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Does anyone here have good academic research references on the cognitive aspects of piano practice? I found a few studies on the relationship between hours of practice and levels of performance ability. I also found a few on "tactual (sic) perception" that I haven't read yet.

I want to make the best of my practice time and eke out the maximum amount of benefit from my time in front of the keyboard. My idea is to avail scientific findings about how the brain reacts to stimuli of a various sorts presented by a piano. Sound, touch, spatial relations, tactile learning, et al.

I had the idea today that learning the piano is related to transcription, as in touch typing. Or, perhaps it is related to the way blind people develop spatial sense. I don't need an IRB to use myself as guinea pig in some sort of cognitive study. This all may sound a bit *academic*, but I believe in science, and I believe my brain is subject to whatever laws exist that govern its training. I am a PhD student, so now you know why I am exploring this part of piano study.

Thanks.

think you will find more research on just concentration and time. Piano is too specific and the trailblazers in this area wouldn't really confine themselves to something so esoteric.

There actually is a lot of relevant research. Surely at your university you have access to electronic data bases and journal articles online, right? Go to PsycINFO and search for "piano" crossed with "performance." When you do so (as of today) you'll get 324 hits, not all of which are relevant of course, but many are. You'll find more stuff if you broaden your search to "music*" and "performance" or "practice." But I probably don't need to tell a ph.d. student how to search the literature.

In my psych of music class, I focused mostly on social psychological determinants of musical success, but one of the readings I assigned that you might find useful was:

Duke, R. A., Allen, S. E., Cash, C. D., & Simmons, A. L. (2009). Effects of early and late rest breaks during training on overnight memory consolidation of a keyboard melody. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1169, 169-172.

unfortunately most of the tests done in the music faculties are rather poor. Very small group, no control. Usually bad science all round.

The cognitive psych stuff will often be better, as those faculty have received methodological and statistical training that music faculty don't often receive. (Which is not a slam against music faculty; most psych faculty couldn't tell your lydian mode from your dorian mode. ) That's why I suggested searching the psych journal database.

MonicaK:

I found the Duke article yesterday. It is sitting on my desk right now. My Boolean search terms (music and performance and practice) in PychInfo turned up lots of neat stuff. I looked at the key words and found a track to follow on tactile acuity. Another interesting track is on neuroplasticity (how the brain changes in response to learning).

I am not interest to find out (again) that performance level is related to cumulative hours of practice, as in 10,000 hours = virtuoso. This fact(?)is not helpful to me tonight in front of my piano. I want to know exactly how to practice such that my brain reacts efficiently to the stimuli of touching and hearing the piano.

I am no expert in learning theory, but I have some idea that the brain compartmentalizes the processing of various stimuli. Sound is processed in one part of the brain while sight is processed in another. Thinking and logic in yet another. Learing the piano is a complex process requiring all of these (and probably more) aspects of cognition. It is known that learning can be subject to interference by competing stimuli. Try listening to two people talk at the same time! This is my jumping off point: how can I remove interference of competing stimuli during practice so that learning becomes efficient?

My first trial was to simply close my eyes and play a two octave scale. After relying on the bad habit of staring at my hands, the eyes closed trial was not so bad. In fact, after an hour of practice like this, it GOT EASIER to do the scale, judged by my ear in terms of mistakes, tone, and rhythm. Eyes closed screened out visual interference and permitted me to concentrate on only the tactile and aurual components. Next, I want to find a way to separate the aural and tactile components. I have a way to do this with my digital piano: I will record my play with the earphones plugged in but not on my head. This will silence the digial piano while I press the keys. I could even do this with eyes closed for total isolation of the tactile component. This will be interesting.

I can think of two books that should keep you occupied for a while.

Practicing Perfection: Memory and Piano Performance (Expertise: Research and Applications Series)
This book reviews all the basic pertinent information you need as far as the cognitive aspect is concerned and deals explicitly with piano performance.

Self-Directed Behavior
This book will guide you through principles of learning theory and teach you to apply them to everyday situations so you can make your practicing more frequent and efficient.

As far as neurology is concerned, there is little there that will be of any relevance to your practising. Learning about plasticity and brain localization of function is fascinating, but the information you glean from it will not impact your practising, except in one regard. Hands separate practice does not make your hands more independent. It has other benefits, but independence is not one of them. The reasons for this are complex, so just take my word for it.

Beyond what the two books I listed can tell you, any more advanced learning you do with cognitive psychology or learning theory will not be of much assistance (unless you intend to become a composer, in which case learning theory has a lot to say about the origins of creativity).

I highly recommend borrowing these books from a university library before you decide to purchase them, as they are very expensive.

While these findings can be interesting and even helpful, I think it's really easy to forget that music is mainly a right-brained activity. Yes, you can use your left brain for certain things, but often I think the imagination gets shorted when doing things like practicing, and I believe all learning begins in the imagination.

I think if you strive to make your practice sessions as creative as possible, you will gain much more from that than a purely left-brained approach based on findings of a study done with possibly very narrow margins or a very specific phenomenon in mind.

I'll be eager to hear what you think of this exercise. I tried to imagine playing without being able to hear myself, and I think I would be totally, irrevocably lost.

I don't mean to be rude or anything like that, but the whole idea of a left brain vs. right brain dichotomy of function is very erroneous. Contrary to popular belief, scientists do not view the brain in this fashion, and there is really no evidence to suggest they should. It is true that their are various neurological functions that seem to fall more on one side of the brain than the other (and frequently this is only seen in right handed males), but the whole notion of one side of the brain being more artistic than the other side, which is more logical, simply has no merit.

