Self-regulated learning refers to being able to steer one’s own learning and involves having goals and being able to monitor, control and reflect on the process. Self-regulation has been well researched in the field of academics and in motor learning and much of this is relevant to musical learning and performance. In the last few decades there has been some valuable research on self-regulation for musicians
Self-regulation is not a trait, nor is it fixed (Zimmerman, 2002, p.66). Selection and use of certain processes (see below) determines how well someone learns:
- Goal setting (specific and proximal)
- Monitoring performance
- Restructuring physical and social context to fit the goals
- Efficient time-management
- Self-evaluation of one’s methods
- Connecting the process to the results
- Adapting future methods
McPherson & Zimmerman (2011, p. 132) describe three different types of self-regulation: behavioural, environmental, and covert. Behavioural self-regulation refers to being able to observe and adjust one’s strategies and methods and processes connected to learning and performance. Environmental self-regulation is regulating conditions in the outside environment. Covert self-regulation refers to the ability to monitor and adjust one's cognitive and affective states – for instance deciding on what to focus.
Self-reflection is divided into two classes: self-judgement and self-reaction. Self- judgement can involve self-evaluation – comparing one’s performance with an outside standard e.g. feedback from a teacher or exam panel, performances of others or an imagined ideal. Self-judgement can also take the form of causal attribution – assigning the cause to limitations in fixed ability or alternatively, to the use of a wrong strategy. The former cause will have a negative effect on motivation whereas the latter is controllable and therefore sustain motivation.
The second class in this phase – self-reaction – can involve self-satisfaction and positive affect or it can take the form of defensive reactions. Defensive reactions occur from fear of failure and the need to protect one’s self-image for instance by withdrawing or avoiding risks or opportunities. Adaptive reactions, on the other hand, involve making adjustments in order to find more efficiency (Zimmerman, 2002, McPherson & Zimmerman, 2011).
Barry Zimmerman (2002) describes self-regulation as a cyclical process with three phases: forethought, performance control and self-reflection. Below is a description of the phases and processes presented in his model as well as their relevance to musicians (McPherson & Zimmermann 2011).
The performance phase is divided into self-control and self-observation. Self-control involves using specific methods and strategies that were selected in the forethought phase and includes using imagery, self-instruction, focussing of attention and task strategies. Self-observation can involve self-monitoring one’s process or self-recording: making and comparing recordings of ones progress. Too much monitoring, however, can be disrupting to performance (McPherson & Zimmerman, 2011, p. 161). This phase can involve experimenting with ways to play a piece and what to focus on – a form of meta-cognitive monitoring.
Zimmerman divides the first phase in his self-regulation model into task analysis and self-motivation. “Self-motivation stems from a student’s beliefs about learning” (Zimmerman 2002, p. 68). See more about self-motivation beliefs in the prerequisites section of this exposition. Task analysis involves goal setting, planning and making strategies. Goals need to be both specific and proximal (not too far away from what the learner can already do). Good self-regulation involves being able to select appropriate goals and break them down into sub goals, as well as having process goals, which can lead to a mastery process. There is a strong connection between intrinsic motivation and belief in one’s abilities and the way a student is able to select goals and set up and adjust strategies. (McPherson & Zimmerman 2011). In this phase, a musician needs to be aware of their technical and musical strengths and weaknesses, be able to choose appropriate repertoire and technical material, design a practice routine and schedule practice sessions. They need to know what they want to achieve and come up with ideas of what is needed for the process (including help from experts).
Student A
A self regulated learner is characterised by the following: they have effective learning goals and learning strategies, establish a good environment for learning, seek assistance when needed, expend effort and persist, are able to adjust strategies, and set better more effective new goals after completing the present ones (Schunk & Zimmermann, 2012, p.1). They are good at time management, are highly and intrinsically motivated, have high self-efficacy beliefs, and generally trust their learning process.
Student B
This student thinks they are lacking in talent, compares themselves with others, does not ask for help in case they look stupid, is vague about their own qualities and has vague or unrealistic goals, no specific learning strategies, bad time management and has little confidence (Zimmerman 2002, p. 64). This student finds it easy to be distracted by e.g. social media, computer games, videos etc., and will procrastinate and even seem to sabotage their own performances by doing things that they know will not bring success.
Expert Z
The expert spends around 4 hours a day in study and practice and is highly motivated. They vary their methods and look for new strategies to improve their (often diverse) skills. Focus during playing is music related or connected with communication rather than the self. Experts reflect on their performances and decide on what strategies are working and which ones need adjusting. They have trust in their methods, strategies and ability to continue to develop them.
Described below are two extremes of the self-regulation spectrum and a description of how an expert tends to behave in terms of self-regulation.
Self-Regulated Learning Cycle Phases (McPherson & Zimmerman, 2011) Reprinted from Zimmerman & Campillo (2003).
The construct of self-regulation refers to the degree that individuals are metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviourally active participants in their own learning (Zimmerman, 1994).
