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What do errors in performance tell us about music cognition?

What do errors in performance tell us about music cognition?. Richard Parncutt Centre for Systematic Musicology University of Graz Conference “Excellenz durch Umgang mit Fehlern” University of Music and Dramatic Arts Graz 11-12 November 2011.

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What do errors in performance tell us about music cognition?

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  1. What do errors in performance tell us about music cognition? Richard Parncutt Centre for Systematic Musicology University of Graz Conference “Excellenz durch Umgang mit Fehlern” University of Music and Dramatic Arts Graz 11-12 November 2011

  2. Centre for Systematic MusicologyUni Graz, Austria Bernd Brabec Ethnomusicology Erica Bisesi Expression in piano music Daniela Prem Timbre in Jazz Michaela Schwarz Secretary Martin Winter Music and minorities Fabio Kaiser History of music cognition

  3. SystematicmusicologyPossibledefinitions • The how and why of music • General questions about music • “Systematic” approach • Not history or ethnology • Six subdisciplines • Philosophy • Physics • Physiology • Psychology • Sociology • Computing

  4. Music psychology • Topic of research: music • Production: Performing • Reception: Listening, movement, aesthetics • Creation: Composition, improvisation, audiation • Approach & methods: psychology • Perception, cognition • Motivation, action • Personality, development • Biology, health

  5. Mistakes and creativity "In creative problem-solving, a mistake is an experiment to learn from, valuable information about what to try next. People ... are often afraid of making mistakes, which can be embarrassing, even humiliating. But if you take no chances and make no mistakes, you fail to learn, let alone do anything unusual or innovative. Research suggests that creative people make more mistakes than their less imaginative peers. They are not less proficient - it's just that they make more attempts than most others. They spin out more ideas, come up with more possibilities, generate more schemes. They win some; they lose some."   Goleman, D.,  Kaufman, P., & Ray, M. (1992). The creative spirit. New York: Penguin. Stand: 2.6.2011

  6. Academic quality, peer review, ERROR Peer review procedure • anonymous reviewers identify ERRORS • authors must admit ERRORS • authors must correct ERRORS Academic quality depends on • researcher’s awareness of own arrogance • ability to laugh at her/himself • willingness to cooperate (“team spirit”) The Snobby International Peer-Reviewed Journal of Music Education (SIPRJME) Editor: Samuel Snob, PhD

  7. Aus meinem Proseminar „Empirische Musikpsychologie“:Fehlerkultur, Chaos und Kreativität „Wenn wir wüssten was wir taten, wäre es nicht Forschung, oder?“ (Einstein) “…man muss noch Chaos in sich haben, um einen tanzenden Stern gebären zu können” (Nietzsche , Also Sprach Zarathustra, 1886) Stand: 15.7.2011

  8. Aus meinem Proseminar „Empirische Musikpsychologie“:Kreativität und Unordnung • Wir lernen “empirisch” von Fehlern. • Kreativität kann aus Not entstehen. • Klare Anweisungen schränken ein.  Optimales Lernen bei mittlerer (Un-)Ordnung! Daher: • Meine Vorschläge hängen vom Stand Ihres Projektes ab! • Es gibt keine “absolut richtigen” Antworten auf Ihre Fragen! Stand: 18.3.2011

  9. Cultural differences “The Germans pride themselves on their efficiency, organization, discipline, cleanliness and punctuality. These are all manifestations of Ordnung ‘Order’ which doesn’t just just mean tidiness, but correctness, properness, appropriateness and a host of other good things. No phrase warms the heart of a German like ‘alles in Ordnung’ … The categorical imperative which no German escapes if ‘Ordnung muss sein’…” Barkow, B. N. O. X., & Zeidenitz, S. (1993). Xenophobe‘sguidetothe Germans (p. 12). London: Oval. Interpretation: The British envyefficient German infrastructures e.g. publictransport. TheywouldliketohavesomeofthatOrdnung. Stand: 15.7.2011

  10. Psychologists are skeptics! • Empirical evidence is better than • personal experience (danger of ERROR!) • practical application (danger of ERROR!) All claims by practitioners are suspicious! Even trivial findings are interesting! (Psychologists also use too much Powerpoint!)

