Introduction
For the past five years I have combined my studies at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with a bachelor and a master public administration at Leiden University. This was a hectic period in which I had to plan both studies really well. I think I can say this all went well, but I couldn’t help wondering if there wasn’t a way to use my time more efficiently. This was specifically the case for my harp practicing. I planned each practice session very carefully, but there were days that I just didn’t have the time to go back home/to the conservatory to practice. This is when the idea emerged to practice mentally. However, this turned out easier said than done. Even though I planned carefully the time that I would spend with my music, it never really worked. Looking backwards, I think this is mostly because I didn’t have a clue about what to do, so in the end I was just looking at the sheet music for half an hour, thinking: how should I do this? So, when I had to come up with a topic for my master research, I immediately knew that I wanted to learn more about mental practice. The main question for this research is: “How can mental training help me practice more economically?” Because this is a very personal question, to make it researchable, I approached the question from two different points:
- The effects of imagery exercise on economy of practice, the musicians’ practice and musicians’performance experience
- The perception of the performance by the audience.
This topic can be relevant for each music student or professional. Although mental practice turned out to be effective and beneficent, it is still not common to practice a lot mentally as research showed. Students know that it is good to do, but something is holding them back. When searching mental practice exercises or instructions about how to do it, it is difficult to find relevant information. By researching this topic from the point view of the music student, this topic is of societal relevance. It can make mental practice more approachable for others in the field. Furthermore, many researches showed that the combination of physical practice and mental practice is effective, but it turns out to be difficult to show why this is the case. Additionally, the research that tested the use of mental imagery came up with good results, but almost in none of the research is clear what kind of exercises they used or what the mental practice program looked like. Therefore, this topic is also of academic relevance.
To come up with an answer to the research question first a theoretical background of mental practice will be given. Also, the different kinds of mental imagery exercises will be categorized in order to be able to apply them on myself. The research design chapter will provide more information about how the research is conducted. Finally, the results, conclusion and implications will be discussed.
