An Ergonomic Model of Keyboard Fingering for Melodic Fragments Sibelius Academy of Music, Helsinski

The fingerings used by keyboard players are determined by a range of ergonomic (anatomic/motor), cognitive, and music-interpretive constraints. We have attempted to encapsulate the most important ergonomic constraints in a model. The model, which is presently limited to isolated melodic fragments, begins by generating all possible fingerings, limited only by maximum practical spans between finger pairs. Many of the fingerings generated in this way seldom occur in piano performance. In the next stage of the model, the difficulty of each fingering is estimated according to a system of rules. Each rule represents a specific ergonomic source of difficulty. The model was subjected to a preliminary test by comparing its output with fingerings written by pianists on the scores of a selection of short Czerny studies. Most fingerings recommended by pianists were among those fingerings predicted by the model to be least difficult; but the model also predicted numerous fingerings that were not recommended by pianists. A variety of suggestions for improving the predictive power of the model are explored.

[1]  Richard Parncutt,et al.  Determinants of finger choice in piano sight-reading. , 1998 .

[2]  P. A. Van Der Helm,et al.  Accessibility: a criterion for regularity and hierarchy in visual pattern codes , 1991 .

[3]  François Couperin,et al.  L'art de toucher le clavecin , 1996 .

[4]  Alfred Cortot,et al.  Rational principles of pianoforte technique , 1930 .

[5]  R. J. Weber,et al.  The parameter remapping effect in human performance: Evidence from tongue twisters and finger fumblers☆ , 1986 .

[6]  D. Deutsch,et al.  The Psychology of Music , 1983 .

[7]  C H Wagner,et al.  The pianist's hand: anthropometry and biomechanics. , 1988, Ergonomics.

[8]  B H Repp,et al.  Acoustics, perception, and production of legato articulation on a digital piano. , 1995, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[9]  R. K. Shyamasundar,et al.  Introduction to algorithms , 1996 .

[10]  Edsger W. Dijkstra,et al.  A note on two problems in connexion with graphs , 1959, Numerische Mathematik.

[11]  John A. Sloboda,et al.  Experimental Studies of Music Reading: A Review , 1984 .

[12]  Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger,et al.  Chopin: pianist and teacher as seen by his pupils: Editor's note , 1987 .

[13]  B H Repp,et al.  Patterns of expressive timing in performances of a Beethoven minuet by nineteen famous pianists. , 1988, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[14]  John A. Sloboda.  16 – Music Performance , 1982 .

[15]  Paul Mies,et al.  Studien zum Klavierspiel Beethovens und seiner Zeitgenossen , 1970 .

[16]  Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg.  Anleitung zum Clavierspielen , 1969 .

[17]  Sidney Harrison,et al.  The technique of piano playing , 1968 .

[18]  Caroline Palmer,et al.  Accent structures in music performance. , 1993 .

[19]  L. H. Shaffer,et al.  Performances of Chopin, Bach, and Bartok: Studies in motor programming , 1981, Cognitive Psychology.

[20]  Bruno H. Repp.  Music as Motion: A Synopsis of Alexander Truslit's (1938) Gestaltung und Bewegung in der Musik , 1993 .

[21]  C. Palmer.  Mapping musical thought to musical performance. , 1989, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[22]  Siegbert Rampe,et al.  Klavierschule, oder, Anweisung zum Klavierspielen für Lehrer und Lernende : Faksimile-Reprint der 1. Ausgabe 1789 , 1997 .

[23]  Ludger Lohmann.  Die Artikulation auf den Tasteninstrumenten des 16.-18. Jahrhunderts , 1990 .

[24]  P. Howell,et al.  Musical structure and cognition , 1985 .

[25]  Alexander Truslit.  Gestaltung und Bewegung in der Musik , 1938 .

[26]  Richard Parncutt,et al.  Talking Fingers: An Interview Study of Pianists' Views on Fingering , 1997 .

[27]  Bruno H. Repp,et al.  The Practice of Performance: Musical motion and performance: theoretical and empirical perspectives , 1995 .

[28]  Adolph Kullak.  Die Aesthetik des Klavierspiels , 1876 .

[29]  D. Green,et al.  Operative hand surgery , 1983 .

[30]  E. Clarke.  Generative principles in music performance. , 1988 .

[31]  J. C. Barbenel,et al.  A Psychological Investigation of the Role of Mouthpiece Force in Trumpet Performance , 1989 .

[32]  J. Sloboda.  The Communication of Musical Metre in Piano Performance , 1983 .

[33]  Kullak Adolph,et al.  Ästhetik des Klavierspiels , 1994 .

[34]  Girolamo fl. Diruta,et al.  Il Transilvano: 1593, 1609 , 1983 .

[35]  William S. Newman.  Beethoven's Fingerings as Interpretive Clues , 1982 .

[36]  J. Sloboda.  The Eye-Hand Span-An Approach to the Study of Sight Reading , 1974 .

[37]  Heinrich Neuhaus,et al.  The art of piano playing , 1973 .

[38]  L. H. Shaffer,et al.  Performances of Chopin, Bach, and Bartok: Studies in motor programming , 1984, Cognitive Psychology.

[39]  Dorothy Swainson,et al.  The Physiological Mechanics of Piano Technique , 1962 .

[40]  Albert Werkenthin.  Die Lehre vom Klavierspiel : Lehrstoff und Methode , 1888 .

[41]  Samir I. Sayegh,et al.  Fingering for string instruments with the optimum path paradigm , 1989 .

[42]  Muzio Clementi.  Introduction to the art of playing on the piano forte : containing the elements of music, preliminary notions on fingering, and fifty fingered lessons , 1974 .

[43]  Thomas W. Goolsby.  Profiles of Processing: Eye Movements during Sightreading , 1994 .

[44]  C. Palmer,et al.  Units of knowledge in music performance. , 1993, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[45]  Johan Sundberg,et al.  Threshold and Preference Quantities of Rules for Music Performance , 1991 .

[46]  J. Sloboda.  Generative Processes in Music: The Psychology of Performance, Improvisation, and Composition , 1985 .

[47]  Ferruccio Busoni,et al.  The Essence of Music and Other Papers , 1987 .

[48]  N. Todd.  A Model of Expressive Timing in Tonal Music , 1985 .

[49]  J. M. Troost,et al.  Ascending and Descending Melodic Intervals: Statistical Findings and Their Perceptual Relevance , 1989 .