The Effect of Piano Playing on Preservice Teachers’ Ability to Detect Errors in a Choral Score

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine and empirically test the pedagogical claim that playing the piano while listening to choral singers impedes error detection ability. In a within-subjects design, participants (N = 55 preservice teachers) either listened to four excerpts of choral hymns or played a single part (soprano/bass) on the piano while listening. They were asked to locate the errors that occurred in these excerpts. Each excerpt contained a pitch and a rhythm error, in the soprano and bass voice parts. Results of an analysis of covariance (with years of piano study as the covariate) indicated significant main effects for condition and voicing. There were more errors detected in the soprano voicing than in the bass voicing, and more errors detected in the listen condition than in the playing condition. Implications for music teacher education are discussed, including adding practice in error detection activities to methods and conducting courses.

The Effect of Computer-Assisted Instruction on Piano Education: An Experimental Study with Pre-service Music Teachers

“…It is a proven fact that piano education, which is one of the most important dimensions of music education, makes an effective contribution to the individual"s other musical elements in addition to playing the piano. The training performance of the individual receiving education is directly proportional to the level of piano playing (Napoles et al, 2017). The piano instructor should also help the learner accurately determine the path to the goal.…”

The Relationships Among Interval Identification, Pitch Error Detection, and Stimulus Timbre by Preservice Teachers

“…Another facet of divided attention is when choral directors utilize the piano to support singers. When junior- and senior-level music education majors played piano while simultaneously listening to an ensemble, their error detection ability decreased (Napoles, Babb, Bowers, Hankle, & Zrust, 2016). In addition, conductors have shown superior divided attention ability compared to pianists for timing tasks but not for pitch tasks—and experts to a greater extent than students (Wöllner & Halpern, 2016).…”

Error Detection in Music Education: A Review of Literature

“…Certain types of score study techniques, such as listening to a correct aural example during score study (Crowe, 1996), have also been shown to help with error detection, so music education faculty should find ways to incorporate these techniques into their classes. In contrast, some researchers have indicated that practices such as conducting (Forsythe & Woods, 1983; Waggoner, 2011), singing (Byo & Sheldon, 2000), and playing piano (Nápoles et al, 2017) while listening to music can have a negative effect on error detection. Because these are common instructional practices for music educators, music education faculty should consider focusing attention on these areas during error detection instruction.…”

“…Most researchers have limited the types of errors in their studies to include only pitch and/or rhythm errors (Byo, 1993; 1997; Byo & Sheldon, 2000; Crowe, 1996; Groulx, 2013; Nápoles, 2012; Nápoles et al, 2017; Schlegel, 2010; Sheldon, 1998; Stambaugh, 2016; Waggoner, 2011), as opposed to more subjective types of errors such as intonation, dynamics, and style. There may be multiple reasons for this decision.…”

“…Researchers have also found that contextual sight-singing and ear-training instruction (Sheldon, 1998), videotaped recordings (Stuart, 1979), and using tonal music stimuli (Groulx, 2013) demonstrated positive effects on error detection ability. In contrast, singing (Byo & Sheldon, 2000) and piano playing (Nápoles et al, 2017) during error detection, as well as engaging in multiple listenings (Sheldon, 2004), have a negative effect on this skill. Interestingly, the activities of lip synching (Nápoles, 2012) and directed attention (Schlegel, 2010) were shown to have no effect on error detection.…”