Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Playing an instrument, cognition and other skills


As a piano player, I can testify that coping with a new musical work is one of the best ways to encounter your cognitive limitations.  When I play a new piece, I can feel how my working memory is making a maximal effort.  It seems to me, that the playing speed of a new piece of music (which is quite slow in my case) is highly correlated with working memory capacity.

After hours of practice, when you finally begin to play fluently, you encounter your long term memory limitations.  While playing, I can feel my brain "uploading" the rest of the piece from long term memory into short term memory.  Sometimes the "uploading" speed is slower than the playing speed…

Score reading, and specifically piano score reading, is different than text reading.  First, there are no words (although deep theoretical knowledge makes it possible to notice certain patterns and that facilitates score reading).  The "letters" form completely new "words" and "sentences", which you've never seen before.  Second, you have to read two score systems simultaneously – one for the right hand, in G clef ("first language") and another for the left hand, in F clef ("second language").  Third – usually score reading is "oral reading".  That's because you perform the piece while reading it – making, simultaneously, a different performance in each hand.  Of course, reading comprehension is very important, because it determines the intonation and dynamics of your playing.

Playing a musical instrument requires.  discipline,  since it requires hours upon hours of drill.  Despite it being an inherently satisfying occupation, playing an instrument drills your ability to delay  gratification. 

Playing in a musical ensemble requires listening to others, being coordinated with them, letting others make their voice heard and being able to make your own voice heard.

Playing to an audience (with no improvisation) is not like public speaking.  When giving a lecture, you focus on getting your messages through.  You can phrase your messages in many different ways.  Playing a musical work does not allow for variations in the text itself (although you can make your own interpretation of the text).  Hours of practice are not enough in order to reach precision in text performance.  Good executive functioning is required in order to block inner and outer distractions and to be maximally focused and have free attentional resources for the performance of the piece.


All this makes me think that it's important to teach instrument playing in schools.  It might be interesting to find studies that confirm (or deny) the arguments made here.  Meanwhile here is a short film from Dr. McGrew's blog:


What happens inside musicians' brains when they play?






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