The effects of skill on the eye-hand span during musical sight-reading

The eye-hand span (EHS) is the separation between eye position and hand pos ition when sight-reading music. It can be measured in two ways: in notes (t he number of notes between hand and eye; the 'note index'), or in time (the length of time between fixation and performance; the 'time index'). The EH Ss of amateur and professional pianists were compared while they sight-read music. The professionals showed significantly larger note indexes than the amateurs (approximately four notes, compared to two notes), and all subjec ts showed similar variability in the note index. Surprisingly, the differen t groups of pianists showed almost identical mean time indexes (ca. 1 s), w ith no significant differences between any of the skill levels. However, pr ofessionals did show significantly less variation than the amateurs. The ti me index was significantly affected by the performance tempo: when fast tem pos were imposed on performance, all subjects showed a reduction in the tim e index (to ca. 0.7 a), and slow tempos increased the time index (to ca. 1. 3s). This means that the length of time that information is stored in the b uffer is related to performance tempo rather than ability but that professi onals can fit more information into their buffers.