Robert A Duke
Biographic Data
| ID | 5872217 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Robert A Duke |
| GIVEN NAMES | Robert A |
| FAMILY NAME | Duke |
| SIGNATURE | DUKE R A |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Texas at Austin |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 93 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1985 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Gaze behavior, attention allocation, and automaticity in expert chamber music coaches
Two artist-level chamber music coaches wore eye-tracking glasses while teaching a chamber rehearsal, then participated in two interviews to discuss their teaching – first, immediately after the rehearsal, then approximately 2 weeks later, while watching their lesson videos and eye-tracking recordings. Teachers’ eye movements revealed rich networks of rapid information tracking and goal-directed attention, but both teachers struggled to articulate…
Knowledgeable Listeners’ Assessments of Auditory Recordings of Music Practice
We examined differences between expert and nonexpert musicians’ assessments of recorded episodes of music practice. High school ( n = 28) and professional ( n = 26) string players listened to brief recordings of four anonymous violinists’ practice sessions (two artist-level experts and two competent high school students). As they listened, they pressed a computer key when they perceived a discrepancy between what they heard on the recording and w…
Differences in Attention Allocation in Relation to Music Teacher Experience and Expertise
To assess allocation of attention by music teachers with different levels of experience and expertise, we recruited five participant flautists: an artist teacher, two graduate students, and two undergraduates, all of whom observed nine brief video recordings of flute, clarinet, and saxophone players; a juggler; a baseball batter; and a ballerina. We tracked participants’ gaze using wearable eye-tracking hardware and software, and we analyzed the …
Changes in Perception Accompany the Development of Music Performance Skills
In two experiments we examined the extent to which musicians identify discrepancies between their intentions and their playing during individual practice. In the first experiment, 60 musicians representing four levels of skill development practiced a familiar piece from their own repertoire for 5 min while being audio recorded. They then listened to their recorded practice and pressed a computer key to mark moments of discrepancy between what the…
Introduction to the 2016 Senior Researcher Award Acceptance Address
Effects of Model Performances on Music Skill Acquisition and Overnight Memory Consolidation
This study was designed to investigate the extent to which the presentation of an auditory model prior to learning a novel melody affects performance during active practice and the overnight consolidation of procedural memory. During evening training sessions, 32 nonpianist musicians practiced a 13-note keyboard melody with their left (nondominant) hand in twelve 30-s practice intervals separated by 30-s rest intervals. Participants were instruct…
Focus of Attention Affects Performance of Motor Skills in Music
To test the extent to which learners performing a simple keyboard passage would be affected by directing their focus of attention to different aspects of their movements, 16 music majors performed a brief keyboard passage under each of four focus conditions arranged in a counterbalanced design—a total of 64 experimental sessions. As they performed the test passage, participants were directed to focus their attention on either their fingers, the p…
Senior Researcher Award Acceptance Address
It's Not How Much; It's How: Characteristics of Practice Behavior and Retention of Performance Skills
We observed 17 graduate and advanced-undergraduate piano majors practicing a difficult, three-measure keyboard passage from a Shostakovich concerto. Participants' instructions were to practice until they were confident they could play the passage accurately at a prescribed tempo in a retention test session the following day. We analyzed the practice behaviors of each pianist in terms of numeric and nonnumeric descriptors and ranked the pianists a…
Procedural Memory Consolidation in the Performance of Brief Keyboard Sequences
Using two sequential key press sequences, we tested the extent to which subjects' performance on a digital piano keyboard changed between the end of training and retest on subsequent days. We found consistent, significant improvements attributable to sleep-based consolidation effects, indicating that learning continued after the cessation of practice during both the first and second nights of sleep following training. When subjects briefly recall…
Effects of Sleep on Performance of a Keyboard Melody
Recent research has shown that both the speed and accuracy of novel motor skills improve during sleep in a process called consolidation. Such off-line learning in the absence of practice as yet has been experimentally observed only with learners performing relatively simple tasks. In the experiment we report here, we tested whether experienced learners performing a music skill obtain similar sleep-dependent improvements. Participants learned a 12…
