Carlos Maldonado and Brett Terry, School of Music

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

One of the major problems confronting beginning keyboard students is how to tell if a psychomotor skill is being correctly executed or not. In keyboard scale playing, these skills include not only knowing the correct fingering sequence or pattern to play a scale, but also such considerations as arm, hand, and finger position, passing of the thumb under the fingers and of the fingers over the thumb, correct attack and articulation (specially in legato playing), right/left hand coordination, etc.

Keyboard method books as well as instructional software programs address scale fingering as a basic component of keyboard technique. However, due to the inherent limitations of the printed medium (in the case of text books), and of the instructional strategies used in most computer programs, only the cognitive aspects of the scale fingering problem have been approached. The advent and increasing availability of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), CD ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), and QuickTime video technologies implemented through peripheral devices connected to a central controlling computer make it possible for the first time, to give aural and visual examples to the instrumental student.

Scale Patterns is a multimedia program that teaches the basic principles of scale fingering in a concise, logical, interactive manner, as opposed to the rote-based, case-by-case system traditionally used by many pedagogues. Using QuickTime technology, scanned images, and hypertext links, the program illustrates the four basic rules of keyboard scale fingering. Video examples include fingering patterns and sequentially played scales in all major keys. Students have complete control over the videoclips through manipulation of the traditional transport buttons (play, stop, pause, forward, and rewind). The instructional strategies implemented in this program could be used in a broad spectrum of instrumental applications, pointing towards an integrated solution to the isolated efforts that presently characterize the music instrumental field.

Scale Patterns can be used to supplement the basic keyboard skills component in piano pedagogy and music education curricula, not addressed by currently available keyboard skills software. Scale Patterns was developed in Macintosh HyperCard 2.1.

Scale Patterns was designed around principles drawn from schema theory and research on the importance of visualization and mental imagery in motor skill acquisition. Research in performance skills includes studies using CAI to supplement instrumental fingering and improving intonation. Berz & Bowman (1994) report experimental programs of independent study for developing conducting skills and various instrumental performance skills implemented at the college level. No research is reported, however, in the application of QuickTime video technology to teaching keyboard skills.

Early cognitive psychology theorists like Koffka (1935), Werthheimer (1945), and Piaget (1952), together with more recent ones like Neisser (1976), Rumelhart & Ortony (1977), Bransford (1979), Mandler (1985), Siegler (1986), Mayer (1987), and West, Farmer, & Wolf (1991) have proposed a theory of learning centered around concepts such as "wholes," "patterns of organization," "chunks of information," "internal constructs," "structures," and "insight." Central to their discussion is the idea knowledge is stored and retrieved in packets or bundles. This bundles can be knowledge "of or about" something (data schemata) or knowledge of "how" to process that information (process schemata).

The study of the connection between physical movement and the mental and nervous processes involved in keyboard playing is by no means a new endeavor. Approaches with this emphasis have been given different labels including the "Psycho-Technical", "Teleological", and "Psychological" methods of piano technique. All of these theories emphasize, to different degrees, musical substance and mental activity over finger action. Publications from the early part of this century emphasize the importance of auditory imagery and rhythmic patterns in keyboard performance.

Gardner (1982) has suggested that schema are abstract categories that are in part "rules" and in part "images". Based on the idea that schema guides efficient learning and performance, Scale Patterns presents the major scales in "chunks" or "patterns" of notes, as opposed to the traditional note-by-note approach. These patterns create the four basic rules that govern scale keyboard fingering. Students learn about these rules through textual explanation and video examples implemented via QuickTime technology. Ho & Shea (1979) and Wright (1991) have suggested that imagery strategies might facilitate procedural learning if used in conjunction with meaningful organizations. In "Scale Patterns" the fingering rules provide this organizing element.

The importance of mental imagery on keyboard motor skill acquisition can be traced as far back as Franz Liszt and his ideas of mental and psychological control (Maldonado, 1994). Bonpensiere (1952), Schultz (1936), Kochevitsky (1967), have stressed the importance of proper mental and nervous control in keyboard practice, including the capacity to create mental pictures of required movements. Gat (1965) tried to illustrate various aspects of piano technique through numerous photographs of film clips of prominent pianists playing difficult passages from the literature. His efforts are obviously limited by the static nature of the printed media. More recently, Galvan (1993) has investigated the role of kinesthetic imagery and mental practice in piano playing.

Scale Patterns tries to capitalize on the highly visual capabilities of the human brain through the use of QuickTime video examples of scale patterns. The videoclips constitute models that allow students to form mental images of scale patterns. Furthermore, by being able to compare QuickTime examples of correctly executed scales and scale patterns with their own performance, students will hopefully be able to refine their own metacognitive processes. Camera angles were studied to provide the closest possible match with the student’s angle of vision when sitting at the keyboard.

