The Effect of Isomorphic Pitch Layouts on the Transfer of Musical Learning <sup>†</sup>
The physical arrangement of pitches in most traditional musical instruments—including the piano and guitar—is <i>non-isomorphic</i>, which means that a given spatial relationship between two keys, buttons, or fretted strings can produce differing musical pitch interva...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2018-12-01
|
| Series: | Applied Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/8/12/2514 |
| _version_ | 1818139257771917312 |
|---|---|
| author | Sophia Stanford Andrew J. Milne Jennifer MacRitchie |
| author_facet | Sophia Stanford Andrew J. Milne Jennifer MacRitchie |
| author_sort | Sophia Stanford |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The physical arrangement of pitches in most traditional musical instruments—including the piano and guitar—is <i>non-isomorphic</i>, which means that a given spatial relationship between two keys, buttons, or fretted strings can produce differing musical pitch intervals. Recently, a number of new musical interfaces have been developed with <i>isomorphic</i> pitch layouts where these relationships are consistent. Since the nineteenth century, it has been widely considered that isomorphic pitch layouts facilitate the learnability and playability of instruments, particularly when a piece is transposed into a different key; however, prior to this paper, this has not been experimentally tested. To address this, we investigated four different pitch layouts to examine whether <i>isomorphism</i> facilitates retention and transfer of musical learning within and across keys. Both non-musicians and musicians were tested on two training tasks: two immediate retention tasks and a transfer task. Each participant played every task on two distinct layouts—one being an isomorphic layout (Wicki or Bosanquet), the other being a minimally adjusted non-isomorphic version. For musicians, isomorphism was found to facilitate transfer of learning to a novel task; for non-musicians, the results were mixed. This study provides insight into features that are important to music instrument design. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T10:25:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fd41067467ed4badb9b9af8545410397 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T10:25:13Z |
| publishDate | 2018-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-fd41067467ed4badb9b9af85454103972022-12-22T01:11:13ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172018-12-01812251410.3390/app8122514app8122514The Effect of Isomorphic Pitch Layouts on the Transfer of Musical Learning <sup>†</sup>Sophia Stanford0Andrew J. Milne1Jennifer MacRitchie2The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, AustraliaThe MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, AustraliaThe MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, AustraliaThe physical arrangement of pitches in most traditional musical instruments—including the piano and guitar—is <i>non-isomorphic</i>, which means that a given spatial relationship between two keys, buttons, or fretted strings can produce differing musical pitch intervals. Recently, a number of new musical interfaces have been developed with <i>isomorphic</i> pitch layouts where these relationships are consistent. Since the nineteenth century, it has been widely considered that isomorphic pitch layouts facilitate the learnability and playability of instruments, particularly when a piece is transposed into a different key; however, prior to this paper, this has not been experimentally tested. To address this, we investigated four different pitch layouts to examine whether <i>isomorphism</i> facilitates retention and transfer of musical learning within and across keys. Both non-musicians and musicians were tested on two training tasks: two immediate retention tasks and a transfer task. Each participant played every task on two distinct layouts—one being an isomorphic layout (Wicki or Bosanquet), the other being a minimally adjusted non-isomorphic version. For musicians, isomorphism was found to facilitate transfer of learning to a novel task; for non-musicians, the results were mixed. This study provides insight into features that are important to music instrument design.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/8/12/2514pitch layoutsisomorphic layoutsnew musical instrumentsmotor learningperception and actionsound and music computing |
| spellingShingle | Sophia Stanford Andrew J. Milne Jennifer MacRitchie The Effect of Isomorphic Pitch Layouts on the Transfer of Musical Learning <sup>†</sup> Applied Sciences pitch layouts isomorphic layouts new musical instruments motor learning perception and action sound and music computing |
| title | The Effect of Isomorphic Pitch Layouts on the Transfer of Musical Learning <sup>†</sup> |
| title_full | The Effect of Isomorphic Pitch Layouts on the Transfer of Musical Learning <sup>†</sup> |
| title_fullStr | The Effect of Isomorphic Pitch Layouts on the Transfer of Musical Learning <sup>†</sup> |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Effect of Isomorphic Pitch Layouts on the Transfer of Musical Learning <sup>†</sup> |
| title_short | The Effect of Isomorphic Pitch Layouts on the Transfer of Musical Learning <sup>†</sup> |
| title_sort | effect of isomorphic pitch layouts on the transfer of musical learning sup † sup |
| topic | pitch layouts isomorphic layouts new musical instruments motor learning perception and action sound and music computing |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/8/12/2514 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sophiastanford theeffectofisomorphicpitchlayoutsonthetransferofmusicallearningsupsup AT andrewjmilne theeffectofisomorphicpitchlayoutsonthetransferofmusicallearningsupsup AT jennifermacritchie theeffectofisomorphicpitchlayoutsonthetransferofmusicallearningsupsup AT sophiastanford effectofisomorphicpitchlayoutsonthetransferofmusicallearningsupsup AT andrewjmilne effectofisomorphicpitchlayoutsonthetransferofmusicallearningsupsup AT jennifermacritchie effectofisomorphicpitchlayoutsonthetransferofmusicallearningsupsup |