The effect of practice and musical structure on pianists' eye-hand span and visual monitoring

Abstract

This study examines short-term improvement of music performances and oculomotor behaviour during four successive executions of a brief musical piece composed by Bartók, "Slovak Boys' Dance". Pianists (n=22) were allowed to practice for two minutes between each trial. Eye-tracking data were collected as well as MIDI information from pianists' performances. Cognitive skills were assessed by a spatial memory test and a reading span test. Principal component analysis (PCA) enabled us to distinguish two axes, one associated with anticipation and the other with dependence/independence on written code. The effect of musical structure, determined by the emergence of different sections in the score, was observed in all the dependent variables selected from the PCA; we also observed the effect of practice on the number of fixations, the number of glances at the keyboard (GAK) and the awareness span. Pianist expertise was associated with fewer fixations and GAK, better anticipation capacities and more effective strategies for visual monitoring of motor movements. The significant correlations observed between the reading span test and GAK duration highlight the challenge of working memory involvement during music reading.

Keywords: eye movement; eye-hand span; eye-tracking; glances at the keyboard; individual differences; music reading; musical expertise; sight-reading; working memory.

Figure 1.

The main motifs that characterize this piece by Bartók, from Ten Easy Pieces, Sz 39 (1908).

Figure 2.

The awareness span calculation includes an initial event, or the distance between the performed note (Eb – in circle) and the first time that the pianist looked at a point in the score where subsequently he/she would need to look at the keyboard to perform it (C and G in the left hand – dotted circle), named the final event. All the measurements of the EHSQ were considered between these points (i.e. 5,4,6,5). For example, when the pianist is playing Eb (in circle), he/she is looking six quavers ahead.

Figure 3.

Principal component analysis. Active variables are used to compute the PCA. Supplementary variables are useful to observe the relationship among the complete set of variables, enriching the interpretation without influencing the barycentre. They are included after the analysis is performed (1). Vector length represents the contribution of each variable in establishing the Principal Components (the longer the vector, the more important the contribution).

Figure 4.

Differences between sections relative to the number of GAK. Sections 2 and 4 present thematic development. Error bars show the standard error of the mean.

Figure 5.

Progress of awareness span across the trials. Error bars show the standard error of the mean.