The study of gestures in music performance provides valuable insights for instrumental learning. However, gestural vocabularies vary depending on the instrument being played, according to its postural and technical specificities. The goals of this study were twofold: first, to create a gesture categorization system for saxophone players, and second, to analyse their gestural behaviour across contrasting musical excerpts. A criteria-based observational analysis was conducted, considering the type and frequency of gestures identified in a database of 100 video and motion recordings. The categorization system, including 15 gesture types applicable to the case of saxophone playing, was further validated by 2 expert raters. A descriptive appendix is provided for the identification of each gesture type. Results revealed that: (1) knee and trunk flexion, feet elevation, mediolateral sway and flap were the most recurrent gestures among saxophone players; (2) energetic, fast-tempo excerpts led to higher movement frequency; and (3) impulsive gestures (head nods) were idiosyncratic of the excerpt containing repeated accentuated notes. These results present a definition of the gestural behaviour of saxophone players, which constitutes relevant knowledge for the development of future studies in the fields of injury prevention, body expression and historically informed performance.

中文翻译：

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基于视频的萨克斯演奏手势分类系统及频率分析


音乐表演中手势的研究为乐器学习提供了宝贵的见解。然而，手势词汇会根据所演奏的乐器、姿势和技术的特殊性而有所不同。这项研究的目标有两个：首先，为萨克斯管演奏者创建手势分类系统；其次，分析他们在对比音乐摘录中的手势行为。我们进行了基于标准的观察分析，考虑了在包含 100 个视频和动作记录的数据库中识别出的手势类型和频率。该分类系统包括适用于萨克斯管演奏情况的 15 种手势类型，并由 2 名专家评估员进一步验证。提供了一个描述性附录来识别每种手势类型。结果显示：（1）膝和躯干屈曲、脚抬高、内侧摇摆和拍打是萨克斯演奏者最常出现的动作； (2)充满活力、快节奏的摘录导致较高的动作频率； (3) 冲动的手势（点头）是包含重复强调音符的摘录的特质。这些结果提出了萨克斯管演奏者手势行为的定义，为未来在伤害预防、身体表达和历史表演等领域的研究的发展提供了相关知识。