Summarizing Listener Perceptions over Time
To compare two common measures of overall effect in music, we assessed listeners' perceptions of musical intensity in nine excerpts of orchestral music using two assessment procedures: (1) recording subjects' moment-to-moment responses as they listened to each excerpt and then averaging each subjects ratings to obtain a measure of overall intensity, and (2) recording subjects' post hoc ratings of intensity at the conclusion of each excerpt. The r…
Teacher and Student Behavior in Suzuki String Lessons: Results from the International Research Symposium on Talent Education
The investigation described in this report documents the types of behavior that take place in the studios of nationally and/or regionally acclaimed string teachers whose instruction is based on the principles of Shinichi Suzuki. The specific focus of the investigation was the time allocated to different aspects of teacher, student, and parent behavior as teachers and students worked to improve students' playing of repertoire in the context of ind…
Empirical Description of the Pace of Music Instruction
The present study was designed to assess novice teachers* perceptions of timing in music instruction and to identify the aspects of timing that are associated with positive perceptions of instructional pacing. We selected eight 1-3-minute excerpts from teaching-practicum videotapes of four novice teachers teaching in a choral rehearsal, a band rehearsal, and two elementary music classrooms. Each teacher appeared in two excerpts that differed with…
Continuous versus Summative Evaluations of Musical Intensity: A Comparison of Two Methods for Measuring Overall Effect
The primary purpose of the present study was to compare two different methods of measuring subjects' perceptions of overall effect: (1) a record of subjects' ongoing evaluation that is averaged to obtain an overall rating (labeled “continuous') and (2) a single rating of intensity given by subjects at the conclusion of a music excerpt (labeled ”summative“). Subjects were asked to evaluate the level of musical intensity expressed in various music …
When Tempo Changes Rhythm: The Effect of Tempo on Nonmusicians' Perception of Rhythm
The present study assessed the effects of tempo differences on listeners' ability to recognize previously heard rhythm phrases. The effect of audible beat on subjects' response accuracy also was examined. Three hundred twenty third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students and nonmusic-major undergraduates heard one of two versions of a 20-item paired-comparison test and indicated whether the second rhythm in each pair was the same or not the same as t…
The Relationship Between Observers' Recorded Teacher Behavior and Evaluation of Music Instruction
Using four teaching evaluation variables selected from the Texas Teacher Appraisal System Teacher Orientation Manual (Texas Education Agency, 1986), 100 music education majors and 100 nonmusic, education majors evaluated a 12-minute videotaped segment of a fifth-grade music class. Each subject was assigned one of four different tasks to be performed during the observation period. Ratings given by nonmusic majors were significantly higher than wer…
Effects of Tempo and Context on Transfer of Performance Skills
The present study examined the effects of melodic context and performance tempo on the I ability of advanced-level instrumentalists to perform previously learned music passages in novel settings. Twenty-seven graduate and undergraduate music majors practiced nine one-measure target tasks until achieving a specified performance criterion and subsequently performed the same measures at different tempi and in different melodic contexts that varied i…
Performance of Perceived Beat in Relation to Age and Music Training
The perception of beat across a range of stimulus speeds was examined using monotonic I stimuli. Two hundred forty subjects representing four age-groups (graduate, undergraduate, high school, junior high school) and two levels of music participation (music major/enrollment in band versus no participation in organized music activities) served as subjects. Thirteen sets of consecutive periodic 349.23 Hz (F 4 ) tones were presented at various speeds…
Musicians' Perception of Beat in Monotonic Stimuli
The perception of beat across a range of stimulus speeds was examined using monotonic stimuli. Fifty graduate and undergraduate music majors performed metric pulses in response to periodic stimulus tones. Nine sets of consecutive periodic 1046.5-Hz (C6) tones were presented at various speeds in random orders. Subjects' tasks were to listen to each example and to tap the perceived beat or pulse. Results revealed differential subject responses amon…
Effect of Melodic Rhythm on Elementary Students' and College Undergraduates' Perceptions of Relative Tempo
