Alexander Truslit
At the centre of his method is the kinaesthetics of music perception and music-making, which he illustrated with a graphic notation in the form of curved lines.
In 1929, he became director of the Elisabeth Caland School and the associated Research Institute for Artistic Piano Playing, where he focussed on human anatomy, auditory physiology and the relationship between musical and physical movement.
'[7] Alexander Truslit was also acquainted with Eugen Herrigel and Karlfried Graf Dürkheim and studied Zen and the art of archery with them.
At the centre of his method are three so-called primal or basic movements from whose combinations larger musical sequences are composed.
[7] The central physical technique is the so-called wringing, which Truslit had adopted from the anatomist August Weinert of the Bauhaus.
Musicians in particular develop a holistic self use through the exercises, through which muscular tensions and movements of the trunk and the body can later be ideally integrated into music-making.
Using state-of-the-art audio analyses with the newly invented film gramophone, for example, he investigated the influence of his three basic movements on the dynamic and agogic shaping of their musical realisation.
[12] In accordance with implicit learning theory, Truslit did not teach a specific instrumental technique, but trusted that it would develop more easily and correctly through an external focus on the kinaesthetics of musical phrasing.
[13] Hence, his publication "Gestaltung und Bewegung in der Musik" is one of the first books, and possibly the first one on music psychology which includes sound examples on media.
In order to objectively investigate the influence of "dynamo-agogics" on the perceived musical movement, Truslit applied a "Filmgrammophon" (film grammophone) manufactured by Telefunken.
Bruno Wyzuj studied with Truslit at the conservatory in Luxembourg and later became a singing professor at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf.
In general, numerous sounds of daily life convey information on technical function, e.g. in the domestic home, or related to skilled manual activities.
[16] The major rediscovery of Truslit took place within international performance research, a branch of empirical music psychology.
Bruno Repp published a short English excerpt from Truslit's book in 1993,[17] and since then references to it can be found in countless studies.
It is no coincidence that Truslit's 'hypotheses about the organisation of music and movement according to general, physical principles have had a lasting influence on current theories.
[18] Jörg Langner and Werner Goebl, like Truslit, investigated the tempo and dynamic shaping of various interpretations and illustrated them in diagrams.
"[25] Very similar to Alexander Truslit is the approach of Alexandra Pierce, who recommends tracing melodic contours with the arms in order to promote musicality.
