Andreas Lehmann

• PhD
• CEO at School of Music Wuerzburg, Germany

Edwin E. Gordon developed the Advanced Measures of Music Audiation (AMMA) test to quantify the extent of an adult's stabilized audiation as a fundamental indicator of musical ability. Although intended to measure audiation exclusively, AMMA is based on a test design similar to the tonal memory subtest of the much older Measures of Musical Talents (...

Measuring practical music competencies in secondary schools is notoriously difficult. Students have to be tested and scored individually and scoring reliability is often low. Our research project 1 entails adapting a test of practical music making for the use with German secondary school students. The test measures three dimensions of practical mus...

Komponieren und Improvisieren gehören zu den kreativen (generativen) Tätigkeiten in der Musik. Das Spektrum dieser generativen Tätigkeiten ist groß, denn zu ihnen zählen neben der traditionellen Arbeitsweise der klassischen Komponisten spontane Gruppenarrangements und Improvisation im Jazz genauso wie die Verzierungspraxis eines Barockensembles ode...

In diesem Beitrag werden die theoretischen Grundlagen des (psychologischen) Experiments vorgestellt und seine Umsetzbarkeit in musikpädagogischer Forschung an einem Beispiel demonstriert.

Studying musical improvisation is methodologically difficult because improvisations are hardly reproducible, and no established theory exists regarding their formation. In particular it is unclear when and if jazz musicians invent new (innovative) melodic patterns or rely on previously overlearned (redundant) phrases. Other similar goal-directed ac...

Anecdotal evidence concerning exceptional performances of musical prodigies - such as 14-year-old Mozart's transcription of Allegri's Miserere- captures people's attention but is often of limited scientific use. First attempts to develop an objective aural performance measurement using standardized tasks to analyse complex chords date from the end...

Influence of the Home Musical Environment on phonological competencies in preschool children.

Music teachers have often noticed – and even complained about – the heterogeneity of achievements in their general music classrooms. The purpose of this study in music competences was to quantify this range for the first time and attempt to explain individual differences in achievements in the area of practical music making. 420 German secondary sc...

Entrance examinations and auditions are common admission procedures for college music programs, yet few researchers have attempted to look at the long-term predictive validity of such selection processes. In this study, archival data from 93 student records of a German music academy were used to predict development of musicianship skills over the c...

Deliberate practice (DP) is a task-specific structured training activity that plays a key role in understanding skill acquisition and explaining individual differences in expert performance. Relevant activities that qualify as DP have to be identified in every domain. For example, for training in classical music, solitary practice is a typical trai...

Biographies of famous musicians abound with references to innate dispositions and more or less proven anecdotal accounts, but little is said about the early social environment that was necessary to support the development of high level performers. Literature on skill acquisition and documented evidence of prodigies and high level performers support...

In the last 10 to 15 years, German educators have become increasingly interested in competency modelling. In this paper, we present a theoretical model regarding basic music performance competency in the music classroom, which would be amenable to empirical verification. To arrive at the model, we consulted literature on music perfor-mance and dida...

So far, no empirically validated competence model has been developed for the school subject music. In their study, the authors report on the first attempt to operationalize a theoretical competence model for music instruction and to validate it on the basis of selected tasks. For the sake of research economy, the investigation was restricted to the...

So far, no empirically validated competence model has been developed for the school subject music. In their study, the authors report on the first attempt to operationalize a theoretical competence model for music instruction and to validate it on the basis of selected tasks. For the sake of research economy, the investigation was restricted to the...

This chapter analyses changes in public music performance and performance skills across historical periods. It examines the increases in preparation and specialization over time that have led to the achievement of higher levels of performance. It describes the mechanisms that allow musicians to excel, such as innovative playing techniques and impro...

Two studies investigate the influence of handedness on a musical performance. In Experiment 1 we compared designated non-right-handed (dNRH) and designated right-handed (dRH) string and piano players performing in the (non-inverted) standard playing position with respect to (1) performance-related variables (e.g., musical expression) and (2) health...

The generative processes (types) of composition and improvisation are often claimed to differ from each other with respect to complexity, spontaneity, and listener expectation. While this conceptual difference might be tenable, it is unclear whether it has an empirical perceptual basis. In a listening experiment with three contrasting pieces classi...

