Effects of Mental Practice, Physical Practice, and Knowledge of Results on Piano Performance

In this study, the author examined the effects of type of practice (physical, mental, I alternating physical/mental, and a motivational control) and aural knowledge of results on improving piano performance. Forty music education and music therapy majors participated in a pretest and posttest experiment using one of eight treatment conditions. The dependent variables were performance time, number of pitch errors, and number of rhythm errors. Results revealed that (a) all three practice conditions had significantly shorter performance times than did the control condition, (b) treatments using physical practice and alternating mental/physical practice yielded significantly shorter performance times than did the mental practice treatment alone, and (c) the physical practice treatment did not differ significantly from the alternating mental/physical practicel treatment in improving performance times. No other statistically significant differences were found among the three practice conditions.