Abstract
We examined the effect of rate on finger kinematics in goal-directed actions of pianists. In addition, we evaluated whether movement kinematics can be treated as an indicator of personal identity. Pianists' finger movements were recorded with a motion capture system while they performed melodies from memory at different rates. Pianists' peak finger heights above the keys preceding keystrokes increased as tempo increased, and were attained about one tone before keypress. These rate effects were not simply due to a strategy to increase key velocity (associated with tone intensity) of the corresponding keystroke. Greater finger heights may compensate via greater tactile feedback for a speed-accuracy tradeoff that underlies the tendency toward larger temporal variability at faster tempi. This would allow pianists to maintain high temporal accuracy when playing at fast rates. In addition, finger velocity and accelerations as pianists' fingers approached keys were sufficiently unique to allow pianists' identification with a neural-network classifier. Classification success was higher in pianists with more extensive musical training. Pianists' movement “signatures” may reflect unique goal-directed movement kinematic patterns, leading to individualistic sound.
Highlights
The production of auditory sequences such as music and speech is generally fluent and accurate
There are few studies devoted to movement kinematics in music performance in relation to the sounded outcome of performance
Timing analyses The eighth-note interonset intervals (IOIs) associated with each tone were computed from the keyboard MIDI data
Summary
The production of auditory sequences such as music and speech is generally fluent and accurate. One hallmark of fluency is the performer’s ability to prepare for upcoming events. As musicians’ performance skill increases, their ability to anticipate upcoming sequence events increases, as evidenced in performance errors [1,2]. Skilled movements show evidence of preparation as well This can be observed in coarticulation effects in speech: contextual influences of upcoming sequence elements on the production of current elements, which aids the fluent production of movement sequences [3,4,5]. There are few studies devoted to movement kinematics in music performance in relation to the sounded outcome of performance. The current study investigates relationships between pianists’ finger movements and characteristics of the resulting sound (timing and intensity of tones) in performance
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