Cognitive Processes during Piano and Guitar Performance : An Eye Movement Study

The purpose of this study is to clarify the cognitive processes during music performance, namely how the players view the music and make the fingers move. This paper focuses on preview time (hand eye span) in piano and guitar playing. Two experiments were conducted, one was for piano and the other was for guitar. In both experiments, musical score was presented on a computer screen, and subject was required to play the instrument fluently. The music pieces were well-known piece, unknown piece and difficult piece, and all were single melody music. The basic characteristics of eye movements during piano and guitar playing were analyzed. Also, the preview times were estimated using relation between eye tracking data and finger movement data. The preview for the music was observed in all experimental conditions for both instruments, but the preview times were different among subjects, music pieces, and trial numbers. The preview times were longer in the higher skill subjects than in the beginner skill subjects. Also, the preview times were longer for difficult pieces than for easier pieces. The results suggested that skill level of performers, difficulty of music pieces and knowledge for music pieces were crucial factors which influenced the preview time.