Modeling synchronization and learning in musical duets
Polina Plitchenko is a Masters Student in Department of Psychology at McGill University. She obtained her Bachelors Degree at Syracuse University where she majored in Psychology and minored in Anthropology. Her current research is focusing on effects of solo practice on duet synchrony performance and how different types of solo interventions affect the above mentioned synchrony.
Leen Mshasha is a Research Assistant who recently obtained her Bachelor's Degree in Honours Cognitive Science from McGill University. She is completing research under a NSERC USRA award in the Sequence Production Lab, studying interpersonal musical synchrony.
Modeling synchronization and learning in musical duets
The temporal coordination of sound across individuals underlies several communicative functions including speech and music. Musical synchrony is an underlying quality of successful music performances. Although trained musicians often learn new music by practicing alone, musical performance usually requires individuals to learn to synchronize with one another. We investigated how musically trained individuals adapt in order to coordinate in time with a partner. In this study, musically trained participants tapped a melody together (Duet) or individually with a metronome (Solo). We investigated the effects of the Solo interventions on the Duet synchrony and we modeled the partners’ synchrony with a delay-coupled nonlinear model designed to measure coupling parameters of both partners in the periodic tapping task. Two types of Solo interventions were completed by each participant: a normal auditory feedback intervention and a delayed feedback intervention in which 25% of tones were randomly delayed. Duet synchrony improved following both Solo interventions. Furthermore, participants synchronized better together than individually (with a recording). The delay-coupled model captured effects of Solo interventions on Duet synchrony; Duet partners showed stronger coupling after the normal feedback intervention. Future work may investigate whether a delay-coupled model can explain learning during the Solo interventions.