June 2016 Issue
Topics
Insights into musicology: Role played by sensory information in the acquisition and execution of advanced skills.
"Experiences of entrance exams for music school, and learning and teaching the piano led me to realize that different people hear the same music in different ways," says Eriko Aiba, assistant professor at the Graduate School of Informatics and Engineering, UEC, Tokyo. "Our sensory interpretation of the sound of a chord of music is unique, with some people hearing specific notes clearly, whilst others sense more unified sounds. Understanding these sensory reactions to music is the main aim of my research activities.
This research is ongoing, and in the future the results of this research will be applied to devising methods of teaching children how to reach their full potential in many different fields including music.
Main topics of research
Development of auditory sense by learning from human physical skills
The goal of this research is to clarify the relationship between musical performance and processing of sensory information with emphasis on verifying the necessity of focusing on not only sound, but also training based on both sound and active exercise. This research is expected to lead to methods for improving word legibility in age-related hearing loss [1-2].
Movement strategy based on prioritization of sensory information
This project aims to elucidate how the brain processes information in response specific playing strategies. A major goal is to clarify the relationship between performance and memory when musicians play music [3-4].
Recent publications
- Eriko Aiba, Minoru Tsuzaki, Yutaka Sakaguchi, "Temporal Information Processing at Auditory Periphery and its Relation to Cochlear Delays," IEEE 2014 ICME International Conference on Complex Medical Engineering, pp.132-133, Taipei, June 2014.
- Eriko Aiba, "Sensitivity to onset asynchrony and its relation to cochlear delays," Proceedings of 7th Forum Acusticum 2014, pp.1-6, Krakow, Sep. 2014. (Invited).
- Eriko Aiba, Toshie Matsui, "Music memory following short-term practice and its relationship with the sight-reading abilities of professional pianists," Frontiers in Psychology, 10 May 2016.
DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00645 - Eriko Aiba, Toshie Matsui, "Behavioral changes in professional pianists during a short period of practice for a new piece," Abstracts of the International Symposium on Performance Science 2015, pp.40-41, Kyoto, Sep. 2015.
Some pianists memorized almost the entire score, while others hardly remembered it despite demonstrating almost completely accurate performance just before memory trial performance.