The present study examined the effect of melodic rhythm on the perception of tempo in music. Three hundred fourth graders ( n = 100), fifth graders ( n = 100), and undergraduate nonmusic majors ( n = 100) heard 36 pairs of brief musical examples and indicated whether the second example in each pair was “faster,” “slower,” or “neither faster nor slower” than the first example in the pair. Musical excerpts were four variations of a chaconne theme i…
Effect of Majority Consensus on Preferences for Recorded Orchestral and Popular Music
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of statements of group preferences on the verbal responses of individual group members, using a paradigm developed by Asch (1951, 1952, 1956) in which the responses of a “minority of one” were tested within the context of a “unanimous majority.” One hundred sixty university music ( n = 72) and nonmusic ( n = 88) majors participated in the study. Subjects in Experiment 1 ( n = 80) listened to tw…
Effect of Tempo on Pitch Perception
The purpose of the study was to investigate the perceptions of music majors and nonmusic I majors concerning combined frequency and tempo changes in music across a range of musical tempi. The subjects, 200 music majors and 200 nonmusic majors, heard 10 consecutive presentations of an orchestral excerpt, each of which had been altered by changing the frequency or tempo (or both) of the original version in various combinations. The task was to comp…
The Effect of Differentially Focused Observation on Evaluation of Instruction
The present study examined evaluations by observers directed to attend to specific aspects of one-to-one instruction in applied music. One hundred forty-three nonmusic education majors enrolled in music study observed one of three videotaped versions of an 11-minute private lesson in violin. Visual presentation and observation instructions focused subjects' attention toward 1) the student, 2) the teacher, or 3) both student and teacher. Subjects …
The Effect of Speed Alterations on Tempo Note Selection
The present study was an attempt to investigate musicians' tempo note preferences within a musical context. Using relatively familiar orchestral music as stimuli, the study tested the ability of subjects to discriminate how an altered excerpt differed in tempo from its unaltered presentation by asking subjects to select a beat note for each trial. One hundred randomly selected subjects participated in the study. A representative list of eight rel…
It's Not How Much; It's How: Characteristics of Practice Behavior and Retention of Performance Skills
We observed 17 graduate and advanced-undergraduate piano majors practicing a difficult, three-measure keyboard passage from a Shostakovich concerto. Participants' instructions were to practice until they were confident they could play the passage accurately at a prescribed tempo in a retention test session the following day. We analyzed the practice behaviors of each pianist in terms of numeric and nonnumeric descriptors and ranked the pianists a…
Effect of Tempo on Pitch Perception
The purpose of the study was to investigate the perceptions of music majors and nonmusic I majors concerning combined frequency and tempo changes in music across a range of musical tempi. The subjects, 200 music majors and 200 nonmusic majors, heard 10 consecutive presentations of an orchestral excerpt, each of which had been altered by changing the frequency or tempo (or both) of the original version in various combinations. The task was to comp…
Empirical Description of the Pace of Music Instruction
The present study was designed to assess novice teachers* perceptions of timing in music instruction and to identify the aspects of timing that are associated with positive perceptions of instructional pacing. We selected eight 1-3-minute excerpts from teaching-practicum videotapes of four novice teachers teaching in a choral rehearsal, a band rehearsal, and two elementary music classrooms. Each teacher appeared in two excerpts that differed with…
Effects of Tempo and Context on Transfer of Performance Skills
The present study examined the effects of melodic context and performance tempo on the I ability of advanced-level instrumentalists to perform previously learned music passages in novel settings. Twenty-seven graduate and undergraduate music majors practiced nine one-measure target tasks until achieving a specified performance criterion and subsequently performed the same measures at different tempi and in different melodic contexts that varied i…
Performance of Perceived Beat in Relation to Age and Music Training
The perception of beat across a range of stimulus speeds was examined using monotonic I stimuli. Two hundred forty subjects representing four age-groups (graduate, undergraduate, high school, junior high school) and two levels of music participation (music major/enrollment in band versus no participation in organized music activities) served as subjects. Thirteen sets of consecutive periodic 349.23 Hz (F 4 ) tones were presented at various speeds…
Observation of Approval/Disapproval in Music: Perception Versus Actual Classroom Events
