Physical movement and imagery in professional and undergraduate student solo marimba practice

Cognitive strategies and imagery are important features of expert musical practice. Movement imagery is important for developing note-accurate marimba performance. We report findings of a study where four professional marimba players and four undergraduate student marimba players completed questionnaires regarding their practice strategies and use of imagery in performance preparation. Since pedagogical marimba practice involves developing movement imagery, each participant also completed the Movement Imagery Questionnaire (MIQ-R) to measure subjective kinesthetic and visual imagery ability. As expected, professional musicians' qualitative reports of practice were driven by cognitive strategies. The student musicians reported more regular practice habits focusing primarily on physical practice. Professional musicians reported use of imagery in practice more often than student musicians. As predicted professional musicians' kinesthetic imagery was significantly greater than student musicians'. Contrary to prediction no significant difference was observed between professional and student musicians' visual imagery. Results offer some support for a pedagogical approach to marimba playing specifically aimed at developing note-accurate performance through kinesthetic awareness and imagery.