What's new in pedagogy research?(Professional Resources)

Over the years I have read many research studies investigating sight reading. I have taken various bits of possible insights away from these studies, but it is sometimes difficult to see the larger picture in this area of research--somewhat like viewing an impressionistic picture from a very close perspective--you can appreciate the colors of the individual brushstrokes, but you must stand further back to see what the picture is really saying. Brenda Wristen recently helped us take a larger view of what the research has found about sight reading in her article: "Cognition and Motor Execution in Piano Sight-Reading: A Review of Literature." (1) As I share some of her findings with you, the length of this article precludes citing all the research sources that appear in her article. If certain findings intrigue you, and you would like more information on the study, please seek out her article.

Wristen found that the research studies fall into several broad areas:

* Cognitive/perceptual--the way we physically look at and think about the score

* Factors affecting successful sight reading--such as differences among pianists

* Education/pedagogical approaches--how to successfully teach sight reading

* Motor skills--the finger control and comfort with the topography of the instrument needed to be able to sight read with any success (particularly true for pianists).

Several studies that focused on the cognitive aspects of sight-reading also considered motor skills. Not surprisingly, they found that the best way to improve sight-reading ability is to sight read. Additionally, Wristen writes: "Both performance accuracy and consistency of fingering correlate positively with expertise at the piano ... Expert piano sight-readers develop rule-governed patterns of motor response in their fingers that are called forth upon recognition of familiar visual notational patterns." (2) In other words, they see a scale or broken chord pattern and immediately know how to finger it correctly and how it will feel in the hands. A study indicated that expert sight-readers have flexible motor response patterns that efficiently result in the needed muscular contractions. Wristen raises the question of how instructors can teach students flexibility in their motor responses and whether students only learn this through sight-reading activities or whether they also gain this ability during regular repertoire practice. She also cautions that because less than optimal technique is often used during sight-reading experiences, one must be careful not to overtax the mechanism.