Procedural tasks, like keyboard scale playing, require learning a series of steps. Because practice is so important in procedural skill acquisition, Krueger (1991) has suggested that visualization may be a very appropriate interface for training procedural skills. Rosembloom & Newell (1987) have also suggested that practice improves performance via the acquisition of knowledge about patterns or chunks in the task environment.

Scale Patterns is organized around the circle of fifths as the navigation "hub" to go from key to key. The use of the familiar image of the circle of fifths reinforces the theory behind the construction of the major scale, and its relationship to keyboard fingering rules. For example, the right hand fingering rule for scales starting on a white key states that, with the exception of F major, the fourth finger will always play the new accidental in the tonality, i.e. the leading tone (F-sharp in G major, C-sharp in D major, G-sharp in A major, and so on).

Clicking on any given key name (for example, C, G, or A-flat) sends the student to that key. Each key has four related cards. The first of these four cards gives the students the option of clicking on a keyboard to hear the scale tones, or watching a QuickTime movie of a performance of the scale. Clicking on the keyboard also displays additional information about each scale degree and its correct musical nomenclature (Tonic, dominant, leading-tone, etc.). More important, however, is the possibility of looking at the QuickTime movie of the scale performance. By clicking on the transport buttons located at the bottom of the movie window, students can compare right and left hand performances. These movies can be displayed on the screen at the same time. Furthermore, by dragging on the small transport rectangle, students can view the movie backward or forward in slow motion in order to analyze the correct motions involved in playing the scales (Fig. 1).

Fig 1: QuickTime movies of scale played by right and left hands

The second and third cards show finger patterns for the right and left hand respectively. These cards allow students to see QuickTime videos of (a) the scale patterns played in succession (b) each scale pattern on its own, and (c) the scale played in the traditional note-by-note fashion. Fig. 2 shows the screen image after students have clicked on the "show me the patterns" button. This is the four-note pattern in the scale of C major played by the right hand.

The fourth card, labeled "Multi-representation card", displays information when the students click on a finger, a note on the staff, a key on the keyboard, a "Finger group" box, or when they type a letter name on the "Note name" box. For example, if a student clicks on a finger he/she will see the following information displayed on the screen: (a) the finger number, (b) the key(s) that finger plays on the keyboard, (c) the notation of the sound(s) on the staff, (d) the note name(s) of the sound(s) in the note name box, and (e) the group of fingers where the finger belongs (Fig. 3). The same information would have been displayed if they had, for example, clicked on a note on the staff, or a key on the keyboard. Additionally, when the student clicks a "Finger group" box (bottom left corner of the screen), a QuickTime movie shows that finger pattern played by the right or left hand, as the case may be (Fig 4). Information about these options is given to the students via voice digitization.

Fig 2: QuickTime movie of the right hand patterns

The fourth card, labeled "Multi-representation card", displays information when the students click on a finger, a note on the staff, a key on the keyboard, a "Finger group" box, or when they type a letter name on the "Note name" box. For example, if a student clicks on a finger he/she will see the following information displayed on the screen: (a) the finger number, (b) the key(s) that finger plays on the keyboard, (c) the notation of the sound(s) on the staff, (d) the note name(s) of the sound(s) in the note name box, and (e) the group of fingers where the finger belongs. The same information would have been displayed if they had, for example, clicked on a note on the staff, or a key on the keyboard. Additionally, when the student clicks a "Finger group" box (bottom left corner of the screen), a QuickTime movie shows that finger pattern played by the right or left hand, as the case may be (Fig 3). Information about these options is given to the students via voice digitization.

Schema can be integrative. By allowing multiple ways of looking at a given phenomena, Scale Patterns proposes that one representation (aural or visual) can be activated in conjunction with another, triggering an integrative process whereby different elements of the schema (keyboard location, fingering, staff notation, note names, finger groups, and actual visualization) become strongly related to each other. The more integrated the structure, the easier it will be for students to retrieve it as a unit, the less likely they will be to confuse it with similar schema (for example, another scale's fingering pattern), and the greater the possibility of isolated elements activating the whole (for example, a fourth finger on d-sharp triggering the E major scale schema).

The main multimedia techniques used in the development of the project include computer video technology using QuickTime 2.0 together with VideoFusion 1.6 and ScreenPlay as video digitizing/editing and playback software respectively; scanning technology using a Silverscan II scanner and Adobe Photoshop 2.5.1 software; HyperCard's AudioTools for voice digitization, editing, and playback; and finally HyperCard's paint tools to create keyboard images, icons, and miscellaneous graphics.

Fig 3: Multiple information screen with QuickTime movie