The Science and Psychology of Music Performance Creative Strategies for Teaching and Learning

by Parncutt, Richard; McPherson, Gary

• ISBN13: 9780195138108
• ISBN10: 0195138104
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-04-18
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

What type of practice makes a musician perfect? What sort of child is most likely to succeed on a musical instrument? What practice strategies yield the fastest improvement in skills such as sight-reading, memorization, and intonation? Scientific and psychological research can offer answers tothese and other questions that musicians face every day. In The Science and Psychology of Music Performance, Richard Parncutt and Gary McPherson assemble relevant current research findings and make them accessible to musicians and music educators. This book describes new approaches to teachingmusic, learning music, and making music at all educational and skill levels. Each chapter represents the collaboration between a music researcher (usually a music psychologist) and a performer or music educator. This combination of expertise results in excellent practical advice. Readers will learn, for example, that they are in the majority (57%) if they experience rapidheartbeat before performances; the chapter devoted to performance anxiety will help them decide whether beta-blocker medication, hypnotherapy, or the Alexander Technique of relaxation might alleviate their stage fright. Another chapter outlines a step-by-step method for introducing children tomusical notation, firmly based on research in cognitive development. Altogether, the 21 chapters cover the personal, environmental, and acoustical influences that shape the learning and performance of music.

Author Biography

Richard Parncutt is associate professor of systematic musicology at the University of Graz. He is the author of Harmony: A Psychoaccoustical Approach, and many research articles on the perception of harmony, tonality, and rhythm. He is also an internationally experienced pianist and piano teacher. Gary McPherson is associate professor of music education at the University of New South Wales. He has served as treasurer of the International Society for Music Education and national president of the Australian Society for Music Education. As a trumpeter, he has performed with several of Australia's leading ensembles.

Table of Contents

Introduction	ix
I. THE DEVELOPING MUSICIAN
Musical Potential	3	(14)
Anthony E. Kemp
Janet Mills
Environmental Influences	17	(14)
Heiner Gembris
Jane W. Davidson
Motivation	31	(16)
Susan A. O'Neill
Gary E. McPherson
Performance Anxiety	47	(16)
Glenn D. Wilson
David Roland
Brain Mechanisms	63	(20)
Eckart Altenmuller
Wilfried Gruhn
Music Medicine	83	(16)
Alice G. Brandfonbrener
James M. Kjelland
II. SUBSKILLS OF MUSIC PERFORMANCE
From Sound to Sign	99	(18)
Gary E. McPherson
Alf Gabrielsson
Improvisation	117	(18)
Barry J. Kenny
Martin Gellrich
Sight-Reading	135	(16)
Andreas C. Lehmann
Victoria McArthur
Practice	151	(16)
Nancy H. Barry
Susan Hallam
Memory	167	(16)
Rita Aiello
Aaron Williamon
Intonation	183	(16)
Steven J. Morison
Janina Fyk
Structural Communication	199	(20)
Anders Friberg
Giovanni Umberto Battel
Emotional Communication	219	(18)
Patrik N. Juslin
Roland S. Persson
Body Movement	237	(16)
Jane W. Davidson
Jorge Salgado Correia
III. INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES
Solo Voice	253	(16)
Graham F. Welch
Johan Sundberg
Choir	269	(16)
Sten Ternstrom
Duane Richard Karna
Piano	285	(18)
Richard Parncutt
Malcolm Troup
String Instruments	303	(16)
Knut Guettler
Susan Hallam
Wind Instruments	319	(16)
Leonardo Fuks
Heinz Fadle
Rehearsing and Conducting	335	(18)
Harry E. Price
James L. Byo
Contributors	353	(10)
Author Index	363	(10)
Subject Index	373