Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, August 22-26

2006

Convergences between learning to play the piano

and motorics

Alessandra Padula
L’Aquila University
Italy
alessandrapadula@interfree.it

ABSTRACT
Children often begin to learn to play an instrument
during primary school, when they are 4 to 11 years old.
It is well-known that playing an instrument promotes
general artistic and specific music competences, which
help expression and communication and therefore make
autonomy and socialization easier.
Italian music pedagogy traditionally focuses mainly on
general music education rather than on studies
concerning the learning of an instrument; nevertheless,
learning to play an instrument is doubtless an important
part of music education.
Children often begin to learn to play an instrument
during primary school, when they are 4 to 11 years old.

Moreover, 4-11-year-old children can often obtain
other important benefits from learning to play an
instrument (especially the piano); this study deals with
these benefits by analysing convergences between
learning to play the piano and motorics.
Keywords
Music, motorics, perception, space- and time-
structuring, relaxation, balance, joint mobility, motion
economy.
It is well-known that playing an instrument promotes
general artistic and specific music competences, which
help expression and communication and therefore make
autonomy and socialization easier.
Moreover, 4-11-year-old children can often obtain other
important benefits from learning to play an instrument
(especially piano); this study deals with these benefits
by analysing convergences between learning to play the
piano and motorics.

Development of perception abilities

In: M. Baroni, A. R. Addessi, R. Caterina, M. Costa (2006) Proceedings
of the 9th International Conference on Music Perception & Cognition
(ICMPC9), Bologna/Italy, August 22-26 2006.©2006 The Society for Development of perception abilities promotes the
Music Perception & Cognition (SMPC) and European Society for the enrichment of the cognitive area and efficiency in
Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM). Copyright of the content of an motorics.
individual paper is held by the primary (first-named) author of that
paper. All rights reserved. No paper from this proceedings may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or Learning to play the piano promotes the acquisition of
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information some important perception abilities:
retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the paper's
primary author. No other part of this proceedings may be reproduced or 1) the ability to distinguish in the kinaesthetic and
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information retrieval the somatognosis field.
system, without permission in writing from SMPC and ESCOM.

ISBN 88-7395-155-4 © 2006 ICMPC 317

 ICMPC9 Proceedings
The child controls several parts of his body and
recognizes the relationship between his body
and objects in space
2) the ability to distinguish in the visual field
The child plays on black and white keys and
uses often text-books with coloured notes
3) the ability to distinguish in the auditory field
The child hears differences between sounds in
terms of pitch, intensity, timbre, length and
source
4) the ability to distinguish in the tactile field
The child produces sounds through finger
movements on the keyboard and learns to
recognize shapes and surfaces without even
looking at them.
Development of space- and time-structuring
The child finds out the measurability of space through
gestures and movements: for instance playing a
chromatic scale on the whole keyboard.
The child proves the 6 basic space-ideas (on/under,
forwards/backwards, right/left) through piano
movements: e.g. playing with the thumb under
movement, crossing one hand over the other, playing
scales in parallel and in contrary motion.
The child learns performing leaps and bettering
trajectories through speed shifts of his hands on the
keyboard.
As regards time-structuring, reading the stave, which
analogizes space- and time-progressions, makes the
understanding of some basic time-ideas easier:
before/after, contemporaneously/together (two hands or
two players play together even when the sounds which
they produce are not simultaneous), length and speed.
Learning to play the piano promotes the development of
ability in body-imaging, because it lets the child prove
the independence of the arm from the trunk, the
independence of each finger from the others, the
independence of each hand from the other, and so on.
Learning to play the piano promotes an increase of
coordination between eyes and hands, eyes and feet, and
obviously between one hand and the other and between
the fingers, because the child learns to produce
successions and combinations of sounds which are
near/far, light/heavy, staccato/legato, and so on.
Importance of these goals for the general
development of children
Learning to read and write verbal and/or numerical texts
requires the child to move his eyes in conformity with
parallel lines from left to right (as like as reading the
ISBN 88-7395-155-4 © 2006 ICMPC
stave), to distinguish letters which are different because
of their space orientation (p/b/d/q), use his hands and
fingers independently, control his hand pressure on the
sheet, and write figures in columns (also notes are
written in columns in the stave), etc.
Piano goals that can be achieved by
studying motorics
Relaxation
Relaxation is vital to feel the contraction/relaxation of
each arm, of each finger, to prepare for a
performance/to rest after a performance; in combination
with the ability to contract/relax quickly the proper
muscles, it promotes agility and motile precision.
Balance
The balance of the hand on the keyboard and the right
posture of the pianist are indispensable to avoid
physical diseases and mistakes in performance.
Joint mobility
Properly performing joint motions increases joint
mobility and strength.
Motion economy
Proportioning energy in performing a
gesture/movement allows the performer to utilize it in
an opportune way, avoiding waste which would derive
from a hand’s unbalancing, lack of independence of the
fingers, and so on.
Conclusion
An analysis of the contribution that piano-playing can
make to a harmonious development of many abilities in
normal children as well as in those with special needs,
demonstrates that piano-playing can be useful and
effective in schools and in rehabilitation centres.
Therefore, the results of this study may be useful to:
- those who work with children in this age-range
• educators of play groups
• primary school teachers
• teachers of children with special
needs
• music education teachers
• instrument teachers
• rehabilitation technicians
- those who plan and organize empowerment
and integration projects
• councillors responsible for municipal
departments
• pedagogical managers in boarding-
schools, reform schools, treatment
centres for disturbed young people,
boot camps, etc.
318
 ICMPC9 Proceedings
- those who conduct research into music and
motorics
• musicians
• psychologists
• pedagogists and special pedagogists
• therapists for neuro- and psycho-
motorics in the development age

REFERENCES Galimberti, U. (1991). Il corpo, Milano: Universale

Economica Feltrinelli.

Agostinelli, N., & Ferrari, F. (1990). Educazione Le Boulch, J. (2000). L’educazione del corpo nella
motoria per l’età evolutiva, Torino: SEI. scuola del domani, Roma: Magi.

Biddle, S., Fox, K., & Boutcher, S. (2000) (Eds.).
Physical Activity and Psychological Well-being,
London: Routledge.
Bortoli, L., & Robazza, C. (1999). Apprendimento
motorio: concetti e applicazioni, Roma: Edizioni Luigi
Pozzi.
Cash, T. & Pruzinsky, T. (1990) (Eds.). Body images,
Development, Deviance and Change, New York: The
Guilford Press.
Magill, R.A. (2001). Motor learning: concepts and
applications, New York: McGraw-Hill.
Ohm, D. (1996). Rilassamento muscolare progressivo,
Como: Red.
Padula, A. (1995), “Apprendimento pianistico e studio
del movimento: possibili convergenze”, Quaderni del
Centro Studi dell’I.S.A., 3, 35-45.

ISBN 88-7395-155-4 © 2006 ICMPC 319