This study explored the differences in ear-playing ability between formal “classical” musicians and those with vernacular music experience (N = 24). Participants heard melodies and performed them back, either by singing or playing on their instruments. The authors tracked the number of times through the listen-then-perform cycle that each participa...

This study investigates the influence of extensive bimanual training in professional musicians on the incidence of handedness in the most basic form of right-handedness (RH) and non-right-handedness (NRH), according to Annett's "right shift theory". The lateralisation coefficients (LCs) of a total sample of 128 bimanually performing music students...

Clara Schumann's (1819–1896) important influence on concert life and piano performance throughout the 19th century can still be felt in our times. Virtually all concerts Clara gave between 1828 (at age 9) and 1891 (at age 71) are documented in a historically unique collection of over 1300 printed concert program leaflets (playbills). Combining an h...

Sight-reading is defined as the execution - vocal or instrumental - of longer stretches of non- or under-rehearsed music at an acceptable pace and with adequate expression. Some people also label this 'playing by sight' or 'prima vista'. Similar to improvisation, sight-reading requires the instant adaptation to new constraints, which places it amon...

The present study investigated affective and physiological responses to changes of tempo and mode in classical music and their effects on heat pain perception. Thirty-eight healthy non-musicians (17 female) listened to sequences of 24 music stimuli which were variations of 4 pieces of classical music. Tempo (46, 60, and 95 beats/min) and mode (majo...

This book provides a concise, accessible, and up-to-date introduction to psychological research for musicians, performers, music educators, and studio teachers. Designed to address the needs and priorities of the performing musician rather than the research community, it reviews the relevant psychological research findings in relation to situations...

This chapter applies science to unravel the seemingly indefinable elements of nuance, expression, and interpretation in music. Nuance is first defined as a subset of expression and is the manipulation of sound parameters to create music that sounds alive rather than flat and mechanical. Scientific research reveals that the majority of expressive be...

This chapter discusses performance anxiety or “stage fright,” which is a serious problem for a lot of musicians and often has its roots in an individual's early experiences in coping with stress and pressure. The first section of the chapter discusses the physiological symptoms of performance anxiety, which are likened to a person's instinctive res...

This chapter explains the basic concepts employed in the study of the psychology of music. Assumptions and ideas are clarified, including the linkage between musical activity and its milieu. The chapter highlights several related points. First, the scientific method is adopted, in conjunction with traditional approaches, to examine and discuss the...

TThis chapter tackles motivation and its crucial role in the development and improvement of musical skills. The manifestations of motivation are treated as behaviors, and its sources are identified and classified as either intrinsic or extrinsic. The chapter also presents the results of research on the topic. First, it is found that music is intrin...

This chapter studies the concept of practice as it applies to music. Practice is revealed to be a complex behavior influenced by a variety of factors, and it is studied in terms of its macro and micro perspectives. The chapter discusses several related points regarding the activity of practice. First is that the scientific notion of practice does n...

This chapter discusses the activities of composition and improvisation as they relate musical performance, and focuses on everyday musical creativity rather than the rare incidences of genius. The generative acts of composing and improvising serve to increase the depth of a musician's understanding of musical structure, which in turn positively ben...

This chapter discusses three skills—sight-reading, playing by ear, and recalling a memorized performance—related to an individual's ability to retain and recall information from memory. These are then related to a musician's performance. The first two are necessary for the effective learning of a musical piece, while the last is vital in retaining...

This chapter further expounds on the scientific approach to musical ability, which treats music as a skill. This same approach is applied to the development of musical skills and helps refute various beliefs and opinions, especially regarding musical genius as an accident of birth. The evidence presented suggests that even babies display a diverse...

This chapter augments the musical skills identified in the previous chapters—which are individual and personal—and provides insights into how a musician can become a more accomplished performer, especially in a group setting. It presents several often overlooked points in being a performer. First, the performer's physical appearance and behavior on...

TThe third musical role, the listener, is discussed in this chapter. The opening section describes the physiological aspect of listening and reveals it to be a complicated process that transforms acoustical stimuli into images or notions that can be experienced. This musical experience is then shown to be influenced by various factors which exhibit...

