Musical imagery and imagination: The function, measurement, and application of imagery skills for performance

Clark, Terry; Williamon, Aaron; Aksentijevic, Aleksandar

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199568086.003.0022

Cited by 23 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…In addition to artistic or abstract images, performers often engage in more concrete imagery, such as dancers going over movements and variations in their heads (, Fish, Hall, & Cumming, 2004;Hanrahan & Vergeer, 2000;Monsma & Overby, 2004;Nordin & Cumming, 2005;,b,c, 2007Overby, 1990;Overby, Hall, & Haslam, 1998). Similarly, musicians rehearse through imaging fi nger placements, passages, and whole pieces of music (Clark, Williamon, & Aksentijevic 2012;Godøy & Jørgensen, 2001;Holmes, 2005;Schoenberg, 1987). Some of the functions that imagery serves for performing artists also include those commonly noted in sport research, such as for learning, memorizing, and improving skills; boosting motivation and confi dence; and managing anxiety (Clark et al, 2012;Clark, Lisboa, & Williamon, in press;Connolly & Williamon, 2004;Gregg, Clark, & Hall, 2008;Murphy, Nordin, & Cumming, 2008).…”

Section: Imagerymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, musicians rehearse through imaging fi nger placements, passages, and whole pieces of music (Clark, Williamon, & Aksentijevic 2012;Godøy & Jørgensen, 2001;Holmes, 2005;Schoenberg, 1987). Some of the functions that imagery serves for performing artists also include those commonly noted in sport research, such as for learning, memorizing, and improving skills; boosting motivation and confi dence; and managing anxiety (Clark et al, 2012;Clark, Lisboa, & Williamon, in press;Connolly & Williamon, 2004;Gregg, Clark, & Hall, 2008;Murphy, Nordin, & Cumming, 2008). For instance, Ross (1985) found that imagery improved trombone players' performance, and Holmes (2005) reported that auditory and kinesthetic imagery were especially important for learning and performance enhancement with string instrumentalists.…”

Section: Imagerymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Imagery can also be used as pre-performance preparation (e.g., Clark et al, 2012;Clark et al, in press;Vergeer & Hanrahan, 1998), and Hays and Brown (2004) provide a superb example of violinist and conductor Itzak Perlman doing a mock performance with as much detail as humanly possible-in his own house. In addition to dressing appropriately and other logistical aspects, the power of imagery was used to its full as he imagined his house as the Carnegie Hall.…”

Section: Imagerymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…He even imagined announcements and a delay in the start of the performance, an approach consistent with the PETTLEP model of imagery (Holmes & Collins, 2001). However, performing artists also use imagery for a variety of purposes not typically discussed in sport, such as for exploring interpretive possibilities (Haddon, 2007), for inspiration, to get into character, and to convey emotion to an audience (Clark et al, 2012;Hanrahan & Vergeer, 2000;Nordin & Cumming, 2005). Th ey also experience spontaneous imagery (Haddon, 2007;Nordin & Cumming, 2005).…”

Section: Imagerymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Performance Psychology in the Performing Arts

Nordin-Bates

2012

The Oxford Handbook of Sport and Performance Psychology

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Th e central theme of this Handbook is that the psychology of human performance can be studied across multiple domains, not just sport and exercise, and this chapter examines the research base that exists in another performance area: the performing arts. It would be overambitious, perhaps impossible, to do justice to the enormous variety of psychology topics that have potential implications for the performing arts; as such, this chapter focuses on research based in performance psychology, putting the performance of performing artists, suitably, at center stage. Within the limitations of my own training and expertise, I also make links to other areas where I have found them especially appropriate. A key issue addressed in the chapter is whether the approaches and techniques of sport psychology can be successfully used in the domains 5

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Section: Imagerymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Imagerymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Imagerymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Imagerymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Performance Psychology in the Performing Arts

Nordin-Bates

2012

The Oxford Handbook of Sport and Performance Psychology

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“…Initial evidence supports the notion that musical imagery and perception may share a similar neural basis within and beyond the auditory system [23][24][25] . During both musical perception and imagery, cortical activations are observable at the secondary auditory cortex, the association cortex 17,20,24,25 , and even the motor cortex especially for musicians 14,[26][27][28] . In addition, musical imagery in musicians is of interest for studying experience-dependent neural plasticity, since musical training reshapes neuronal networks to promote auditory imagery 29,30 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Musical Imagery Involves the Wernicke’s Area in Bilateral and Anti-Correlated Network Interactions in Musicians

Zhang

Chen²,

Wen

et al. 2017

Preprint

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Musical imagery is a human experience of imagining music without actually hearing it. The neural basis of such a mental ability is unclear, especially for musicians capable of accurate and vivid musical imagery due to their musical training. Here, we visualized an 8-min symphony as a silent movie, and used it as real-time cues for musicians to continuously imagine the music for multiple synchronized sessions during functional magnetic resonance imaging. The activations and networks evoked by musical imagery were compared with those when the subjects directly listened to the same music. The musical imagery and perception shared similar responses at bilateral secondary auditory areas and Wernicke's area for encoding the musical feature. But the Wernicke's area was involved in highly distinct network interactions during musical imagery vs. perception. The former involved positive correlations with a subset of the auditory network and the attention network, but negative correlations with the default mode network; the latter was confined to the intrinsic auditory network in the resting state. Our results highlight the important role of the Wernicke's area in forming vivid musical imagery through bilateral and anti-correlated network interactions, challenging the conventional view of segregated and lateralized processing of music vs. language.

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An efficient and adaptive test of auditory mental imagery

Gelding

Harrison

Silas

et al. 2020

Psychological Research

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The ability to silently hear music in the mind has been argued to be fundamental to musicality. Objective measurements of this subjective imagery experience are needed if this link between imagery ability and musicality is to be investigated. However, previous tests of musical imagery either rely on self-report, rely on melodic memory, or do not cater in range of abilities. The Pitch Imagery Arrow Task (PIAT) was designed to address these shortcomings; however, it is impractically long. In this paper, we shorten the PIAT using adaptive testing and automatic item generation. We interrogate the cognitive processes underlying the PIAT through item response modelling. The result is an efficient online test of auditory mental imagery ability (adaptive Pitch Imagery Arrow Task: aPIAT) that takes 8 min to complete, is adaptive to participant's individual ability, and so can be used to test participants with a range of musical backgrounds. Performance on the aPIAT showed positive moderate-to-strong correlations with measures of non-musical and musical working memory, self-reported musical training, and general musical sophistication. Ability on the task was best predicted by the ability to maintain and manipulate tones in mental imagery, as well as to resist perceptual biases that can lead to incorrect responses. As such, the aPIAT is the ideal tool in which to investigate the relationship between pitch imagery ability and musicality.

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Musical imagery and imagination: The function, measurement, and application of imagery skills for performance

Cited by 23 publications

References 54 publications

Performance Psychology in the Performing Arts

Performance Psychology in the Performing Arts

Musical Imagery Involves the Wernicke’s Area in Bilateral and Anti-Correlated Network Interactions in Musicians

An efficient and adaptive test of auditory mental imagery

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