Time, Touch, and Creativity: Exploring Tactile Perception in Romantic Performance Practice

In recent years, studies on Romantic performance practice and analyses of early recordings—such as the work of Clive Brown, Neal Peres da Costa, and Inja Stanovic—have shed light on how time, rhythm, and asynchrony were integral aspects of historical musical approaches. These practices created a fluidity and variability of time that is often challenging for modern musicians and listeners to fully grasp. Techniques such as rhythmic displacement, asynchrony between the hands on the piano, and nuanced tempo variations were central to a radically different conception of time and sound.
However, observing these temporal effects through recordings alone does not fully capture the essence of tempo rubato. This practice is not merely an aesthetic choice but reflects a different way of perceiving and listening during performance, likely influenced by neurological processes. We propose that tactile perception—haptic feedback—played a crucial role in shaping these practices.
As part of the TouchTheSound project, we investigate how historical instruments, pedagogical methods, and the makeup of past musical communities may have stimulated brain plasticity. This, in turn, likely fostered a deeply integrated tactile approach to playing and listening, profoundly influencing perceptions of time and fostering creativity.
In this lecture-recital, we demonstrate our strategies for developing tactile sensitivity in our guitar duo performance to create meaningful rhythmic nuances. Our approach addresses the concept of time indirectly by using historical instruments with their inherent limitations and by fostering a community where these nuances carry expressive meaning. This process develops subliminal perception and subconscious responses.
This methodology not only informs our creative approach to interpretation but also provides deeper insights into how tactile perception may have shaped Romantic performance practices.