This study was designed to assess subjects' perceptions of teacher approval/disapproval given to elementary students compared to the actual responses of the teacher. Subjects were 109 graduate and undergraduate music therapy ( n = 50) and music education ( n = 59) majors enrolled in classes in behavioral techniques that constituted parts of teacher/therapist training programs. Subjects viewed a 23-min videotape of an ongoing kindergarten music cl…
Wind Instrumentalists' Intonational Performance of Selected Musical Intervals
The purpose of the study was to examine intonation patterns concerning melodic and harmonic musical intervals compared to equal temperament. Forty-eight junior high school, high school, and college undergraduate musicians were assigned to one of four experimental conditions in a split-plot design. Subjects performed four diatonic intervals (major third, perfect fourth, perfect fifth, and major sixth) both melodically and harmonically. Results ind…
Procedural Memory Consolidation in the Performance of Brief Keyboard Sequences
Using two sequential key press sequences, we tested the extent to which subjects' performance on a digital piano keyboard changed between the end of training and retest on subsequent days. We found consistent, significant improvements attributable to sleep-based consolidation effects, indicating that learning continued after the cessation of practice during both the first and second nights of sleep following training. When subjects briefly recall…
Effects of Sleep on Performance of a Keyboard Melody
Recent research has shown that both the speed and accuracy of novel motor skills improve during sleep in a process called consolidation. Such off-line learning in the absence of practice as yet has been experimentally observed only with learners performing relatively simple tasks. In the experiment we report here, we tested whether experienced learners performing a music skill obtain similar sleep-dependent improvements. Participants learned a 12…
Effect of Melodic Rhythm on Elementary Students' and College Undergraduates' Perceptions of Relative Tempo
The present study examined the effect of melodic rhythm on the perception of tempo in music. Three hundred fourth graders ( n = 100), fifth graders ( n = 100), and undergraduate nonmusic majors ( n = 100) heard 36 pairs of brief musical examples and indicated whether the second example in each pair was “faster,” “slower,” or “neither faster nor slower” than the first example in the pair. Musical excerpts were four variations of a chaconne theme i…
Effect of Majority Consensus on Preferences for Recorded Orchestral and Popular Music
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of statements of group preferences on the verbal responses of individual group members, using a paradigm developed by Asch (1951, 1952, 1956) in which the responses of a “minority of one” were tested within the context of a “unanimous majority.” One hundred sixty university music ( n = 72) and nonmusic ( n = 88) majors participated in the study. Subjects in Experiment 1 ( n = 80) listened to tw…
The Effect of Differentially Focused Observation on Evaluation of Instruction
The present study examined evaluations by observers directed to attend to specific aspects of one-to-one instruction in applied music. One hundred forty-three nonmusic education majors enrolled in music study observed one of three videotaped versions of an 11-minute private lesson in violin. Visual presentation and observation instructions focused subjects' attention toward 1) the student, 2) the teacher, or 3) both student and teacher. Subjects …
The Effect of Speed Alterations on Tempo Note Selection
The present study was an attempt to investigate musicians' tempo note preferences within a musical context. Using relatively familiar orchestral music as stimuli, the study tested the ability of subjects to discriminate how an altered excerpt differed in tempo from its unaltered presentation by asking subjects to select a beat note for each trial. One hundred randomly selected subjects participated in the study. A representative list of eight rel…
Focus of Attention Affects Performance of Motor Skills in Music
To test the extent to which learners performing a simple keyboard passage would be affected by directing their focus of attention to different aspects of their movements, 16 music majors performed a brief keyboard passage under each of four focus conditions arranged in a counterbalanced design—a total of 64 experimental sessions. As they performed the test passage, participants were directed to focus their attention on either their fingers, the p…
Summarizing Listener Perceptions over Time
To compare two common measures of overall effect in music, we assessed listeners' perceptions of musical intensity in nine excerpts of orchestral music using two assessment procedures: (1) recording subjects' moment-to-moment responses as they listened to each excerpt and then averaging each subjects ratings to obtain a measure of overall intensity, and (2) recording subjects' post hoc ratings of intensity at the conclusion of each excerpt. The r…
