Keeping the Pitch in Mind: A Case Study of Intonational Awareness in a Violin Student with Dyscalculia

Abstract

For bowed-string players, intonation is not merely a technical parameter but a continuous cognitive demand. In fact, pitch is not fixed by the instrument itself but directly shaped by the performer’s actions through finger placement on the fingerboard, where even minimal spatial variations can alter the resulting frequency (Taş & Usluer, 2022). However, accurate intonation cannot be reduced to proprioceptive control of finger position alone; it also requires fine-grained pitch perception and continuous auditory monitoring. Indeed, the player must constantly listen to the sound produced, judge whether it is in tune, and immediately adjust finger position when necessary, especially during individual practice, when no external feedback is available (Pardue & McPherson, 2019). Intonation, therefore, cannot be understood as an intrinsic property of the instrument, but as a performative competence that must be actively developed and continuously regulated.
Qualitative reports on musicians with dyscalculia describe difficulties in visuospatial organization, sequential processing, auditory working memory, and aspects of auditory perception, such as interval discrimination (Hosseini, 2025; McCord, 2016). Given these vulnerabilities, achieving stable intonation on a non-tempered instrument can be challenging, as it requires the continuous control and precise execution of an internal representation of pitch (Keller, 2012; Zatorre et al., 2007). From this perspective, strengthening internal pitch representations may represent a relevant pedagogical focus for supporting intonational regulation in bowed-string players with dyscalculia.