Reading Music: Eye-Movements and the Development of Expertise
Main funder
Funder's project number: 275929
Funds granted by main funder (€)
- 350 000,00
Funding program
Project timetable
Project start date: 01/09/2014
Project end date: 31/08/2018
Summary
Music reading, i.e. the reading of musical notation, wields a huge influence over western musical culture, but as a visual process it is still relatively little understood. Our research consortium will focus on the eye-movements of music readers as indicators of developing musical expertise and cognitive skill. This requires studying visual processes in what is known as sight-reading (that is, reading ”prima vista”), but also in situations involving repeated rehearsal, and in silent reading where the reader uses the musical notation for other cognitive goals than performance. Our final aim is to present a comprehensive cognitive model that explains the temporal organization of music readers’ visual processing, accounting for how successful reading involves many factors beyond simple instrumental skill. Taking a leading role in this promising field of research requires an interdisciplinary approach involving systematic musicology, educational research, and statistics.
