Friedrich Platz

The influence of deliberate practice on musical achievement: a meta-analysis

Deliberate practice (DP) is a task-specific structured training activity that plays a key role in understanding skill acquisition and explaining individual differences in expert performance. Relevant activities that qualify as DP have to be identified in every domain. For example, for training in classical music, solitary practice is a typical training activity during skill acquisition. To date, no meta-analysis on the quantifiable effect size of deliberate practice on attained performance in music has been conducted. Yet the identification of a quantifiable effect size could be relevant for the current discussion on the role of various factors on individual difference in musical achievement. Furthermore, a research synthesis might enable new computational approaches to musical development. Here we present the first meta-analysis on the role of deliberate practice in the domain of musical performance. A final sample size of 13 studies (total N = 788) was carefully extracted to satisfy the following criteria: reported durations of task-specific accumulated practice as predictor variables and objectively assessed musical achievement as the target variable. We identified an aggregated effect size of rc = 0.61; 95% CI [0.54, 0.67] for the relationship between task-relevant practice (which by definition includes DP) and musical achievement. Our results corroborate the central role of long-term (deliberate) practice for explaining expert performance in music.

Music on the timing grid: The influence of microtiming on the perceived groove quality of a simple drum pattern performance

In general, microtiming is considered to be an important factor for the perceived quality of rhythms. Our experiment analyzed the influence of early or late time shift of both bass drum and snare drum on the perceived musical quality of a short, simple drum pattern in rock style. In a web-based study, music students (N = 93) listened to a simple drum pattern played on a snare and a bass drum and evaluated the musical quality (in terms of the “groove quality”) of five degrees of microtiming deviations (early and late time shifts of the two instruments by −25 ms, −15 ms, 0 ms, +15 ms, and +25 ms). We found 5 significant results: (a) The highest ratings of perceived drum pattern quality were given for the rhythmically accurate (quantized) version; (b) the increasing deviation in microtiming resulted in lower quality ratings; (c) the evaluation of drum pattern quality showed a characteristic asymmetry of ratings for the two directions of deviations: early time shift was rated more negatively than the comparable late time shift; (d) in general, microtiming deviations on the snare drum were rated worse than comparable deviations on the bass drum; (e) the subjects’ degree of expertise in rock and pop music had no influence on the ratings. We conclude that at least some styles of modern groove-oriented music are characterized by an aesthetics of “exactitude” and a groove effect independent of microtiming deviations. Consequences for the aesthetic appreciation of different styles of music are discussed.

When the first impression counts: Music performers, audience and the evaluation of stage entrance behaviour

In this study, we suggest a typology of stage entrance behaviour of performers, based on audience members’ first impression of selected video recordings of an international violin competition. For the first time in performance research, we have focused on the stage entrance, which commences with the performers’ first appearance and lasts until the first tone is played. Against the theoretical background of the social interaction theory by Goffman, with its emphasis on the role of impression management, we assume that performance evaluation can only be understood as an interaction between expectations from audience sub-classes and behaviour groups (types) of performers. We conducted an analysis of performer behaviour in three steps: (a) Using methods of classical test theory and item response theory, we presented a selection of six items that describe performer’s impression management with regard to the audience’s impression formation (nodding, direction of gaze, touching one’s self, stance width, step size, resolute impression); (b) by means of a multi-level latent class analysis, we came up with three latent classes of the audience’s first impression judgments (appropriate, acceptable and inappropriate stage entrance behaviour) resulting in two latent groups (types) of performers’ stage entrance behaviour evaluation (match or mismatch to the audience’s expectations); (c) the association between audience first impression classes and the audience’s motivation for performance continuation was used as an indicator for a more in-depth engagement with a particular performance. Our finding of a statistical model-based typology allows the integration of a performer behaviour that had previously only been marginalized as irrelevant. We argue that the evaluation of audio-visual music performance remains within the framework of general rules of social interaction. Consequently, for an adequate understanding of music performance, we suggest a model of performance elaboration as an alternative to models of musical communication.

