Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Emotion, Handedness and HICP

Clip art:
Clker
Clip art:
Clker
As noted in earlier posts, EHIEP "touch-i-namis" (wave-like gestures associated with sounds or sound processes which terminate in both hands touching) go from left to right when working with intonation. Research on emotion and handedness suggests that the left hand is more associated with relaxed states and is probably better suited for depicting the flowing shape of the intonation contour and the right hand is by nature more information or aggression-based--especially if the motion is contained within the general visual field. 

In other words, use of the hands in our work, for whatever reason, including hemispheric cross-connectedness (left to right, and vice versa) can be enhanced by matching emotion with handedness. For example, another pedagogical movement pattern (one used only for fun demonstrations only, by the way), one with some potentially very "aggressive" emotions involved (the Rhythmic Feet Fight Club) terminates with a strong punch with the right hand to the opponent's abs--on the prominent word/syllable in a rhythm or output group.  A useful technique to keep "handy." 

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