Conclusions
The main question in this research was: How can mental training help me to practice more economically? This question stemmed from a personal desire to be able to practice more without my instrument due to time constrictions. To research this question, first a review of the existing literature about mental training was completed. Based on the literature reviews, the research became more focused on mental imagery. During the research of the already existing literature, it became clear that what was lacking was a clear overview of mental imagery exercises. That there are certain benefits to mental imagery programs was researched in the past years and the effects had been proven. However, it was not clear how these mental imagery programs were designed or what exercises were used. To be able to research how mental training is able to help practicing more economically, first an overview of the exercises was necessary. With help of the existing literature, five categories were constructed, and all the different exercises were each placed in a category, creating a database of imagery exercises. Based on the literature the expectation was that mental training in the form of an imagery program can help to practice more economically because of the multiple benefits shown in previous research. Therefore, the hypothesis was that a mental imagery program will lead to more economical practice. More specifically, the imagery program was expected to influence the level of engagement, motivation, enjoyment, tiredness and confidence. Furthermore, the mental imagery program would enhance goal acquisition over time as well as memorization speed.
The results of the individual practice sessions showed that the imagery program indeed influenced the level of engagement, motivation, enjoyment, tiredness and confidence. A large part of the results was in accordance with the expectation. However, the level of tiredness and confidence showed some remarkable results. The participant was considerably more tired after the imagery sessions. Further, the participant did not feel confident at all after the imagery sessions for the first weeks. Both results can be the result of the fact that this was the first time the participant worked with an imagery program and exercises. Since new skills had to develop, it makes sense that it costs a lot of energy in the beginning and that the participant did not feel confident about it. Furthermore, as Williamon (2011) stated: because it is so mentally tiring, it is recommended to practice mentally only for 10 minutes per day. All the other results showed that the imagery program was beneficial for the level of engagement and motivation and that the imagery sessions were more enjoyed than the normal sessions. Not only was there improvement on almost every indicator, except tiredness, the scores on the imagery program were very stable. They fluctuated less over time than the normal sessions did.
Furthermore, different check-ups were added to the intervention program to be able to judge if the mental imagery program helped goal acquisition over time. From this, it became clear that the mental training program was especially useful for musical intention and memorization. For technical challenges there were no observable benefits. For example, the participant was at the end of the intervention still able to play the normally practiced piece faster and more technically accurate than the imagery piece, even though both pieces had the same level of difficulty.
The results from the performance support this: the audience was especially positive about how much the music convinces and the expressiveness of the piece practiced with help of the imagery program. However, they thought the normal piece scored a lot better on technical proficiency. Almost everyone was able to guess which piece was studied with the help of the program. Most of them based their decision on how convincing they thought the piece was and the expressiveness.
So, to answer the question how mental training can help to practice more economically: a mental training program helps especially with quicker memorization, more engagement, motivation and enjoyment. The results of the program on the confidence and tiredness of the participant were mixed and most likely influenced by the fact that the mental imagery program was something new for the participant. Another important aspect is that both the participant as the audience indicated that although the piece practiced with imagery stood out considering its musical intentions and expressiveness, the technical aspect was less convincing. This could indicate that the mental training program is best combined with the normal practice habits of the participant. Previous literature research supports this claim, stating that the optimal situation is when normal practice is combined with mental practice.
