Range of Planning in Music Performance

Two factors influence the range of planning in music performance: the structural content of musical events and the serial distances between them. In this experiment, pianists memorized and performed polyphonic music (which contained multiple simultaneous voices) in which the serial distance and phrase structure between the entrances of 2 musical voices were varied. The distance between each musical element and its influence on other elements was assessed in production errors and interonset timing measures. Errors and timing measures offered converging evidence for interactive effects of serial distance and phrase structure; intervening phrase boundaries reduced the serial distances over which musical elements influenced one another. These findings suggest structural as well as linear constraints on the planning of complex sequences.