Self-regulation of teenaged pianists during at-home practice

Abstract

Professional musicians employ self-regulation and deliberate practice strategies when learning music. Although self-regulation is difficult for beginners, presumably students practice deliberately as music becomes more difficult and they develop musical skills. It is not clear to what extent intermediate piano students self-regulate during learning. This study explored practice strategies used during at-home practice of nine intermediate-level teenaged piano students. Over a two-month period, piano students recorded three videos of themselves practicing. Data were triangulated from coded video, teacher interviews, and student questionnaires regarding practice habits, strategy use, and perceived challenges. Students regularly practiced under less-than-ideal circumstances and had limited attention spans, but skill level was not an indicator of self-regulation. Nine practice strategies were observed and reportedly employed. While six of the students mostly played through repertoire, three participants were motivated to deliberately use practice strategies and they attempted to self-regulate when practicing without a teacher present.

Theoretical Framework for Facilitating Young Musicians’ Learning of Expressive Performance

“…Secondly, participants in these studies reported that they tended to concentrate on reading from notation, “technicalities” and playing through pieces during practice, overlooking matters of interpretation because of the challenges of instrumental playing. This is in line with research that found that young musicians tend to have inefficient practice strategies and are inclined to play through pieces (e.g., Pitts and Davidson, 2000 ; Pitts et al, 2000 ; McPherson and Renwick, 2001 , 2010 ; Austin and Berg, 2006 ; Lisboa, 2008 ; Hallam et al, 2012 ; Pike, 2017 ). Thirdly, questionnaire answers suggested that the challenges of instrumental music learning were balanced by the rewards of music participation.…”

“…Secondly, it is important to understand why children tend to focus on technique and note reading during practice rather than on expression and communication (see Pitts and Davidson, 2000 ; Pitts et al, 2000 ; McPherson and Renwick, 2001 ; Austin and Berg, 2006 ; Lisboa, 2008 ; McPherson and Renwick, 2010 ; Pike, 2017 ), and why there seems to be a focus on these elements of instrumental playing in lessons too (see Rostvall and West, 2003 , 2005 ; West and Rostvall, 2003 ; Karlsson and Juslin, 2008 ). The questionnaire findings reported above ( Meissner, 2018 ) support the view that this focus on technique and notation in instrumental practice and lessons is generated by the difficulties which children experience when they start learning their instruments.…”

“…She compared the following approaches: “no instruction,” “analytical instruction,” and a “multi-modal approach” which included singing before playing; coloring the score; watching a video of a professional cellist; and discussions of general musical issues, such as interpretation and approaches to practice and performance. Lisboa observed that her students concentrated on notation and fingering when left to their own devices (see also Pitts et al, 2000 ; McPherson and Renwick, 2001 ; Austin and Berg, 2006 ; Pike, 2017 ) and that the multi-modal approach led to the most expressive performances. It was not possible to determine whether the combination of complementary methods of the multi-modal approach had been especially effective, or whether one of these methods was successful, as four new strategies were introduced at the same time.…”

“…In summary, research has found that children tend to focus on technique and reading from notation during practice (e.g., Lisboa, 2000 , 2008 ; Pitts et al, 2000 ; Pike, 2017 ). Several small-scale studies observed instructional strategies for teaching performance expression ( Broomhead, 2006 ; McPhee, 2011 ; Brenner and Strand, 2013 ) or explored the effectiveness of various teaching methods (e.g., Lisboa, 2000 ; Chester, 2008 ; Vandewalker, 2014 ; Meissner, 2017 ).…”

Young Musicians' Learning of Expressive Performance: The Importance of Dialogic Teaching and Modeling

“…Questions regarding practice might assist pupils to start reflecting on this, which could be a useful step to developing self-regulated practice habits (cf. McPherson and Renwick, 2001;Hallam et al, 2012;Pike, 2017).…”