ERIC Number: EJ846850
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-7356
EISSN: N/A
The Effects of Varying Ratios of Physical and Mental Practice, and Task Difficulty on Performance of a Tonal Pattern
Cahn, Dan
Psychology of Music, v36 n2 p179-191 2008
Sixty undergraduate students who had completed at least one semester of jazz improvisation were assigned to either: (a) physical practice (PP); (b) mental practice (MP); (c) combined 66 percent PP and 33 percent MP (66%PP:33%MP); and (d) combined 33 percent PP and 66 percent MP (33%PP:66%MP) groups. Subjects were to perform a 3-1-7-5 tonal pattern over two difficulty levels of chord progressions. A pre-test, a three-minute practice session, and a post-test were performed for each progression. ANCOVA results revealed significant interaction between groups and task difficulty. Post-hoc t-test revealed superior results for both MP and 33%PP:66%MP on the easy task compared with the hard task. The four groups were collapsed into two groups: (a) PP and 66%PP:33%MP, both high in percentage of PP (HPP); and (b) MP and 33%PP:66%MP, both high in percentage of MP (HMP). Post-hoc t-test revealed a significantly superior performance of the HPP to that of the HMP on the hard task. (Contains 4 figures and 7 tables.)
Descriptors: Undergraduate Students, Music Education, Music, Performance, Drills (Practice), Physical Environment, Imagination, Comparative Analysis, Performance Based Assessment, Pretests Posttests, Patternmaking, Cognitive Processes
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A