Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate playing by ear amongst pianists, and determine the cognitive-psychological skills underlying playing-by-ear ability. Whilst earlier studies have focussed on melodic playing-by-ear abilities, mainly amongst children who play wind and string instruments, no studies hitherto have considered two-handed, harmonised playing by ear in adult pianists, or considered the cognitive-psychological factors that facilitate it. Adopting a range of quantitative and qualitative approaches, the thesis contains four individual studies, the first of which is a survey that elicits the views, opinions and beliefs of over 150 trained, adult pianists on playing by ear. Thematic analysis allows a profile of both by-ear and non-by-ear pianists to be drawn, and raises questions regarding the spontaneous nature of playing the piano by ear. The second study is an empirical investigation that uses an author-designed assessment tool to measure the abilities of 29 trained, adult pianists to realise familiar, orchestral music for by-ear piano performance. A more qualitative observation study follows that examines the strategies and practical techniques these pianists employ whilst preparing their by-ear realisations. A number of musical and motor memory skills are identified that have the potential to facilitate playing-by-ear ability, and a theoretical model of the cognitive-psychological process of playing by ear is proposed. During the final study, participants’ levels of musical and motor memory are assessed, using a suite of author-designed measures, and the results compared with their playing-by-ear abilities to determine the individual and collective influence of these memory skills on playing by ear. Results suggest that a quantitative difference exists between spontaneous, harmonised by-ear realisations and those that are worked out through trial and error; and that recall memory has a strong influence on two-handed, harmonised playing-by-ear ability. The validity of the proposed cognitive-psychological model is discussed.
Author: Diane Jacqueline Sapiro
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3082884086