SRL has been found to be one of the most important qualities that lead to efficient and effective learning and performance for musicians (McPherson & Zimmerman, 2011; McPherson, Miksza & Evans, 2017), and has been found to be a more reliable predictor of achievement than amount of weekly practice (Bonneville-Roussy & Bouffard, 2015). SRL helps musicians to assess their technical, musical, psychological and metacognitive strengths and weaknesses; formulating appropriate goals and developing practice routines; having good awareness whilst playing and using and adapting strategies for practicing, performance preparation and performance as well as to reflect well after a practice process or performance in order to plan the next one (Hallam, 1994; 1997; Jørgensen 2004; 2009). In addition to improving skill and task development and performance skills, musicians who use SRL strategies have been found to be better at time management (Hallam 2000; Sloboda & Davidson, 1996). Self-regulation strategies can also help to minimize stage fright.
There has been some research highlighting the links between musicians’ motivation & self-beliefs and SRL. One of the reasons musicians manage to motivate themselves to spend hours every week practicing alone is because they chose themselves to become musicians, or identify themselves with being a musician McPherson, Davidson & Faulkner, 2012; McPherson & Zimmerman, 2011). When teachers provide choice about what to learn as well as what methods to use they can improve the student’s motivation as well as task development (Evans, 2015; Davidson & Evans, 2016; Renwick & McPherson, 2002).
Studies by McPherson & Davidson (2002) and McPherson (2009) found links between intrinsic motivation and self-regulation in children. Parental support was found to be an important help for young children as long as it supported the child’s autonomy. The development of self-regulation strategies in children and teenagers has been found to be a strong determinant of whether they go on to become accomplished musicians (McPherson, 2005; McPherson Davidson & Evans 2016). For children, intermediate musicians as well as advanced musicians, self-efficacy and self-regulation was found to be even more important predictor for a successful performance than the amount of practice (McCormick & McPherson, 2003; McPherson & McCormick, 2006; Miksza, 2015; Bonneville-Roussy & Bouffard, 2015)
Teaching SRL: a study
Miksza, Blackwell, Roseth and Cole (2016) conducted an intervention where students learned about self-regulation theory and applied it to their own practice. The results showed that students became more aware of their self-regulation and how to steer it. They learned how to improve their ability to set appropriate goals, plan practice and deliberately execute strategies. Correlations were found showing that supporting autonomy leads to more engagement, and suggestions that autonomy support needs to be tailored to each student.
Most of the research in self-regulation is in the academic and motor-learning fields. There is a growing interest in the field of music and much evidence that concur with the general findings: that self-regulation is a determinant for successful learning and performance and that there is an important correlation between self-regulation and motivation and self-belief.
Practice needs to be explorative and involve many strategies and tools. Having more than one or two ways of practicing something, enhances learning: musicians benefit from having a toolbox with methods and strategies both collected from lessons and peers as well as ones they created and customised themselves. It is important to understand what is being learned and think about, construct and try out ways of going about it. Rather than regarding a piece of repertoire, a skill or one’s instrument or body as something that needs to be conquered and controlled, one could seek to become more familiar with it: getting to know it rather than solving it (Williams, 2017).
Since most of a musicians’ learning is done alone, the practice room can be best thought of as a place for self-learning (Jørgensen, 2004). Jørgensen (2004, p. 85) compares self-regulation to self-teaching and describes three categories that are similar to Zimmerman’s model:
- Planning and preparation of practice
- Execution of practice
- Observation and evaluation of practice
Listed below are strategies organized into the above categories.
1. Planning and preparation strategies
Making accurate assessments of one’s strengths & weaknesses
Setting goals for a practice session or period. This is in itself a skill and involves knowing what needs to be done next and how one can tell when the task is completed.
Designing practice routines and schedules, including warming up and being in a focused frame of mind
Scheduling and time-management strategies
Analyzing a piece of music to see the structures and where the difficulties may be
2. Strategies for executing practice
The most common strategies for practice are repetition, practicing short sections (chunks) and later chaining them together, playing slowly or reducing the complexity of a piece.
Mental practice and imagery: one can develop skills as well as prepare performances using mental practice. Mental practice can be combined with physical practice for optimal results. Using Imagery during playing can help both learning and performance.
Varied practice can involves either varying one aspect of a piece, or varying the character of a piece to expand one’s technical and musical capacities.
Strategies for deepening perception and awareness during playing
Memorization strategies
Improvising around a piece or phrase to get to know it better
3. Strategies for observing and evaluating practice and performance
Collecting intrinsic feedback by e.g. self-recording as well as feedback from others, knowing how to detect errors as well as spot positive aspects of a performance or a practice process.
Strategies need to be task oriented and gradually developed over time as a student becomes more expert (Hallam, 1997). For more ideas about practice strategies and methods, see Jørgensen, 2004, Barry & Hallam, 2002, Hallam & Gaunt, 2012 & Williams 2017 as well as From Potential to Performance.