Do not feel bad, a lot of people make this mistake, and they make it precisely because the media feeds us so many reports of scientific research that is 90% of the time misinterpreted and inflated to sound more relevant than it actually is. The most famous example of this is the Mozart effect.

You are correct in one respect though, the more engaging you make your practicing the faster you will improve (there is plenty of research to support this).

Just out of curiosity what are you doing your PhD thesis on? Anyways, whatever it is, I'm sure it's interesting, have fun writing it

Painter55, what is your goal in practicing the piano? If it is to become a better pianist, then I respectfully suggest that you put more effort into learning and incorporating tried and proven practice methods. A good place to start would be Philip Johnston's Practiceopedia, which gives specific practice methods to deal with specific challenges. For a good introduction on how to concentrate better during practice and how to translate that into better performing, start with The Inner Game of Music by Barry Green.

The more academic readings you do may give you some ideas, but I doubt they will be sufficient. I am a PhD student myself, so I can imagine where you're coming from in this approach. But when you sit down at the piano, what matters is whether you are doing effective and efficient activities. Good luck and please keep us posted. Also, you might think my comments are all wrong, in which I'd love to hear about that too!

I don't feel bad, and my point still remains the same as there are certainly people who tend more toward one way of thinking than the other. I have experienced it enough in students to know this is the case. As children grow, hopefully they learn to expand their ways of thinking so that they can be both analytical when needed, and creative when needed. So if it pleases you, think of the terms "left-brained" and "right-brained" as colloquialisms like the words "sunrise" and "sunset" are (obviously the sun doesn't rise or set, but most people know this and still accept use of these words and their intended meanings).

Now that we've hopefully gotten over the issue of semantics, what do you think about the effect of creativity and imagination on practicing?

I am afraid we haven't gotten over the issue of semantics, because I suspect that my definition of creativity is different than yours. When I refer to creativity, what I mean is "the production of novel behaviour/thought." It is this sense of creativity that learning theory has a lot to say about. I may be wrong, but I think your definition of creativity is something more to the effect of "creative freedom." In other words, (and feel free to correct me on this) it is beneficial to a persons practising that they be allowed and encouraged to explore the music and the instrument. On the whole I would not disagree with a claim like this. Giving creative freedom frequently fosters a greater degree of enjoyment which which creates more engagement with the music. And mental engagement is key to effective practice. Of course though, this kind of freedom can be taken too far. Especially in the domain of classical music, a certain degree of discipline is necessary to acquire technical proficiency. As in all things, a healthy balance is required.

Going back to my definition, it is interesting to note that a persons prior learning actually effects the kind of novel/creative behaviour they can produce. For instance, when composing a work for piano a persons technical mastery and knowledge of the piano actually gives him/her a creative advantage in that they are able to utilize and draw upon (assuming their creative impulse has not been extinguished because of their prior learning experiences) a larger repertoire of behaviours than a person who lacks this technical mastery and knowledge. i.e. They have more tools in the tool box, and therefore a greater range of options when it comes to deciding what it is they will build.

Anyway, I hope that answers your question.

Polyphasicpianist:

Thanks for the book references.

I agree that understanding neurology may not be useful. However, understanding its byproduct of cognition certainly can be useful. I have isolated visual,tactile, and aurul stimuli so far in my practice routing. Removing the visual input has had an immediate impact on my tactile sensations at the keyboard. The benefits of the improvement are yet to be assessed: but I have my piano lesson tonight. Dr. B can tell me if I have made progress. Feedback. Very important part of learing!

Please expound further on the complexities of HT versus HS practice. We can take the discussion private if it proves lengthy and too pedantic for this forum.

ShiroKuro:

My goal in practicing the piano is to attain a level of proficiency sufficient to do justiice to a few of the Chopin Nocturnes.

Using tried and proven practice methods is a good idea. The problem I have with simply accepting a practice routine prima facie is that I am blind to the *reason* why it works. Acting without substantive reasons is mimickry, which leaves little room for sensible extrapolation.

Nannerl Mozart:

You asked me what my PhD dissertation. I have two possible research projects, but haven't done enough lit review to know which one my dissertation committee will approve. One topic is about organization design that supports self actualization (ala' Maslow). The other topic is on informal versus formal social networks in the workplace.

The PhD effort has shown me how to research questions using academic resources. I am applying this approach to learning the piano. I am trying to understand the cognitive features of piano practice.

There is no need to PM, I have already explained this on two other threads. It took a while for people to grasp what I was trying to say but I think we got there in the end.

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1710160/Indepence_of_hands.html

Part of the process is how many components are in "the loop".

For example, lets take you basic C maj triad, middle C, E, and G.

For a total beginner: the thought process might go something like this: OK, I recognize and know middle C, now let me remember, the lines on the treble staff are E, G, B, D, F, so I the first two lines are E and G, OK, I need to look down and find the C, then the E and the G. Got em. Now I need to form my hand to properly play all three togther. Ok, now PRESS.

Show this chord to me and I will immediately play the chord in a couple hundred milliseconds. I've seen it and played it thousands of times. Most the above neural pathways have been totally bypassed.

It would be interesting to go right to a "flash card approach". See it and play it with out necessarily knowing note names or chord names, leaving the theory, etc. for later. We all learn to talk before we can spell...

I think this might be in line with what you're talking about, although the focus is improvisation... but maybe worthwhile.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/charles_limb_your_brain_on_improv.html