The effect of Mental Practice and Body Awareness on the daily practice of music students

Juan Rodes Pintor

This research investigated the effect of mental practice tools and body awareness exercises, when correctly integrated in a practice routine. This type of practice is heavily used in sports but is yet to be completely discovered by musicians. This research proposed a one-month routine which implements tools like Imagery, Visualization, External focus, and Body awareness exercises amongst others, and investigated the effect it had on Imagery abilities, motor and cognitive learning, performance anxiety and enjoyment. Eight conservatory students from different countries and instruments followed this routine for one month practicing unfamiliar pieces. The data was collected using a mixed methodology composed of personal questionnaires, logbooks and the Bett’s Questionnaire upon Mental Imagery, a tool that helped keep track of the mental abilities of the participants before, during and after the intervention. The use of different imagery and visualization exercises reflected a twofold improvement in scores according to the Bett’s QMI criteria in the vast majority of participants, even though none of the participants mentioned feeling improvements in their mental abilities in the post-intervention questionnaire. Logbooks showed fewer levels of mental and physical anxiety after performing body awareness exercises and the personal questionnaires reflected a slight improvement in practice and performance enjoyment and motivation thanks to the goal setting strategies of the routine. The findings suggest that the use of mental practice and body awareness exercises should be used more in the musician’s daily life.