Sight-reading of violinists: eye movements anticipate the musical flow
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Wurtz, Pascal
Perception and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Clinical Research and Neurology, Inselspital, University of Bern, Switzerland
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Mueri, René M.
Perception and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Clinical Research and Neurology, Inselspital, University of Bern, Switzerland
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Wiesendanger, Mario
Institute of Physiology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
Published in:
- Experimental Brain Research. - 2009, vol. 194, no. 3, p. 445-450
English
When sight-reading a piece of music the eyes constantly scan the score slightly ahead of music execution. This separation between reading and acting is commonly termed eye-hand span and can be expressed in two ways: as anticipation in notes or in time. Previous research, predominantly in piano players, found skill-dependent differences of eye-hand span. To date no study has explored visual anticipation in violinists. The present study investigated how structural properties of a piece of music affect the eye-hand span in a group of violinists. To this end eye movements and bow reversals were recorded synchronously while musicians sight-read a piece of music. The results suggest that structural differences of the score are reflected in the eye- hand span in a way similar to skill level. Specifically, the piece with higher complexity was associated with lower anticipation in notes, longer fixation duration and a tendency for more regressive fixations. Anticipation in time, however, remained the same (~1 s) independently of the score played but was correlated with playing tempo. We conclude that the eye-hand span is not only influenced by the experience of the musician, but also by the structure of the score to be played.
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Faculty
- Faculté des sciences et de médecine
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Department
- Département de Médecine
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Language
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Classification
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Biological sciences
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License
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License undefined
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Identifiers
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Persistent URL
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https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/301190
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