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. 2010 Jul;204(2):223-37.
doi: 10.1007/s00221-010-2307-2. Epub 2010 Jun 3.

Role of auditory feedback in the control of successive keystrokes during piano playing

Shinichi Furuya  1 , John F Soechting
Affiliations

Role of auditory feedback in the control of successive keystrokes during piano playing

Shinichi Furuya et al. Exp Brain Res. 2010 Jul.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the role of auditory feedback derived from one keystroke in the control of the rhythmicity and velocity of successive keystrokes during piano playing. We examined the effects of transient auditory perturbations with respect to the pitch, loudness, and timing of one tone on subsequent keystrokes while six pianists played short excerpts from three simple musical pieces having different tempi ("event rates"). Immediately after a delay in tone production, the inter-keystroke interval became shorter. This compensatory action depended on the tempo, being most prominent at the medium tempo. This indicates that temporal information provided by auditory feedback is utilized to regulate the timing of movement elements produced in a sequence. We also found that the keystroke velocity changed after the timing, pitch, or loudness of a tone was altered, although the response differed depending on the type of perturbation. While delaying the timing or altering the pitch led to an increase in the velocity, altering the loudness changed the velocity in an inconsistent manner. Furthermore, perturbing a tone elicited by the right hand also affected the rhythmicity and velocity of keystrokes with the left hand, indicating that bimanual coordination of tone production was maintained. Finally, altering the pitch sometimes resulted in striking an incorrect key, mostly in the slow piece, emphasizing the importance of pitch information for accurate planning and execution of sequential piano keystrokes.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Scores of three pieces used in the experiment. a “Prelude from Das wohltemperierte Klavier, I-1” by J. S. Bach (fast), b “Jesus bleibet meine Freude from Cantata 147” by J. S. Bach (medium), c Ah! Vous dirais-je maman by W. A. Mozart, (slow). Symbols represent the notes whose timing was delayed (circle), pitch was shifted (square), or loudness was changed (diamond). Note that the same perturbation occurred at the same note twice in each piece. All other notes were presented with normal auditory feedback
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The mean values of keypress and key-release timings across all participants in the normal condition while they played pieces with fast, medium, and slow tempi. Tones bracketing the 1st timing perturbation are displayed (i.e., the note with the 1st circle in Fig. 1 corresponds to time zero)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The mean changes of finger-key contact duration, inter-keystroke interval, and keystroke velocity before and after the 1st perturbation of the timing of a tone production across all participants while they played pieces with fast, medium, and slow tempi. A circle in red green, and blue represents the instance of 90, 150, and 210 ms of delay, respectively. The MIDI pitch of struck keys is also depicted for reference. Note that all strokes at the medium and slow pieces were made with the right hand, whereas those at the fast piece were played with both the right and left hands in sequence (see Fig. 1). A dotted square in gray in the fast piece represents the notes played with the left hand. The 0th stroke denotes the occurrence of the perturbation. The error bars represent ±1 SEM between participants. Note that the 0th inter-keystroke interval refers to the interval between the 0th and the 1st keypress, the latter normally occurring at least 250 ms (fast piece) after the onset of the perturbation. * denotes instances in which the changes were statistically different from 0 (P < 0.05)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The mean changes of finger-key contact duration, inter-keystroke interval, and keystroke velocity before and after the 2nd perturbation of the timing of a tone production across all participants while they played pieces with fast, medium, and slow tempi
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
The mean changes of finger-key contact duration, inter-keystroke interval, and keystroke velocity before and after the 1st perturbation that shifted tone pitch for pieces played with fast, medium, and slow tempi. A filled and open circle represents the instance of higher and lower shift of pitch, respectively. The * indicates an instance for which the difference was statistically significant when pitch was elevated. The error sbars represent ±1 SEM
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
The mean changes of finger-key contact duration, inter-keystroke interval, and keystroke velocity before and after the 2nd perturbation that shifted tone pitch for pieces played with fast, medium, and slow tempi. The * indicates an instance for which the difference was statistically significant when pitch was elevated
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
The mean changes of finger-key contact duration, inter-keystroke interval, and keystroke velocity before and after the 1st perturbation that changed tone loudness for pieces played with fast, medium, and slow tempi. A filled and open circle represents the instance of an increase and decrease in the loudness, respectively. The * indicates an instance for which the difference was statistically significant. The error bars represent ±1 SEM
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
The mean errors of finger-key contact duration, inter-keystroke interval, and keystroke velocity before and after the 2nd perturbation that changed tone loudness for pieces played with fast, medium, and slow tempi. The * and ✪ indicate an instance for which the difference was statistically significant when loudness increased or decreased, respectively
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
The mean errors of finger-key contact duration, inter-keystroke interval, and keystroke velocity before and after the 1st and 2nd perturbations of the timing of a tone production (left two panels) and the tone pitch (right two panels) for the keys struck with the left hand and the piece played at medium tempo. The * and ✪ indicates an instance for which the difference was statistically significant when pitch was elevated or lowered, respectively. The stroke numbering shown in the figure corresponds to that used for the right hand
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