What do errors in performance tell us

about music cognition?Richard Parncutt

Centre for Systematic MusicologyUniversity of Graz

Conference “Excellenz durch Umgang mit Fehlern” University of Music and Dramatic Arts Graz

11-12 November 2011

Centre for Systematic MusicologyUni Graz, Austria

Bernd BrabecEthnomusicology

Erica BisesiExpression in piano music

Daniela PremTimbre in Jazz

Michaela SchwarzSecretary

Martin WinterMusic and minorities

Fabio KaiserHistory of music cognition

Systematic musicologyPossible definitions

• The how and why of music• General questions about music• “Systematic” approach• Not history or ethnology• Six subdisciplines

– Philosophy– Physics– Physiology– Psychology– Sociology– Computing

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

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

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 SnobbyInternational Peer-Reviewed Journal of Music Education(SIPRJME)

Editor:Samuel Snob, PhD

Aus meinem Proseminar „Empirische Musikpsychologie“:

Fehlerkultur, Chaos und Kreativität„Wenn wir wüssten was wir taten, wäre es nicht Forschung, oder?“ (Einstein)

Stand: 15.7.2011

“…man muss noch Chaos in sich haben, um einen tanzenden Stern gebären zu können” (Nietzsche , Also Sprach Zarathustra, 1886)

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

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‘s guide to the Germans (p. 12). London: Oval.

Interpretation: The British envy efficient German infrastructures e.g. public transport. They would like to have some of that Ordnung.

Stand: 15.7.2011

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!)

Intercultural ERRORApproaches 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

What can a music psychologist contribute?What can a music psychologist contribute?• What do music psychologists know about ERRORS?What do music psychologists know about ERRORS?• How can ERROR research be applied in musical practice?How can ERROR research be applied in musical practice?

A conference on error management in music education…

Art psychology: A comedy of ERRORS?“Great art” is moderately original?

“ERRORS” are very original?

Ok but boring

Great!

Going a bit far…

ERROR

Perceived originalityPerc

eive

d ar

tistic

val

ue

Inspired by Williamon et al, in Deliege & Williamon (2006) Musical Creativity

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)

ERRORS and listeningConductors need good audiation skills •To identify ERRORS in rehearsal (Byo & Sheldon, 2000)•To develop interpretations

Audiation: •ability to imagine and understand music (Gordon, 1986)•most important musical skill? (Mainwaring, 1941)

ERRORS and instrumental techniqueExamples of learning by trial and ERROR

• String instruments: complex relationship between – Bow pressure, speed, angle, distance from bridge– Loudness, timbre

• Wind instruments: complex relationship between– Lip pressure, air flow, pitch– Loudness, timbre

• Keyboard instruments:– Which fingers produce which results?– Leaping without looking

• In all cases: relationship depends on– player – Instrument

Research idea: observe children practising alone, study process in detail

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

ERRORS and piano performanceRussian pianist Nikita Magaloff performed all Chopin piano solos (1989, aged 77)

MIDI files with c. 300 000 notesAnalysis 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)

A model of cognition in piano performance

notes structure

interpretation

fingering

realisation

Score or memory

Auditory feedback

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

A model of cognition in piano performance

notes structure

interpretation

fingering

realisation

Score or memory

Hand-eye span (Sloboda, 1976)

A model of cognition in piano performance

notes structure

interpretation

fingering

realisation

Score or memory

Hand-eye span (Sloboda, 1976)

Structural ERROR

Reading ERROR

Technical ERROR

Interpretation ERRORMemory

ERROR

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)

Time in days, months, years, decades?

stored info.

Reading ERROR and familiarity

If a style is familiar, we err in its direction

Proofreader’s error= oversight of error in a highly familiar patterne.g. playing E instead of Eb in example reveals stylistic knowledge! measure of expertise!(Sloboda, 1976)

Cf. story distortionTell an unusual story, ask listener to repeat it. omissions, simplification and transformations familiar forms and content (Bartlett, 1932) (Repeat this experiment with music?)

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)

That may seem trivial, but it is the main result of many sophisticated experiments on eye-movement tracking during music reading.

The best way to improve sight-reading is simply to sight-read a lot.

Structural ERRORS

Typical memory lapse:•2 identical passages with different continuations•Anxious performer forgets one of them

Problem: Only lower levels of structure learned!Solution: learn higher levels too!

Hierarchical levels of musical structure

Palmer & van de Sande (1995)

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.

Conceiving higher structural levels

Exercise for students: Write some kind of reduction for all pieces in repertoire. Aim: Improve memory and interpretation

Conceiving higher structural levels

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

Technical ERRORSin piano performance

• Run out of fingers• Not enough finger span• Wrong change of position• Coordination difficulties• Leap: missed target

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)1. Generate all possible fingerings2. Estimate difficulty of each3. Rank order

Advanced principles of 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)

Piano leapsAvoid 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:

Target toneTake-off tone

Margin of error is greater when approaching… •C#/F# from below•Bb/Eb from above

flatter trajectory!

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

Principles of expressionBring out immanent accents

(Bisesi & Parncutt, 2011)

Music performance anxiety and ERROR

MPA suppresses ability to manage ERRORS in real timee.g. catastrophizing exaggeration of ERRORS (Hardy & Parfitt, 1991)

Solution: All music students should• learn about the theory of MPA • apply findings to their own musical practice

MPA causes…•Memory ERROR

•Reading ERROR

•Structural ERROR

•Technical ERROR

•Interpretation ERROR

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

“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) solutionBalance 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.

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!

Exaggeration ERRORThe 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…