Mental Practice in Music Memorization: An Ecological-Empirical Study

Abstract

1 n.bernardi2@campus.unimib.it, 2 alexschories@gmx.de, 3 jabusch@hfmdd.de, 4 barbara.colombo@unicatt.it, 5 altenmueller@hmt-hannover.de ABSTRACTMental Practice (MP) refers to a complex network of strategies for improving musical performance without physically performing at the instrument. The present study represents an attempt to describe cross-individual differences in the use of different MP strategies, allowing direct predictions on which strategies are more likely to be effective. Sixteen pianists were studied while memorizing piano pieces. Each subject memorized two pieces of comparable length and difficulty, one by MP and the other by Physical Practice (PP), on two different days according to standardized protocols. During MP subjects were free to apply any practice strategies they preferred except for physically playing a real piano (ecological approach). Practice and performances were video-documented; performances were judged by independent expert raters. Participants reported their practice strategies in researcher-developed questionnaires. MP alone produced successful musical learning. MP, even combined with PP, produced poorer performance compared with PP alone. MP outcomes were significantly influenced by the strategies applied. These results directly impact on musicians' daily schedule and managing of health-risk factors, since valuable performance results can be achieved by combining optimally designed mental practice with short physical practice focused on strengthening the internal representation of the piece.

Using PETTLEP imagery to improve music performance: A review

“…Imagery brought about improvements in aspects of music performance, such as movement velocity and movement timing. However, consistent with music imagery research (e.g., Bernardi, Schories et al, 2013;Ross, 1985), improvements brought about by imagery were smaller than those that occurred as a result of physical practice. Further examination of the different imagery practice strategies used by participants in the mental practice group revealed differences in the extent to which motor imagery and auditory imagery improved aspects of performance.…”

Mental practice promotes motor anticipation: evidence from skilled music performance

“…In contrast, the subjects in the PP group received the following instructions: “ You have 7 min to practice this piece and then you will perform it again. You can freely use whatever practice method you prefer, as long as it includes physically playing the instrument .” The PP subjects were not asked to avoid or limit their mental operations during practice, as these constrains have been proven to be confounding and relatively ineffective (Bernardi et al, 2013). This choice designated our PP condition as the “natural,” ecologic practice condition and the one with which the subjects were more familiar.…”

“…Extended research in the field of sport psychology has shown that MP improves actual motor performance, although not to the same extent as physical practice (PP; Feltz and Landers, 1983). In both sport and music performance it has been evidenced that proper combinations of MP and PP yield results similar to extended PP alone (Kopiez, 1990; Theiler and Lippman, 1995; Bernardi et al, 2013). More recently, studies have been designed to understand the mechanisms that are responsible for these outcomes (Munzert et al, 2009).…”

Kinesthetic imagery of musical performance

“…Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that there is a positive association between the musician's auditory imagery abilities and success at learning novel piano pieces from notation in the absence of auditory feedback (Highben and Palmer, 2004). Use of auditory imagery during mental practice is associated with better post-practice performance (Bernardi et al, 2013). …”