[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-593747-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-593747-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","a-preliminary-study-is-the-metronome-harmful-or-helpful","A preliminary study: is the metronome harmful or helpful?","","The metronome is widely used to support time-keeping during music practice, yet excessive tempo demands may heighten pressure reflected in performers’ eye-movement (EM) patterns. EM measures such as saccades, fixations, and saccadic latency can index processing ability and vary with sight-reading expertise. The study tested whether different speed demands alter EM patterns for expert versus non-expert sight-readers while performing keyboard excerpts with and without metronome pacing.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/a-preliminary-study-is-the-metronome-harmful-or-helpful/593747/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/a-preliminary-study-is-the-metronome-harmful-or-helpful/593747.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"4398046744996","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-03","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",7,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"How can metronome tempo demands affect performers?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"If the metronome speed exceeds a comfortable level, performers’ eye movements can reveal pressure on the visual processing system.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What eye-movement measures were used to assess processing?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The study focused on saccades and fixations, including saccadic latency and the eye-movement behavior between saccades.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How did expert and non-expert sight-readers respond to higher speed demands?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Excessive relative speed demands impaired less skilled sight-readers’ ability to sustain performance, while experts showed less processing stress with smaller speed increments above their fastest accurate tempo.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},593747,1792211477,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":11,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":133,"file_id":134,"file_url":135,"file_type":136,"file_size":137,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":138,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":112,"preview_page_count":4},4398046744996,"A preliminary study: is the metronome harmful or helpful?  \nPatricia Arthur1, Sieu Khuu1 and Diana Blom2  \n1 University of New South Wales, School of Optometry and Vision Science,Sydney, Australia  \n2 University of Western Sydney, School of Communication Arts, Sydney, Australia  \na u s t r a l i a n  \na  \ns o c i e t y  \ns  \nf o r m u s i c  \nm  \ne d u c a t i o n  \ne  \ni n c o r p o r a t e d  \nAbstract  \nThe metronome is a frequently used time-keeping tool in music instrument practice. However, if its speed is set beyond a comfortable level for the performer, their eye movement (EM) patterns can betray pressure that might have been placed on the visual processing system. The patterns of the eyes moving forward or back,(saccades); when the eye stops between saccades to take in visual information,(fixations) and/or the time taken to programme a saccade (saccadic latency), are indicative of processing ability and differ with expertise. What is not known is how various levels of speed demand might affect the EM patterns of musicians with differing sight-reading abilities.  \nThis study measured the EM patterns of expert and non-expert music sight-readers. Musical excerpts were played on a keyboard – initially at the individual’s fastest speed ensuring accuracy and then at a metronome setting of 120MM.  \nThe study showed that imposing excessive relative speed demands on less skilled sight-readers resulted in an inability to sustain performance. While this result might be expected, examination of the EM patterns of the experts indicated that smaller speed increments relative to their fastest accurate speed, resulted in less processing stress. Key words: sight-reading, piano, expertise, eye movements, cognition, metronome  \nAustralian Journal of Music Education 2016: 50(2), 71-82  \nIntroduction  \nThe metronome is a time-keeping device that emits clicks or tones at a prescribed rate. It is valuable for teaching the rudiments of pulse and metre and can also be used as an adjunct to mastering notation (Miller, 2012). Thereis a general consensus that the metronome is an indispensable tool for helping novice percussionists keep in time, but there is little  \nadvice or few suggestions given as to how best to use it other than to simply use it (Falle, 2011) .  \nRecent research has shown that, as the level of a musician’s expertise increases, so too does the use of the metronome in their personal practice. The authors also showed that metronome use  \nrelated to higher scores in a given performance grade examination. In addition, its use significantly increased at Grade 6 level and beyond (Hallam, Rinta, Varvarigou & Creech, 2012). Conversely, they showed that there is minimal use of the metronome up to 6th grade level. It is surprising then, that the metronome’s importance is stressed in early percussion instruction albeit with little specific direction and features in the practice patterns of more experienced musicians, but appears to be somewhat overlooked in other early instrumental teaching. All musicians – not just percussionists – need to keep accurate time.  \nAccuracy of time-keeping can be judged by measuring the asynchrony threshold. It is the  \ndifference between when a rhythmic series of sounds occur and how closely an individual can tap along with that rhythm. A person with a low threshold can tap more accurately to a beat. That is, there is a smaller time difference between the onset of the beat and the actual tap than for a person with a higher threshold. In an ensemble setting particularly, it is important that musicians are synchronised with their conductor and with one another.  \nDifferences in the asynchrony threshold have been found, not only between musicians and nonmusicians, but between the types of instrument played and the players’ level of expertise (Krause, Pollok & Schnitzler, 2010) . It was found that professional pianists and percussionists had equivalent asynchrony thresholds while amateur pianists and non-musi","cbCaieBu79k30XY5","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaieBu79k30XY5","pdf",449103,12,"English","# Introduction\n## Eye-movement measures and sight-reading expertise\n## Time-keeping accuracy and asynchrony threshold\n## Rationale for testing metronome speed demands\n# Abstract\n# Keywords\n# References","[{\"question\":\"How can metronome tempo demands affect performers?\",\"answer\":\"If the metronome speed exceeds a comfortable level, performers’ eye movements can reveal pressure on the visual processing system.\"},{\"question\":\"What eye-movement measures were used to assess processing?\",\"answer\":\"The study focused on saccades and fixations, including saccadic latency and the eye-movement behavior between saccades.\"},{\"question\":\"How did expert and non-expert sight-readers respond to higher speed demands?\",\"answer\":\"Excessive relative speed demands impaired less skilled sight-readers’ ability to sustain performance, while experts showed less processing stress with smaller speed increments above their fastest accurate tempo.\"}]","A preliminary study: is the metronome harmful or helpful? | PDF",1792077841]