Intonation of Middle School Violinists: The Roles of Pitch Discrimination and Sensorimotor Integration
Baugh, Molly
2020
Abstract
Intonation in string instrument performance consists of the perception of musical pitch and the motor skills necessary to produce musical pitch. Scholars in cognitive psychology have suggested that the association of perception and motor skills results in the formation of sensorimotor skills which play a key role in skilled behaviors, including music performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which pitch discrimination and sensorimotor integration explain the intonation of middle school violinists. Specific research questions were: (1) What are the correlations among pitch discrimination threshold and the following performance variables with and without auditory feedback: intonation error, intonation precision, interval error, and interval precision? (2) To what extent do pitch discrimination threshold and intonation error with masked auditory feedback explain intonation error with normal auditory feedback of middle school string players when controlling for student characteristics of grade, years of experience, private lessons, handedness, finger placement markers, weekly practice time, and school? (3) Do intonation error or interval error differ according to the left-hand finger(s) used to create the pitch(es)? Participants (N = 179) were violinists from middle schools in Michigan and Oklahoma. Each participant completed three tasks: a pitch discrimination task, a performance task, and a musical background questionnaire. In the pitch discrimination task, participants heard 16 pairs of pitches and for each pair, adjusted the second pitch to match the first. In the performance task, participants performed a 2-octave G-major scale under two conditions: normal auditory feedback and masked auditory feedback. To mask auditory feedback, participants performed while wearing noise-canceling headphones and listening to background noise. One variable, pitch discrimination threshold, was measured from the pitch discrimination task. Four variables were measured from the performance task: intonation error, intonation precision, interval error, and interval precision. The musical background questionnaire collected demographic and musical experience information. Descriptive statistics of the study variables indicated that intonation error under normal auditory feedback conditions was over three times greater than pitch discrimination threshold. Participants performed better under normal auditory feedback conditions than masked feedback conditions. Mean differences for each performance variable between the two conditions were significant but did not exceed 5 cents. Results for the research questions indicated a significant, moderate correlation between pitch discrimination threshold and intonation under normal auditory feedback conditions. Moderate positive correlations were found between intonation error and precision and between interval error and precision. A hierarchical multiple regression model revealed that intonation error under masked auditory feedback conditions was the strongest predictor of intonation error under normal auditory feedback conditions. Pitch discrimination threshold was a significant, but weaker, predictor of intonation error under normal auditory feedback conditions. Lastly, a regression model with student fixed-effects revealed that pitches performed with the second finger were significantly less accurate than those performed with the first or third fingers. Participants also performed whole steps more accurately than half steps. Collectively these results offer support for sensorimotor integration as an explanation of intonation. Suggestions for future research and implications for pedagogy are discussed.Subjects
music education string pedagogy intonation sensorimotor integration
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