Mapping musical thought to musical performance

Journal/Book: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1989; 15: 331-46.

Abstract: Expressive timing methods are described that map pianists' musical thoughts to sounded performance. In Experiment 1, 6 pianists performed the same musical excerpt on a computer-monitored keyboard. Each performance contained 3 expressive timing patterns: chord asynchronies, rubato patterns, and overlaps (staccato and legato). Each pattern was strongest in experienced pianists' performances and decreased when pianists attempted to play unmusically. In Experiment 2 pianists performed another musical excerpt and notated their musical intentions on an unedited score. The notated interpretations correlated with the presence of the 3 methods: The notated melody preceded other events in chords (chord asynchrony); events notated as phase boundaries showed greatest tempo changes (rubato); and the notated melody showed most consistent amount of overlap between adjacent events (staccato and legato). These results suggest that the mapping of musical thought to musical action is rule-governed, and the same rules produce different interpretations.

Keyword(s): Adult ; Individuality ; Motor Skills; Pitch Discrimination; Practice Psychology; Set Psychology Music ; Psychomotor Performance; Thinking ; Time Perception Human; Support, U.S. Gov't, Non P.H.S.; Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

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