title: Score-dependency: Over-reliance on performing music from notation reduces aural pitch replication skills
Creators: name: Corcoran, Chris
Publisher: name: Universität Graz
Year: 2020

description: Background in music performance. Most music is performed or improvised by ear, but
Western classical musicians primarily perform music from notated scores.
Background in music perception. Classical musicians have greater difficulties playing
melodies by ear than musicians with other backgrounds (Woody & Lehman, 2010). This ties in
with Harris and de Jong’s (2015) finding that non-improvising musicians exhibit less activation
in the right auditory cortex than improvising musicians. The right auditory cortex is known to
play a central role in pitch processing (Peretz & Zatorre, 2005).
Aims. (1) To investigate score-dependency (SD) in a behavioural study as a tendency for
classical musicians to rely on notation over aural engagement in a music-learning scenario, and
quantify SD levels for research. (2) To establish whether SD affects pitch perception. (3) To
establish whether SD is a result of long term engagement in a score-focussed performance
culture that precludes or minimizes participation in ear-playing scenarios.
Main contribution. Through a behavioural experiment we explore how score-dependency
(SD) affects aural reproduction mechanisms, especially with regards to pitch. We introduce the
SDR (score-dependency rating) measure for establishing musicians’ individual levels of SD in
relation to that of their peers. 20 notationally literate classical musicians were played a number
of melodies and were asked to reproduce them on their instruments while simultaneously
referring to provided music notation. By manipulating the degree of pitch and rhythm
information shown in the music notation, we controlled the amount of pitch/rhythm information
participants had to reproduce by ear alone. Counting how many times they needed to hear each
melody again before task completion let us quantify their individual levels of dependence on
notation. More score-dependent musicians showed a significant effect of struggling to
reproduce pitch content—but not rhythm content—by ear. This effect was not found for nondependent
musicians. As pitch and rhythm are likely processed separately, SD may selectively
affect aural pitch perception mechanisms, explaining reportedly limited activations in the right
auditory cortex among SD musicians. Participants' age and years of music experience
correlated with their SD levels, suggesting that long-term reliance on notation may increase this
effect. Our results therefore indicate that SD may be an extreme form of overlearning,
stemming from a long-term involvement in score-focussed performance practice without
engaging in mitigating ear-playing scenarios. This posits SD as an effect of extreme task
specialisation that creates a dependency on a specific technology (notation). We argue that this
may limit a wider embodied engagement with music in favour of developing skill-specific
cognitive mechanisms.
Implications. Our data suggests that a score-specific musical focus as often found in classical
music education can endanger aural reproduction skills for pitch and associated
perception/action mechanisms. Consequently, results have implications for music education
and performance, as well as for cognitive and neuroscientific research into perception of music.
Keywords: Pitch perception, score-dependency, playing by ear, classical musicians