When Tempo Changes Rhythm: The Effect of Tempo on Nonmusicians' Perception of Rhythm
The present study assessed the effects of tempo differences on listeners' ability to recognize previously heard rhythm phrases. The effect of audible beat on subjects' response accuracy also was examined. Three hundred twenty third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students and nonmusic-major undergraduates heard one of two versions of a 20-item paired-comparison test and indicated whether the second rhythm in each pair was the same or not the same as t…
The Relationship Between Observers' Recorded Teacher Behavior and Evaluation of Music Instruction
Using four teaching evaluation variables selected from the Texas Teacher Appraisal System Teacher Orientation Manual (Texas Education Agency, 1986), 100 music education majors and 100 nonmusic, education majors evaluated a 12-minute videotaped segment of a fifth-grade music class. Each subject was assigned one of four different tasks to be performed during the observation period. Ratings given by nonmusic majors were significantly higher than wer…
Effects of Model Performances on Music Skill Acquisition and Overnight Memory Consolidation
This study was designed to investigate the extent to which the presentation of an auditory model prior to learning a novel melody affects performance during active practice and the overnight consolidation of procedural memory. During evening training sessions, 32 nonpianist musicians practiced a 13-note keyboard melody with their left (nondominant) hand in twelve 30-s practice intervals separated by 30-s rest intervals. Participants were instruct…
Senior Researcher Award Acceptance Address
Teacher and Student Behavior in Suzuki String Lessons: Results from the International Research Symposium on Talent Education
The investigation described in this report documents the types of behavior that take place in the studios of nationally and/or regionally acclaimed string teachers whose instruction is based on the principles of Shinichi Suzuki. The specific focus of the investigation was the time allocated to different aspects of teacher, student, and parent behavior as teachers and students worked to improve students' playing of repertoire in the context of ind…
Continuous versus Summative Evaluations of Musical Intensity: A Comparison of Two Methods for Measuring Overall Effect
The primary purpose of the present study was to compare two different methods of measuring subjects' perceptions of overall effect: (1) a record of subjects' ongoing evaluation that is averaged to obtain an overall rating (labeled “continuous') and (2) a single rating of intensity given by subjects at the conclusion of a music excerpt (labeled ”summative“). Subjects were asked to evaluate the level of musical intensity expressed in various music …
Wind Instrumentalists' Intonational Performance of Selected Musical Intervals
The purpose of the study was to examine intonation patterns concerning melodic and harmonic musical intervals compared to equal temperament. Forty-eight junior high school, high school, and college undergraduate musicians were assigned to one of four experimental conditions in a split-plot design. Subjects performed four diatonic intervals (major third, perfect fourth, perfect fifth, and major sixth) both melodically and harmonically. Results ind…
Observation of Approval/Disapproval in Music: Perception Versus Actual Classroom Events
This study was designed to assess subjects' perceptions of teacher approval/disapproval given to elementary students compared to the actual responses of the teacher. Subjects were 109 graduate and undergraduate music therapy ( n = 50) and music education ( n = 59) majors enrolled in classes in behavioral techniques that constituted parts of teacher/therapist training programs. Subjects viewed a 23-min videotape of an ongoing kindergarten music cl…
The Effect of Speed Alterations on Tempo Note Selection
The present study was an attempt to investigate musicians' tempo note preferences within a musical context. Using relatively familiar orchestral music as stimuli, the study tested the ability of subjects to discriminate how an altered excerpt differed in tempo from its unaltered presentation by asking subjects to select a beat note for each trial. One hundred randomly selected subjects participated in the study. A representative list of eight rel…
The Effect of Differentially Focused Observation on Evaluation of Instruction
The present study examined evaluations by observers directed to attend to specific aspects of one-to-one instruction in applied music. One hundred forty-three nonmusic education majors enrolled in music study observed one of three videotaped versions of an 11-minute private lesson in violin. Visual presentation and observation instructions focused subjects' attention toward 1) the student, 2) the teacher, or 3) both student and teacher. Subjects …
Effect of Majority Consensus on Preferences for Recorded Orchestral and Popular Music