The impact of song-specific age and affective qualities of popular songs on music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs)

Songs heard between the ages of 15 and 24 should be remembered better and have a stronger relationship to autobiographical memories when compared with music from other phases of life (“reminiscence bump effect”). Additionally, the proportion of music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs) is at a maximum in these years of early adolescence and then declines up to the age of 60. In our study we tried both to replicate these important findings based on a German sample and to further investigate the influence of the affective characteristics of the songs on the frequency of participants’ autobiographical memories. In Experiment 1 a group of adults (N = 48, Mage = 67.1 years) listened to excerpts from 80, number-one, popular music hits from 1930 to 2010 and gave written self-reports on MEAMs. In Experiment 2 the affective characteristics were rated by another group of adults (N = 22, Mage = 66 years) and were used to predict the frequency of MEAMs. As a main result of Experiment 1, we confirmed the reminiscence bump and decline effect with a small effect size for the ratings of feelings evoked by the song and with a medium effect size for the song recognition performance of those songs released during the participants’ age range of 15 to 24 years. The total number of MEAMs was only marginally influenced by a memory bump and decline effect, and participants showed a significant proportion of MEAMs up to the fifth decade. Experiment 2 revealed that the affective ratings of the songs were unequally distributed over the two-dimensional emotion space unlike the average rate of MEAMs which was nearly equally distributed. In contrast to previous research, we therefore conclude that popular songs can be associated with autobiographical memory over five decades of life – independent of the affective character of the music.

The overrated power of background music in television news magazines: A replication of Brosius’ 1990 study

This study investigated the effects of background music on cognition, evaluations of films and attitudes. We replicated an earlier experiment by Brosius (1990) on the effects of background music on memory and evaluations of informational films. Using the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM, see Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) as a theoretical framework, we predicted that music would have negative effects on the central route of processing (recognition) but positive effects on the peripheral route (evaluations, changes in attitudes) of the ELM. A television report on toxic substances in energy-saving lamps served as the basic stimulus. Five versions of the report were presented: one with no music and four additional versions with high/low valence/arousal background music. Using a five-group between-subjects design (with approximately 100 members in each group), stimuli were rated in an online study with a representative sample of “consumers” (age range: 18–60 years). The changes in attitudes toward energy-saving lamps and the overall evaluations of the video were measured using pre- and post-test questionnaires. In addition, the subjects completed recognition tests for both the auditory and visual information. No differences in recognition or the evaluations were found between the conditions, and no effects of the valence of the music (i.e., negative vs. positive) were found. Furthermore, there was a pre-post shift in attitudes toward a critical evaluation of energy-saving lamps (dz = 0.85). However, this intervention effect was independent of the experimental condition. Overall, our study found no support for the widely assumed manipulative effect of background music in television news magazines. The results are discussed in relation to the habituation effects of music and the perceived relevance of background music.

Replacing the Orchestra? - The Discernibility of Sample Library and Live Orchestra Sounds.

Recently, musical sounds from pre-recorded orchestra sample libraries (OSL) have become indispensable in music production for the stage or popular charts. Surprisingly, it is unknown whether human listeners can identify sounds as stemming from real orchestras or OSLs. Thus, an internet-based experiment was conducted to investigate whether a classic orchestral work, produced with sounds from a state-of-the-art OSL, could be reliably discerned from a live orchestra recording of the piece. It could be shown that the entire sample of listeners (N = 602) on average identified the correct sound source at 72.5%. This rate slightly exceeded Alan Turings well-known upper threshold of 70% for a convincing, simulated performance. However, while sound experts tended to correctly identify the sound source, participants with lower listening expertise, who resembled the majority of music consumers, only achieved 68.6%. As non-expert listeners in the experiment were virtually unable to tell the real-life and OSL sounds apart, it is assumed that OSLs will become more common in music production for economic reasons.

When the pulse of the song goes on: Fade-out in popular music and the pulse continuity phenomenon

This exploratory study investigated the effect of different types of song closure in popular music on pulse continuation behaviour. We compared the perceptual effects of the so-called “fade-out” song closure with the so-called “cold end” (arranged end). We assumed that fading could result in the listeners’ imagining that the song continues past the actual ending. Three versions of the same pop song were presented to N = 80 listeners: first, with an arranged end (“cold end”); second, with a gradual decrease in the sound level of the audio signal (“fade-out”); third, with a “cold end” but without a final ritardando (rit.). Participants tapped along to the pulse of the music on the interface sentograph as long as they felt entrained. The tap-along behaviour differed significantly among the three versions: (a) in the fade-out condition the tapping along was continued after the song’s end; (b) in the cold end condition participants stopped tapping along to the pulse before the last beat of the music, (c) in the cold end no ritardando version, tapping was stopped with the last beat onset (range of effect sizes for differences: d = 0.84–1.50). The continuation effect in the fade-out condition is called the Pulse Continuity Phenomenon (PCP).