Page 67 - How to Shine on Stage

watch the instrument, they make more mistakes. This is particularly no-
ticeable among less proficient readers (Banton, 1995).
Wolf (1976) has found that in a vista reading, expectation prevails
over perception. He proved this with an experiment where experienced
and less experienced a vista readers were asked to play a piece containing
intentionally printed mistakes. Experienced readers did not play the mis-
takes, because they followed the expectation, while less experienced read-
ers, who were more subject to mere observation, did. McPherson (1994)
has found that in younger instrumentalists, mistakes in reading a vista 65
are most often rhythmical. He has reported that competent readers look
for essential information (tonality, metre and rhythm, phrasing) by “scan-
ning” musical sections in a piece and by mentally rehearsing the prob-
lematic parts before the performance. During the performance itself, they
intensely focus on anticipating any difficulties and observing the musi-
cal features above and below the melodic line. He also observed a posi-
tive correlation between the ability to play by heart and reading a vista.
The ability to read and perform a new piece of music accurately
and at a reasonable tempo requires rapid processing of musical notation
and an automatic motor response (Jabusch et al., 2009). The latter en- Indirect Factors of Musical Performance Success
ables faster learning of repertoire and performance of pieces of greater
complexity, and is an important skill for professional musicians. While
research in this area has mainly focused on the study of the eye move-
ments in notation reading and on the perceptual, auditory, and memo-
rization skills as predictors of notation reading expertise, instrument/
singing teachers and their students are more interested in the answer to
the question of how to learn to read notation more efficiently in the mu-
sic education process (Zhukov & Ginsborg, 2021). It has also been found
that regular notation reading practice alone does not lead to an improve-
ment of such abilities. Instead, the issue needs to be addressed in a more
deliberate and systematic way (Zhukov, 2017).
Jennifer Mishra (2016) conducted a systematic review of research in
notation reading and concluded that counting and rhythmic exercises
lead to rhythmic precision and that collaborative playing fosters intona-
tional precision in notation reading.
Katie Zhukov and Jane Ginsborg (2021) list the following strategies
to improve notation reading:
1. introducing duet playing as a regular fun activity during lessons
2. introduction of efficient notation reading strategies to students be-
fore reading a new piece (e.g. reviewing the whole piece with special
attention to difficult parts, understanding the key and time signa-