  11. Intercultural ERROR Approaches to correctness, error, order, chaos… • Germany/Austria versus Britain/Italy • Education versus psychology (different disciplinary “cultures”) ERRORS to avoid: • Ignoring intercultural differences • Pretending they don‘t exist Solution: • Create atmosphere of equal dignity and mutual respect. Then talk! Examples: • Parncutt, R., & McPherson, G. E. (Eds., 2002).The science and psychology of music performance. New York: Oxford University Press. • Conference on Applied Interculturality Research, Graz, April 2010

  12. A conference on error management in music education… Whatcan a musicpsychologistcontribute? • What do musicpsychologistsknowabout ERRORS? • Howcan ERROR researchbeapplied in musicalpractice?

  13. Art psychology: A comedy of ERRORS?“Great art” is moderately original?“ERRORS” are very original? Ok but boring Going a bit far… ERROR Perceived artistic value Great! Perceived originality Inspired by Williamon et al, in Deliege & Williamon (2006) Musical Creativity

  14. ERRORS and listeningsome psychological research Poor tone quality is confused with poor intonation (Madsen & Geringer, 1976) • Claims about intonation (“just”?) may be unfounded (Devaney et al., 2011)

  15. ERRORS and listening Conductors need good audiation skills • To identify ERRORS in rehearsal (Byo & Sheldon, 2000) • To develop interpretations • Audiation: • abilitytoimagineandunderstandmusic (Gordon, 1986) • mostimportantmusicalskill? (Mainwaring, 1941)

  16. ERRORS and instrumental techniqueExamples of learning by trial and ERROR • String instruments: complexrelationshipbetween • Bow pressure, speed, angle, distancefrombridge • Loudness, timbre • Wind instruments: complexrelationshipbetween • Lippressure, airflow, pitch • Loudness, timbre • Keyboard instruments: • Whichfingersproducewhichresults? • Leapingwithoutlooking • In all cases: relationshipdepends on • player • Instrument Research idea: observechildrenpractisingalone, studyprocess in detail

  17. ERRORS and practice • Elements of deliberate practice • Well-defined task • Informative feedback • Opportunities for repetition & ERROR correction (Ericsson et al 1993) • Students who practice “deliberately” are better able to correct ERRORS (Barry, 1990) ERRORS are integral to skill acquisition

  18. ERRORS and piano performance Russian pianist Nikita Magaloff performed all Chopin piano solos (1989, aged 77) • MIDI files with c. 300 000 notes Analysis by automatic score matching • Inserted notes: 3.6% • higher in Scherzos, Ballades, Polonaises • 65% are quieter than other local notes • Omitted notes: 3.5% • higher in Etudes, Polonaises, Sonatas • Substituted notes: 1.5% • higher in Rondos, Sonatas and other pieces • Insertions > omissions in treble, v-v for bass • Inner voices sometimes consistently omitted (Flossmann, Goebl & Widmer, 2010)

  19. A model of cognition in piano performance Auditory feedback Score or memory interpretation realisation notes structure fingering

  20. Cognitive processing time in music performance Time interval between read/recall & realisation • How can we measure it? Clue: page turners for pianists • turn too soon  ERRORS • turn too late  ERRORS

  21. A model of cognition in piano performance Hand-eye span (Sloboda, 1976) Score or memory interpretation realisation notes structure fingering

  22. A model of cognition in piano performance Hand-eye span (Sloboda, 1976) Interpretation ERROR Memory ERROR Score or memory interpretation realisation notes structure fingering Reading ERROR Structural ERROR Technical ERROR

  23. Memory ERROR Exponential decay (like nuclear waste…) “Half life” is longer if: • Learned earlier in life (early education!) • Learned repeatedly (temporally distributed practice!) (cf. Ebbinghaus, 1885) stored info. Time in days, months, years, decades?

  24. Reading ERROR and familiarity If a style is familiar, we err in its direction Proofreader’s error = oversight of error in a highly familiar pattern e.g. playing E instead of Eb in example   reveals stylistic knowledge! measure of expertise! (Sloboda, 1976) Cf. story distortion Tell an unusual story, ask listener to repeat it. • omissions, simplification and transformations • familiar forms and content (Bartlett, 1932) (Repeat this experiment with music?)