This chapter discusses the second musical role—that of the teacher. A study of the factors affecting teaching methods, behaviors, and qualities is vital, since a musician's life is shaped by his mentors and since he may himself assume the same role later on in his career. Several conclusions are revealed by research on the subject. First, a musicia...

This, the last chapter, discusses the fourth musical role, that of the user. Two related approaches to music and musical experiences are then discussed. The traditional “work-focused” approach considers a musical composition as independent of performance and context. On the other hand, the “person-based” approach asserts that music cannot be divorc...

Recent research in chess, music, and sports confirms that extended experience in a domain has surprisingly limited benefits for enhancing performance, once an acceptable level has been attained. However, the research on the superior performance of some experts demonstrates that focused appropriate training activities can dramatically change the hum...

Das Jahr 2005 bringt für Klaus-Ernst Behne gleich mehrere Jubiläen: zum einen den 65. Geburtstag, zum anderen auch ein akademisches Jubiläum, denn vor dreißig Jahren wurde er zum Professor für Systematische Musikwissenschaft an die Hochschule für Musik Detmold berufen. Mehr als ein Grund also für uns, seine ehemaligen Schüler und Doktoranden, einen...

This study investigated the prevalence of psychological and physical symptoms and subject-related health problems and attitudes toward health and study on the part of music, psychology, medical, and sports students at the beginning of their university studies. The study investigated 247 music students, 266 medical students, 71 psychology students,...

This study demonstrates a comprehensive method for linking expert musicians' interpretive choices and associated performances to listeners' perceptions of emotionality. In Phase 1 of the study, 10 expert pianists recorded their prepared interpretations of a highly emotional piece of music (E Chopin's Prelude op. 28, no. 4). They were also interview...

Innate talents supposedly limit an individual's highest attainable level of performance and the rate of skill acquisition. However, Howe et al. have not reviewed evidence that the level of expert performance has increased dramatically over the last few centuries. Those increases demonstrate that the highest levels of performance may be less co...

This study investigated an expert pianist's nine-month preparation for a public music performance (recital) through the collection of practice diaries and MIDI recordings of the eight scheduled pieces. Recordings were made under the experimentally varied conditions of solitary performance and public performance. The practice diaries revealed that t...

This study investigated the relation between self-reported affective response to everyday life events and affective responses to music listening. The influence of formal music training on affective responses to music was also assessed. Undergraduate music and non-music majors (N = 107) first completed the Affect Intensity Measure (AIM), then a musi...

Following an overview of the current knowledge about the structure and acquisition of expert performance in the arts, sciences and sports, we discuss practical implications for music training, focussing on the development of levels of instrumental skill typically attained by high school students and amateurs. Recent studies found that even the high...

Theories arguing that specific skills are acquired through extended practice cannot easily account for some musicians’ ability to perform unfamiliar music without preparation at first sight (sight-reading). This study identified the source of individual differences in this ability among expert pianists by relating component abilities of sight-readi...

Expert and exceptional performance are shown to be mediated by cognitive and perceptual-motor skills and by domain-specific physiological and anatomical adaptations. The highest levels of human performance in different domains can only be attained after around ten years of extended, daily amounts of deliberate practice activities. Laboratory analys...

Examined individual differences in sight-reading ability among expert pianists. 16 pianists with specializations in accompanying or solo performance were asked to accompany 2 pre-recorded flute excerpts taken from moderately difficult pieces for solo instruments. Ss completed the accompaniment well with regard to pitches, rhythms, and expressions,...

This exploratory study is concerned with the influence of judgements of visual attractiveness on the auditive evaluation of videotaped female vocal Performances. To 158 subjects of heterogeneous groups (professional singers, [Jazz} musicians, music students and non-professionals) playback video performances of a jazz and a classic piece of music we...

Although a performer knows if he or she is improvising or performing a rehearsed piece of music, this distinction may not be evident to the audience. However, it is possible that typical aspects of performance resulting from more deliberation and preparation or spontaneity induce perceptually salient cues that the listeners can utilize to infer whe...