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The growing interest in musical improvisation is exemplified by the body of literatures evidencing the positive impacts of improvisation learning on the musical apprentice’s aptitudes and the increasing presence of improvisation in Western classical concert halls and competitions. However, high-level Western classical music improvisers’ thinking processes are not yet thoroughly documented. As a result of this gap, our research addresses the following question: What strategies are implemented in the course of performance by Western classical music improvisers? To answer this question, semistructured interviews were conducted with five internationally recognized Western classical music expert improvisers. Each participant improvised, and immediately afterward, a retrospective verbal protocol with subjective aided recall data collection strategy was used to elicit the improvising musician’s strategies. After transcription, the interviews were coded and analyzed using NVivo 10 software, with a mixed (i.e., combining inductive and deductive coding) category approach. Our data revealed 46 improvisation strategies that were subsequently organized into five categories: preplanning, conceptual, structural, atmospheric and stylistic, and real time. Pedagogical implications arising from these findings are that (a) learners should be guided toward implementing various strategies and (b) the capacity to switch from one strategy to another according to the circumstances should be promoted.

Music performance anxiety affects numerous musicians, with many of them reporting impairment of performance due to this problem. This exploratory study investigated the effects of virtual reality exposure training on students with music performance anxiety. Seventeen music students were randomly assigned to a control group (n=8) or a virtual training group (n=9). Participants were asked to play a musical piece by memory in two separate recitals within a 3-week interval. Anxiety was then measured with the Personal Report of Confidence as a Performer Scale and the S-Anxiety scale from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y). Between pre- and post-tests, the virtual training group took part in virtual reality exposure training consisting of six 1-hour long sessions of virtual exposure. The results indicate a significant decrease in performance anxiety for musicians in the treatment group for those with a high level of state anxiety, for those with a high level of trait anxiety, for women, and for musicians with high immersive tendencies. Finally, between the pre- and post-tests, we observed a significant increase in performance quality for the experimental group, but not for the control group.

This research aimed to identify, describe and categorize cognitive strategies related to sight-singing within aural skills education. Using a constant comparative method, we carried out a thematic content analysis using NVivo to categorize strategies in a broad range of sources, including six interviews, five scientific publications, two professional books, and two ear-training manuals. Findings revealed 72 cognitive strategies grouped into four main categories and 14 subcategories: reading mechanisms (pitch decoding, pattern building, validation), sight-singing (preparation, performance), reading skills acquisition (musical vocabulary enrichment, symbolic associations, internalization, rehearsal techniques) and learning support (self-regulation, attention, time management, motivation, stress). Our cognitive strategy inventory provides a new framework for the study of cognitive strategies in aural skills research, and offers new insights for teachers who implement explicit cognitive strategies within their sight-singing pedagogy.

Cet article a pour objectif de proposer un cadre conceptuel visant à aider le professeur d’instrument à intégrer l’improvisation musicale à son acte pédagogique. Pour élaborer ce cadre conceptuel, nous avons d’abord effectué la recension et l’analyse de la littérature accessible sur l’improvisation musicale, en portant une attention toute particulière aux modèles théoriques et aux applications pédagogiques que nous y avons rencontrés. Cette analyse nous a permis de formuler une définition opérationnelle de l’improvisation musicale, d’identifier les effets positifs de l’apprentissage de l’improvisation musicale sur d’autres variables, de cerner les facteurs et les processus cognitifs qui entrent en jeu lors de la génération de l’improvisation musicale ainsi que de recenser les recommandations pédagogiques rencontrées dans la littérature portant sur l’improvisation musicale. Pour terminer, nous avons élaboré, à partir de la littérature analysée, un cadre conceptuel rassemblant, sous forme graphique, les connaissances permettant d’opérationnaliser l’acte d’enseigner l’improvisation musicale.This essay aims at offering a conceptual framework to help instrument teachers to include improvisation in their pedagogical practice. In order to do so, we have reviewed and analyzed the literature addressing musical improvisation, with a special focus on theoretical models and pedagogical applications. The analysis allowed us to develop a functional definition of musical improvisation, to identify its positive contribution to the learning process and to other aspects, to identify factors and cognitive processes involved in production of musical improvisation, and to inventory pedagogical recommendations found in this literature. Based on the analyzed literature, we finally developed a graphic conceptual framework, which puts together the necessary knowledge to operationalize the process of teaching musical improvisation

Developing musicians typically engage in self-regulated practicing during the time that passes between lessons with their teachers. An important aspect of self-regulated practice is the ability to identify and correct areas of development in performance in the absence of a teacher’s feedback, but the effort required to perform as well as monitor a performance represents a challenge for any learner. Videotaping the performance and watching it afterwards to fully concentrate on each task could constitute a solution to this problem. In our study, we verified how video feedback could affect the self-evaluation of intermediate-advanced musicians while practicing a new piece of music. To attain this objective, we analyzed and coded the self-evaluative comments of 16 classical guitarists while practicing. We then compared the number of coding entries in each category of a group of participants who used video feedback (n = 8) on four occasions over a period of ten practice sessions with those of a group of musicians who did not use video feedback (n = 8). Our results indicate that musicians who used video feedback modified the way they formulated their self-evaluative comments while practicing, and that these changes were more marked with higher-performing musicians.

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