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of statements of group preferences on the verbal responses of individual group members, using a paradigm developed by Asch (1951, 1952, 1956) in which the responses of a “minority of one” were tested within the context of a “unanimous majority.” One hundred sixty university music ( n = 72) and nonmusic ( n = 88) majors participated in the study. Subjects in Experiment 1 ( n = 80) listened to tw…
Effect of Tempo on Pitch Perception
The purpose of the study was to investigate the perceptions of music majors and nonmusic I majors concerning combined frequency and tempo changes in music across a range of musical tempi. The subjects, 200 music majors and 200 nonmusic majors, heard 10 consecutive presentations of an orchestral excerpt, each of which had been altered by changing the frequency or tempo (or both) of the original version in various combinations. The task was to comp…
Musicians' Perception of Beat in Monotonic Stimuli
The perception of beat across a range of stimulus speeds was examined using monotonic stimuli. Fifty graduate and undergraduate music majors performed metric pulses in response to periodic stimulus tones. Nine sets of consecutive periodic 1046.5-Hz (C6) tones were presented at various speeds in random orders. Subjects' tasks were to listen to each example and to tap the perceived beat or pulse. Results revealed differential subject responses amon…
Effect of Melodic Rhythm on Elementary Students' and College Undergraduates' Perceptions of Relative Tempo
The present study examined the effect of melodic rhythm on the perception of tempo in music. Three hundred fourth graders ( n = 100), fifth graders ( n = 100), and undergraduate nonmusic majors ( n = 100) heard 36 pairs of brief musical examples and indicated whether the second example in each pair was “faster,” “slower,” or “neither faster nor slower” than the first example in the pair. Musical excerpts were four variations of a chaconne theme i…
The Relationship Between Observers' Recorded Teacher Behavior and Evaluation of Music Instruction
Using four teaching evaluation variables selected from the Texas Teacher Appraisal System Teacher Orientation Manual (Texas Education Agency, 1986), 100 music education majors and 100 nonmusic, education majors evaluated a 12-minute videotaped segment of a fifth-grade music class. Each subject was assigned one of four different tasks to be performed during the observation period. Ratings given by nonmusic majors were significantly higher than wer…
Effects of Tempo and Context on Transfer of Performance Skills
The present study examined the effects of melodic context and performance tempo on the I ability of advanced-level instrumentalists to perform previously learned music passages in novel settings. Twenty-seven graduate and undergraduate music majors practiced nine one-measure target tasks until achieving a specified performance criterion and subsequently performed the same measures at different tempi and in different melodic contexts that varied i…
Performance of Perceived Beat in Relation to Age and Music Training
The perception of beat across a range of stimulus speeds was examined using monotonic I stimuli. Two hundred forty subjects representing four age-groups (graduate, undergraduate, high school, junior high school) and two levels of music participation (music major/enrollment in band versus no participation in organized music activities) served as subjects. Thirteen sets of consecutive periodic 349.23 Hz (F 4 ) tones were presented at various speeds…
When Tempo Changes Rhythm: The Effect of Tempo on Nonmusicians' Perception of Rhythm
The present study assessed the effects of tempo differences on listeners' ability to recognize previously heard rhythm phrases. The effect of audible beat on subjects' response accuracy also was examined. Three hundred twenty third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students and nonmusic-major undergraduates heard one of two versions of a 20-item paired-comparison test and indicated whether the second rhythm in each pair was the same or not the same as t…
Continuous versus Summative Evaluations of Musical Intensity: A Comparison of Two Methods for Measuring Overall Effect
The primary purpose of the present study was to compare two different methods of measuring subjects' perceptions of overall effect: (1) a record of subjects' ongoing evaluation that is averaged to obtain an overall rating (labeled “continuous') and (2) a single rating of intensity given by subjects at the conclusion of a music excerpt (labeled ”summative“). Subjects were asked to evaluate the level of musical intensity expressed in various music …
Empirical Description of the Pace of Music Instruction
The present study was designed to assess novice teachers* perceptions of timing in music instruction and to identify the aspects of timing that are associated with positive perceptions of instructional pacing. We selected eight 1-3-minute excerpts from teaching-practicum videotapes of four novice teachers teaching in a choral rehearsal, a band rehearsal, and two elementary music classrooms. Each teacher appeared in two excerpts that differed with…
Teacher and Student Behavior in Suzuki String Lessons: Results from the International Research Symposium on Talent Education
