Gaze Analysis of Pianists’ Sight-reading: Comparison Between Expert Pianists and Students Training to Be Pianists

One of the most important skills for a pianist is sight-reading, which is the ability to read an unknown music score and play it. In recent years, research has analysed eye movement during sight-reading. However, the definition of sight-reading has varied. In addition, the participants enlisted as e...

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Main Authors: Kyoko Imai-Matsumura, Megumi Mutou
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2021-11-01
Series:Music & Science
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/20592043211061106
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author Kyoko Imai-Matsumura
Megumi Mutou
author_facet Kyoko Imai-Matsumura
Megumi Mutou
author_sort Kyoko Imai-Matsumura
collection DOAJ
description One of the most important skills for a pianist is sight-reading, which is the ability to read an unknown music score and play it. In recent years, research has analysed eye movement during sight-reading. However, the definition of sight-reading has varied. In addition, the participants enlisted as experts in most studies have been music college students. The present study aimed to compare eye movements during sight-reading between experts, teachers at a music college and pianists, and non-experts, music college students studying to become pianists, using an eye tracker. Using easy and difficult music scores for two-handed playing, we investigated whether there were differences in the number of eye fixations, fixation duration, and eye-hand span. The definition of sight-reading in this study is to read a novel music score once without playing the piano, and then to play it while looking at the music score. The results showed that the higher the piano performance rating, the longer the eye-hand span. Areas of interest (AOIs) were defined every two rows, including a treble and bass staff in each music score. We conducted a two-factor repeated measures ANOVA (group × AOI) for each dependent variable to analyse fixation count and fixation duration per eye fixation. There was a significant interaction for the fixation count between groups and AOIs both without and with performance in the difficult score. In experts, the number of eye fixations on the difficult part of difficult score increased compared with other part both without and with performances. By contrast, there was a significant interaction for the duration per eye fixation between groups and AOIs in easy score with performance. The duration per eye fixation in experts was shorter than that in non-experts in the easy score with performance. These results suggest that experts get information through short gaze fixations.
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spelling doaj.art-e9e24fa907c84c078835ecbf7334f1582022-12-21T23:38:40ZengSAGE PublishingMusic & Science2059-20432021-11-01410.1177/20592043211061106Gaze Analysis of Pianists’ Sight-reading: Comparison Between Expert Pianists and Students Training to Be PianistsKyoko Imai-Matsumura0Megumi Mutou1 Graduate School of Education, , Kita-ku, Kyoko, Japan Kobe City YUSEI, Kobe, JapanOne of the most important skills for a pianist is sight-reading, which is the ability to read an unknown music score and play it. In recent years, research has analysed eye movement during sight-reading. However, the definition of sight-reading has varied. In addition, the participants enlisted as experts in most studies have been music college students. The present study aimed to compare eye movements during sight-reading between experts, teachers at a music college and pianists, and non-experts, music college students studying to become pianists, using an eye tracker. Using easy and difficult music scores for two-handed playing, we investigated whether there were differences in the number of eye fixations, fixation duration, and eye-hand span. The definition of sight-reading in this study is to read a novel music score once without playing the piano, and then to play it while looking at the music score. The results showed that the higher the piano performance rating, the longer the eye-hand span. Areas of interest (AOIs) were defined every two rows, including a treble and bass staff in each music score. We conducted a two-factor repeated measures ANOVA (group × AOI) for each dependent variable to analyse fixation count and fixation duration per eye fixation. There was a significant interaction for the fixation count between groups and AOIs both without and with performance in the difficult score. In experts, the number of eye fixations on the difficult part of difficult score increased compared with other part both without and with performances. By contrast, there was a significant interaction for the duration per eye fixation between groups and AOIs in easy score with performance. The duration per eye fixation in experts was shorter than that in non-experts in the easy score with performance. These results suggest that experts get information through short gaze fixations.https://doi.org/10.1177/20592043211061106
spellingShingle Kyoko Imai-Matsumura
Megumi Mutou
Gaze Analysis of Pianists’ Sight-reading: Comparison Between Expert Pianists and Students Training to Be Pianists
Music & Science
title Gaze Analysis of Pianists’ Sight-reading: Comparison Between Expert Pianists and Students Training to Be Pianists
title_full Gaze Analysis of Pianists’ Sight-reading: Comparison Between Expert Pianists and Students Training to Be Pianists
title_fullStr Gaze Analysis of Pianists’ Sight-reading: Comparison Between Expert Pianists and Students Training to Be Pianists
title_full_unstemmed Gaze Analysis of Pianists’ Sight-reading: Comparison Between Expert Pianists and Students Training to Be Pianists
title_short Gaze Analysis of Pianists’ Sight-reading: Comparison Between Expert Pianists and Students Training to Be Pianists
title_sort gaze analysis of pianists sight reading comparison between expert pianists and students training to be pianists
url https://doi.org/10.1177/20592043211061106
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