Is Your Brain a Better Composer than Bach?

Why Can't You Hear That? Motivated by an interest in conflicts between schematic and veridical expectations, we consider situations in which well-formed musical schemas appear to conflict with a notated musical context.

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Vladimir Horowitz, who often heard things his own way. And luckily shared with us.

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Bach Minuet with student miscue.

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Bach Musette in D Mashup.

The first clip is played correctly, the next four are not. 

We found that some of these schema mismatches are musically sophisticated and complex, and even catch the most trained performers unaware. For example, we found that teachers and professional performers were victims of musical miscues when we reversed roles and asked them to perform commonly misplayed musical phrases. We cued the first two measures of Bach’s “Musette” and asked them to hum the third measure. In every instance, the experienced musicians accented the A instead of the F sharp. However, they were almost indignantly confident in the accuracy of their performances until we pointed out their mistakes.

This suggests that the line between conscious and subconscious decisions surrounding these miscues is blurry at best, and it also indicates that when teachers are looking consciously at the notation, they see the veridical, but when they are called upon to perform the piece, they fall into the same schematic trap as the children.

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Ode to Joy played with student miscue.

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Because it Sounds Right

Schema-driven Miscues in Children's Piano Performance

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What do you see? It might not be what you think.

Check out French and Richard's Clock This! experiment and find out for sure.

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Ode to Joy, by Beethoven, played correctly.

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Fiesta, by Gillok, played as the composer intended.

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                       Schubert's Impromptu Op. 90, No. 4 (A Flat Major)

The Ambiguous Passages: Note how Schubert modifies the phrasing of the six-chord groups in the three following passages -- and in the clip below, how Rachmaninoff, Horowitz, and Rubinstein alter that phrasing to follow their own schemas.

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We turn to Schubert’s Impromptu in Ab Major (Op. 90, No. 4) as an example of how the simplest melodic pattern can generate a deeply felt ambiguity, as played by Rubinstein, Rachmaninoff and Horowitz respectively.

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Chopin miscues.

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  “Minuet,” by Bach

The children consistently play F natural in the third measure rather than F sharp.

Discussion

Melodic schematic and veridical misalignment: If no information is given about a key in the beginning of the piece, the children will play in the key that sounds right to them.

Because of the lack of written information (besides the fact that there is an F sharp noted in the signature), the students hear the opening measure as dominant (G) and the third measure as tonic (C), so they play an F natural in the third measure as if they are in the key of C. Unlike the Olympics Parade, the subsequent measure does not land on the actual tonic (G) so they don’t have the opportunity to correct themselves.

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“Ode to Joy,” by Beethoven

Results/Discussion:

The E natural on the downbeat of measure 4 is an appoggiatura that resolves to D. Students often err on this note, preferring to continue the conjunct ascent rather than repeated a note across a measure.

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“Etude Op. 10, Nr. 12,” by Chopin

Although the left hand 16th notes are grouped in four with the accent at the beginning of each beat, the students don’t accent the first note in the offbeat run of four. Instead, they accent the 2nd half of each beat. For example, in the first measure, they accent the two Es and the A rather than the two Fs and the B.

Discussion

Metric Schematic and Veridical Misalignment: The students are uncomfortable with accenting the first part of each beat, similar to how they were uncomfortable with accenting the short upbeat in “Fiesta,” by Gillok. The same experiment with “Pop Goes the Weasel” applies.

Melodic Schematic and Veridical Misalignment: In addition, the children are assuming a dynamic accent because of the melodic pattern: They think the top of each run should be accented.

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"Fiesta," by Gillok, played the wrong way by students.