Cognitive Processes in Skilled Performance Flashcards
What is the most important cognitive skill in music?
Memory
Why does performing music require memory?
Memorise notes on a score / reading scores
Memorise notes on the instrument
Memorise various pieces
Muscle memory/tactile memory
What type of LTM is involved in playing an instrument?
Procedural long-term memory
How does the brain adapt to help memorise a piece during a performance?
Frontal lobes shut down/disengage during performance - you are not working out what is happening from one moment to the next
Shown by brain scans of elite performers
What area of the brain would be active when you are learning a piece of music?
Frontal lobes (?)
In what ways is short-term memory important in music?
Sight-reading
Spontaneous improvisation
Why is short-term memory needed for spontaneous improvisation?
Have to match the key that the piece of music is in
Remember a repertoire of motifs that they practice and adapt
Why is short-term memory needed for sight reading?
Need to read 5-6 notes ahead and remember those so that you can prepare
Studies of eye movements have found that sight reading of music is similar to reading text - people’s eye movements dart ahead as they are reading
What model did Palmer & Pfordresher (2003) come up with?
Range model
What is the concept of the range model?
The idea that at any point some notes are more accessible than others, based on previous notes (e.g., in a scale)
When people are sight-reading or performing they might guess what is coming up so that certain notes can be queued up in advance
Some notes would be more available or guessable in the next bar of music than others (e.g., notes in the key of the piece would be more expected than sharps or flats)