  25. Music reading ERRORS and expertise Beginners • try to obey notational conventions • focus on individual notes Experts • rely on knowledge of style • consider larger patterns (fewer fixations, more distance between) Thatmayseem trivial, but itisthemainresultofmanysophisticatedexperiments on eye-movementtrackingduringmusicreading. The bestwaytoimprovesight-readingissimplytosight-read a lot.

  26. Structural ERRORS Typicalmemorylapse: • 2 identicalpassageswith different continuations • Anxiousperformerforgetsoneofthem Problem:Onlylowerlevelsofstructurelearned! Solution:learnhigherlevelstoo!

  27. Hierarchicallevelsofmusicalstructure At a given moment in a performance, performers and listeners are aware of only part of the structure.  Performers can practice maintaining awareness of all levels. Palmer & van de Sande (1995)

  28. Conceiving higher structural levels Exercise for students: Write some kind of reduction for all pieces in repertoire. Aim: Improve memory and interpretation

  29. Conceiving higher structural levels Schenker‘s analyis of Chopin Op. 25 No. 12 (excerpt) - too complex for performance (teaching) purposes

  30. Technical ERRORSin piano performance • Run out of fingers • Not enough finger span • Wrong change of position • Coordination difficulties • Leap: missed target

  31. Basic principles of piano fingeringSimple case: fast melody in one hand • Avoid unnecessary stretches/squashes • stretches/squashes with 1 are easier • Minimize position changes • Prefer changes from non-1 on black to 1 on white • Avoid 3 and 4 in succession • especially if 4 on black and 3 on white • Avoid 1/5 on black • especially if preceded/followed by non-1/5 on white Algorithm for fingering of piano melody (Parncutt et al., 1997) • Generate all possible fingerings • Estimate difficulty of each • Rank order

  32. Advancedprinciplesof piano fingering • Consider musical structure e.g. thumb on black at the start of a phrase (avoid ERROR: inappropriate accent) • Prefer flexible fingerings allow for spontaneous changes of interpretation (avoid ERROR due to technical difficulty)

  33. Piano leaps Avoid ERRORS by increasing margin of error = width of key as seen from approaching finger = greatest if approach is vertical, zero if approach is horizontal  asymmetrical trajectory: Take-off tone Target tone • Margin oferrorisgreaterwhenapproaching… • C#/F# frombelow • Bb/Ebfromabove •  flattertrajectory!

  34. Interpretation “ERRORS” • Performer dislikes with own interpretation • How can planning process be improved? • Too little expression, or inappropriate • Solution: Learn principles of expression • Nice interpretation - but not original • Solution: Find personal voice

  35. Principles of expressionBring out immanent accents (Bisesi & Parncutt, 2011)

  36. Music performance anxiety and ERROR • MPA causes… • Memory ERROR • Reading ERROR • Structural ERROR • Technical ERROR • Interpretation ERROR MPA suppressesabilityto manage ERRORS in real time e.g. catastrophizing  exaggerationof ERRORS (Hardy & Parfitt, 1991) Solution: Allmusicstudentsshould • learnaboutthetheoryof MPA • applyfindingstotheirownmusicalpractice

  37. Expertise and ERRORS Experts can… • identify ERRORS • estimate their salience • develop counterstrategies • respond appropriately • manage real-time resources These skills can be trained by balancing theory and practice

  38. “Music Academy ERROR” Unbalanced music performance curriculum • Not enough theory (sciences and humanities)? • Inappropriate or outdated theory? • Unclear connection between theory and practice? Practical (political) solution Balance theory (Wissenschaft) and practice in curriculum development:  Music psychologists (and others) as committee members! Parncutt, R. (2007). Can researchers help artists? Music performance research for music students. Music Performance Research, 1, 13-50.

  39. Language ERROR The problem: Monolingualism • Conference on original topic • high-quality contributions • music educators in all countries are interested • published in a language that most people cannot understand (French, German, Italian…) The solution: Bilingualism • conference in German  local networking • proceedings in English  global networking Don’t be “monoglots” like those British and Americans! Take advantage of linguistic abilities of German speakers!

  40. Exaggeration ERROR The problem • Talking about “excellence” instead of “quality” • Everybody is doing it, everybody is exaggerating! The solution: First fulfill basic prerequisites for quality in teaching, research and administration • Peer review • Bilingualism • Interdisciplinarity Additional requirements for “excellence”: • Bright ideas, hard work, luck…

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