptions of their emotional states.

The researchers acknowledge that their own professional backgrounds in music and pre-existing ideas about togetherness likely influenced the interview questions and the coding process. Future investigations could involve independent researchers to analyze the data and minimize potential bias. Additionally, upcoming studies will need to combine subjective interviews with physical measurements to see how musicians’ internal feelings map onto bodily processes they cannot consciously control, such as synchronized heart rates.

The study, “Self-reported experiences of togetherness in classical music ensembles,” was authored by Sara D’Amario and Laura Bishop.