Musicians are judged more on looks and behaviours than sound, a new study has revealed.
A report by Chia-Jung Tsay, a researcher from University College London, UK, and concert pianist, gave 886 participants either video-only, sound-only, or video-plus-sound versions of short clips of the top performances from 10 classical music competitions.
Visual cues such as perception of a performer’s passion or involvement in a piece of music were more influential in assessing the winners of the competitions than music itself.
Dr Chia-Jung Tsay said: ‘Classical music training is often focused on improving the quality of the sound, but this research is about getting to the bottom of what is really being evaluated at the highest levels of competitive performance.
‘The results show that even when we want to be objective in evaluating the sound of music, when it comes to live performance, the visual experience can be the most influential aspect. People in the studies weren’t able to distinguish elements like ‘passion’ from the sound of the music alone, and these factors appear to be used as proxies for quality. It’s unsettling to find - and for musicians not to know - that they themselves relegate the sound of music to the role of noise.’
The research was published today (20 August) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Another recent study on classical music revealed that listening to classical music does not increase the capacity of a listener's ability to learn.
However, Nicholas Spitzer at the University of California did find that learning to play a musical instrument can have a beneficial impact on cognitive functions.
A report by Chia-Jung Tsay, a researcher from University College London, UK, and concert pianist, gave 886 participants either video-only, sound-only, or video-plus-sound versions of short clips of the top performances from 10 classical music competitions.
Visual cues such as perception of a performer’s passion or involvement in a piece of music were more influential in assessing the winners of the competitions than music itself.
Dr Chia-Jung Tsay said: ‘Classical music training is often focused on improving the quality of the sound, but this research is about getting to the bottom of what is really being evaluated at the highest levels of competitive performance.
‘The results show that even when we want to be objective in evaluating the sound of music, when it comes to live performance, the visual experience can be the most influential aspect. People in the studies weren’t able to distinguish elements like ‘passion’ from the sound of the music alone, and these factors appear to be used as proxies for quality. It’s unsettling to find - and for musicians not to know - that they themselves relegate the sound of music to the role of noise.’
The research was published today (20 August) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Another recent study on classical music revealed that listening to classical music does not increase the capacity of a listener's ability to learn.
However, Nicholas Spitzer at the University of California did find that learning to play a musical instrument can have a beneficial impact on cognitive functions.
