Gesture refers to a line or contour that suggests movement or wanting to move in one direction. You could talk about the gesture in one figure or a gesture involving several figures. Organizing them into gestures helps direct our attention and set up expectations of where the work is going next (maybe we’ll get there, or maybe there will be setbacks or surprises)

While visual gestures usually move across space or in time, a sonic gesture can “move” in pitch, rhythm, loudness, or other ways. Listen how this single gesture meanders downward in pitch, then gets so slow that we hear rhythm instead of pitch. You might also hear it seeming to move toward and away from us (listen to the reverberation).