Performances of Chopin, Bach, and Bartok: Studies in motor programming

Shaffer, L. H.

doi:10.1016/0010-0285(81)90013-x

Cited by 258 publications

(151 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…There are not many published papers that provide empirical data on communication between performer and listener, although many suggestions appear in research (Clarke, 1985;Gabrielsson, 1982Gabrielsson, , 1985Gabrielsson, Bengtsson, & Gabrielsson, 1983;Harvey, 1985;Mori, Suga, & Taguti, 1987;Nakajima& Nishimura, 1986;Patterson, 1974;Rasch, 1979;Sasaki, Ishikawa, & Yamada, 1986;Shaffer, 1981;Sloboda, 1982Sloboda, , 1983Sloboda, , 1985Sundburg, Askenfelt, & Fryden, 1983;Takahashi, 1984). As Gabrielsson (1985) puts it, investigations ofthe relationships between performance and listeners' experience are just beginning.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The communication of dynamics between musicians and listeners through musical performance

Nakamura

1987

Perception & Psychophysics

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Musicians perform music according to their own interpretations. How does a player realize his/her interpretation of a piece of music in the form of tones? How is hislher intention understood by a listener? In this study, the relationships among the following were investigated quantitatively: (1) the dynamics of a piece of music that professional performers intend to convey to listeners; (2) the intensity of tones produced by the performers; and (3) the listeners' perception of the dynamics of performances, as examined in the listening experiment. Several findings were obtained.(1) In general, performers' intentions were communicated fairly well. (2) When the performers intended to produce a crescendo and intensity was gradually increased, most listeners successfully recognized the crescendo. (3) It appeared that rising pitch enhanced an impression of crescendo, and falling pitch enhanced that of decrescendo. (4) Crescendo was easier both to play and to recognize than was decrescendo. (5) The performer's intention of observing dynamics marks (e.g., f and p) was conveyed to listeners fairly well, even though the marks did not correspond to a fixed-intensity level. This suggested a context effect common to playing and listening.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The communication of dynamics between musicians and listeners through musical performance

Nakamura

1987

Perception & Psychophysics

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“…Analyses of musical performances reveal similar findings. Numerous studies have shown that pianists display salient changes in amplitude, tempo, and tonal prolongation at melodic phrase boundaries nested within the underlying tonality scheme (e.g., Clarke, 1982Clarke, , 1988Gabrielsson, 1988;Shaffer, 1981Shaffer, , 1984Sundberg, 1988;Todd, 1985). Such findings suggest that the individual producing an event may rely on a hierarchical motor scheme that temporally highlights the intended meaning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time estimation and attentional perspective

Boltz

1991

Perception & Psychophysics

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The purpose of the present experiment was to investigate whether the filled interval effect is influenced by different attentional perspectives ofthe same event. Musically sophisticated listeners were asked to compare the duration of paired melodies that varied both in lower order contour changes and the relative timing of higher order phrase periodicities. Results indicated that a given pair of melodies could produce over-or underestimations, depending on which hierarchical level of structure was selectively tracked. These findings are discussed in terms of a framework that links event coherence and dynamic attending modes to time-estimation activities.

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“…Here, the tempo may be considered to be continuously variable and governed by a flexible timing mechanism (Shaffer, 1981;Shaffer et aI., TIMING PRECISION 531 1985). If the accuracy of this timekeeper decreases with the interevent interval duration, then the standard deviation of individual lOIs across repeated performances should increase monotonically, perhaps linearly, with 101 duration.…”

Section: Brunoh Repp Haskins Laboratories New Haven Connecticutmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability of timing in expressive piano performance increases with interval duration

Repp

1997

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

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In simple motor tasks such as finger tapping at different constant rates, within-trial variability of response interonset intervals (lOIs) increases with 101duration (which varies between trials). In expressive piano performance, the rate of key depressions is not constant, in part due to compositional structure and in part due to expressive timing, so that lOIs of many different durations occur within a single "trial." Nevertheless, across repeated performances of the same music (Schumann's "Traumerei" and Debussy's "La fille aux cheveux de lin") at the same intended tempo, the standard deviations of individual lOIs tend to increase linearly with their average duration. This is also true when the variation is due to expressive timing alone and when unintended differences in basic tempo between performances are taken into account. In the music studied here, at least, there was no evidence of compensatory timing. The results suggest that the pianists employed a continuously variable tempo governed by a flexible internal timekeeper whose variability follows a generalized Weber's law (for lOIs longer than about 300 msec).

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Performances of Chopin, Bach, and Bartok: Studies in motor programming

Cited by 258 publications

References 26 publications

The communication of dynamics between musicians and listeners through musical performance

The communication of dynamics between musicians and listeners through musical performance

Time estimation and attentional perspective

Variability of timing in expressive piano performance increases with interval duration

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