Attentional Resource Allocation in Musical Ensemble Performance

Individual performers in ensembles must attend simultaneously to their own part and parts played by others. Thus, they allocate attentional resources skilfully and flexibly between different sound sources in order to (a) monitor their own part and other parts, and (b) group together elements from these parts to derive the whole ensemble texture. The theory of Attentional Resource Allocation in Musical Ensemble Performance (ARAMEP) presented here accounts for how attentional flexibility is influenced by various musical and extramusical factors. It is claimed that these factors act directly upon cognitive/motor mechanisms that regulate attentional resource allocation. Particular focus is given to the role of meter in modulating resources in a manner that is plastic and efficient, and hence conducive to optimal attentional flexibility. Specifically, metric frameworks enable the availability of resources to be varied systematically, so as to compensate for fluctuations in resource activity that arise due to variability in the concentration of events at different metric locations in the music.