Marion Wood

Universität Münster, Musikhochschule, Faculty Member

Universität Münster, Psychology, Graduate Student

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Marion Wood studied Music & Electronics (JointHons) at the University of Keele, followed by Postgraduate Conducting at the Royal College of Music in London. Following 12 years as a freelance conductor of choirs and orchestras, she became Director of Music at the University of Exeter, setting up their music scholarship program. Before leaving Exeter she took a Masters in Psychology Research Methods, designing and programming a study of sight-reading at the Piano. She moved to Germany in 2013 and currently teaches Music Psychology at the Musikhochschule, in addition to working with various choirs and orchestras. more at marionwood.org.
Marion also designs iPad/Mobile education apps designed for a range of learners: Woodchuck-Rhythm, Play-my-Note and Sight-Sing.

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University of Liverpool

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King's College London

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Concordia University (Canada)

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John Sutton

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Dylan van der Schyff

University of Melbourne

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Gisa Jähnichen

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Visual Confusion In Piano Notation

This series of Reaction Time experiments investigates how quickly notes can be read from a screen... more This series of Reaction Time experiments investigates how quickly notes can be read from a screen and immediately executed on a MIDI keyboard. This makes it possible to study pitch reading and motor coordination in considerable detail away from the customary confounds of rhythm reading or pulse entrainment. The first experiment found that reaction times were slower in extreme keys (3#, 4#, 3b, 4b), even for very experienced sightreaders, a large effect of clef in most individuals, and other results suggesting that, in this simple paradigm at least, reading notation presents more of a difficulty to execution than motor coordination. A second experiment found, in addition, an effect of order in which the notes were presented. A clarified form of notation was devised that disambiguates visual confusion across key signatures, and to some extent across clefs. Initial results from an experiment to contrast traditional noteheads with the clearer ones found substantial improvements in both ...

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Reading Pitches at the Piano: Disentangling the Difficulties

To disentangle the cognitive processes involved in reading the pitch component of piano music, th... more To disentangle the cognitive processes involved in reading the pitch component of piano music, this research uses simple Reaction Time (RT) paradigms, and draws on task-switching and visual processing research. Participants were 44 pianists of widely varying age and competence. Pitches were shown three at a time and executed as fast as possible at a MIDI keyboard, with the key signature changed after 40-60 trials. A variety of specific factors could be quantified and contrasted, ranging from the cognitive 'switch-cost' of switching between clefs, to the extra processing time required when notes are presented in a different order. Large effects of clef and key signature persist in even the most accomplished professionals, adding 20% to response times at the very least, despite thousands of hours of practice. This paper tackles some of the questions about why this might be so. The extent to which overlapping, multivalent notation may obstruct both immediate execution and the longer-term learning process is discussed.

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VISUAL CONFUSION IN PIANO NOTATION

This series of Reaction Time experiments investigates how quickly notes can be read from a screen... more This series of Reaction Time experiments investigates how quickly notes can be read from a screen and immediately executed on a MIDI keyboard. This makes it possible to study pitch reading and motor coordination in considerable detail away from the customary confounds of rhythm reading or pulse entrainment. The first experiment found that reaction times were slower in extreme keys (3#, 4#, 3b, 4b), even for very experienced sight-readers, a large effect of clef in most individuals, and other results suggesting that, in this simple paradigm at least, reading notation presents more of a difficulty to execution than motor coordination. A second experiment found, in addition, an effect of order in which the notes were presented. A clarified form of notation was devised that disambig-uates visual confusion across key signatures, and to some extent across clefs. Initial results from an experiment to contrast traditional noteheads with the clearer ones found substantial improvements in both Reaction Time and accuracy for the clarified notation. The possible applications of improved notation to the wider field of piano playing are discussed.

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Visual Confusion In Piano Notation

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Reading Pitches at the Piano: Disentangling the Difficulties

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VISUAL CONFUSION IN PIANO NOTATION

This series of Reaction Time experiments investigates how quickly notes can be read from a screen... more This series of Reaction Time experiments investigates how quickly notes can be read from a screen and immediately executed on a MIDI keyboard. This makes it possible to study pitch reading and motor coordination in considerable detail away from the customary confounds of rhythm reading or pulse entrainment. The first experiment found that reaction times were slower in extreme keys (3#, 4#, 3b, 4b), even for very experienced sight-readers, a large effect of clef in most individuals, and other results suggesting that, in this simple paradigm at least, reading notation presents more of a difficulty to execution than motor coordination. A second experiment found, in addition, an effect of order in which the notes were presented. A clarified form of notation was devised that disambig-uates visual confusion across key signatures, and to some extent across clefs. Initial results from an experiment to contrast traditional noteheads with the clearer ones found substantial improvements in both Reaction Time and accuracy for the clarified notation. The possible applications of improved notation to the wider field of piano playing are discussed.

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Marion Wood

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