In addition to having and using various strategies for practice, it is important to have metastrategies: being able to understand things like which strategies work for specific tasks and goals and how much effort is involved.
A lot of conservatoire teaching today is still based on a traditional master-apprentice relationship that has been prevalent for more than 150 years. This approach tends to be hierarchical; information and judgement is passed on from teacher to student, who often assumes a passive role. This style of teaching has predominated since the 19th century and is now coming under criticism by leading experts in music pedagogy (e.g. McPherson et al., 2017; Jørgensen, 2000). Taking into account the fact that students are spending many hours every week alone in their practice rooms, and the research into self-regulated learning, there is a serious need for teachers and institutions to support students’ autonomy, agency and motivation and to instruct them in self-regulatory strategies. Many students themselves prefer to be told what to do rather than having to search for and explore their own strategies, methods and reasons for practicing and performing. Some express a wish for a ‘sports trainer’ type of teacher, who can supervise and steer every moment of their practice. Clearly there is a need to teach students how to steer their own learning processes and why it is important to their future success.
Metacognition refers to being able to think about one’s own thinking and strategies (Jørgensen, 2004). Students spend many hours in solitary practice and need to routinely use not only strategies but also meta-strategies (Kruse-Weber, Sari & Scaria-Braunstein, 2019). Musicians need to be able to assess their own strengths and weaknesses (Hallam, 2001); to organise their learning process; to observe, steer and reflect on their attention, awareness and thought processes; to be able to reflect on their learning process for example by noticing the effects of their goals and strategies. Metacognition can also refer to deciding upon which habits and qualities should be cultivated (not only skills & knowledge) and thinking about ways to cultivate a positive belief system.
One of the aims of teachers should be to help their students’ to learn about learning. Suggestions by Susan Hallam (2001) for teachers on what can be integrated into lessons to enhance metacognition include:
- personal strengths and weaknesses;
- assessing task difficulties;
- the selection of appropriate practising strategies;
- setting goals and monitoring progress;
- evaluating performance;
- ways of developing interpretation;
- strategies for memorisation;
- enhancing motivation;
- time management;
- improving concentration;
- performance strategies
Free won’t
Neuroscientist (Timothy Pychyl) describes research by Benjamin Libet that suggests that the concept of free will might be an illusion. According to his studies, the brain unconsciously initiates the process of a “voluntary” action just before we are consciously aware of it. A glimmer of hope is offered: we have about 150 milliseconds where we can consciously block the action or reaction that we are about to make. This small window is the key to changing behaviour and habits. This veto of conscious choice has been called “free won’t”. Exercising our “free won’t” is just another example of using metacognition.
Using a reflective journal can be an important tool – especially for the development of metacognition. It is important to offer facilitation for how to set up their journal in their own way and how to reflect. A journal should be private (Cowan, 2013).
One of the most effective tools for developing self-regulation and metacognitive skills is a well-designed reflective practice journal (McPherson et al., 2017; Kruse-Weber et al., 2019). Whereas some people enjoy documenting their goals, strategies and insights, others don’t see the relevance or can’t get themselves to get into the habit. Kruse-Weber found that although it brought benefits, having to do too much writing was seen by many students as a burden. Clearly it is important to find ways to connect to students’ intrinsic motivation and autonomy – that they will try and persevere with using and adapting a reflective journal until it is perceived as useful and can become a habit. Considering the importance of all three phases of the self-reflection framework mentioned above, an effective logbook should be structured in a way that addresses forethought & use of goals and intentions, stimulating awareness and perception during playing as well as reflection. The journal needs to provide a structure for self-regulation and at the same time be flexible enough so that each student can customise it to reflect their own identity and learning process.
There has been some research on musician’s use of reflective journals. Brown (2009) investigated how reflective journaling can help voice students’ self regulation. He found that as a result, students were more aware of strengths and weaknesses, could steer their actions better and even became better able to verbalise problems, for example about performance anxiety.
Esslin-Peard et al. (2015) experimented with first and second year classical and modern music students. By analysing their reflective essays, the researchers noticed what kinds of themes the students were focussing on and how their thinking and strategies developed over time.
Carey et al. (2017) asked first year students to use reflective journals as well as giving them a workshop about reflective practice. Results showed that the students had more autonomy, better critical thinking and were more able to engage in discussion and dialogue.
In a study on students’ use of reflective journals, Kruse-Weber et al. (2019) implemented a project to facilitate students’ development of reflective practice in Graz University, Austria. Students were asked to keep a weekly journal and received feedback in order to improve their reflective skills. As a result, the students were more conscious of their learning process, were better at self-regulation, and open and able to change. Kruse-Weber points out the importance of giving theoretical knowledge as well as ways to apply it into their own practice. Some students had difficulty reflecting, and in making time for reflective writing, though for most this improved over time.