The investigation described in this report documents the types of behavior that take place in the studios of nationally and/or regionally acclaimed string teachers whose instruction is based on the principles of Shinichi Suzuki. The specific focus of the investigation was the time allocated to different aspects of teacher, student, and parent behavior as teachers and students worked to improve students' playing of repertoire in the context of ind…
Summarizing Listener Perceptions over Time
To compare two common measures of overall effect in music, we assessed listeners' perceptions of musical intensity in nine excerpts of orchestral music using two assessment procedures: (1) recording subjects' moment-to-moment responses as they listened to each excerpt and then averaging each subjects ratings to obtain a measure of overall intensity, and (2) recording subjects' post hoc ratings of intensity at the conclusion of each excerpt. The r…
Procedural Memory Consolidation in the Performance of Brief Keyboard Sequences
Using two sequential key press sequences, we tested the extent to which subjects' performance on a digital piano keyboard changed between the end of training and retest on subsequent days. We found consistent, significant improvements attributable to sleep-based consolidation effects, indicating that learning continued after the cessation of practice during both the first and second nights of sleep following training. When subjects briefly recall…
Effects of Sleep on Performance of a Keyboard Melody
Recent research has shown that both the speed and accuracy of novel motor skills improve during sleep in a process called consolidation. Such off-line learning in the absence of practice as yet has been experimentally observed only with learners performing relatively simple tasks. In the experiment we report here, we tested whether experienced learners performing a music skill obtain similar sleep-dependent improvements. Participants learned a 12…
It's Not How Much; It's How: Characteristics of Practice Behavior and Retention of Performance Skills
We observed 17 graduate and advanced-undergraduate piano majors practicing a difficult, three-measure keyboard passage from a Shostakovich concerto. Participants' instructions were to practice until they were confident they could play the passage accurately at a prescribed tempo in a retention test session the following day. We analyzed the practice behaviors of each pianist in terms of numeric and nonnumeric descriptors and ranked the pianists a…
Senior Researcher Award Acceptance Address
Focus of Attention Affects Performance of Motor Skills in Music
To test the extent to which learners performing a simple keyboard passage would be affected by directing their focus of attention to different aspects of their movements, 16 music majors performed a brief keyboard passage under each of four focus conditions arranged in a counterbalanced design—a total of 64 experimental sessions. As they performed the test passage, participants were directed to focus their attention on either their fingers, the p…
Effects of Model Performances on Music Skill Acquisition and Overnight Memory Consolidation
This study was designed to investigate the extent to which the presentation of an auditory model prior to learning a novel melody affects performance during active practice and the overnight consolidation of procedural memory. During evening training sessions, 32 nonpianist musicians practiced a 13-note keyboard melody with their left (nondominant) hand in twelve 30-s practice intervals separated by 30-s rest intervals. Participants were instruct…
Introduction to the 2016 Senior Researcher Award Acceptance Address
Changes in Perception Accompany the Development of Music Performance Skills
In two experiments we examined the extent to which musicians identify discrepancies between their intentions and their playing during individual practice. In the first experiment, 60 musicians representing four levels of skill development practiced a familiar piece from their own repertoire for 5 min while being audio recorded. They then listened to their recorded practice and pressed a computer key to mark moments of discrepancy between what the…
Differences in Attention Allocation in Relation to Music Teacher Experience and Expertise
To assess allocation of attention by music teachers with different levels of experience and expertise, we recruited five participant flautists: an artist teacher, two graduate students, and two undergraduates, all of whom observed nine brief video recordings of flute, clarinet, and saxophone players; a juggler; a baseball batter; and a ballerina. We tracked participants’ gaze using wearable eye-tracking hardware and software, and we analyzed the …
Psychology (25 works) · Neuroscience and Music Perception (23 works) · Diverse Music Education Insights (22 works) · Medicine (15 works) · Audiology (14 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Perception (11 works) · Cognitive psychology (9 works) · Communication (9 works) · Communication (9 works)