Musical Excellence Strategies and Techniques to Enhance Performance

by Williamon, Aaron

• ISBN13: 9780198525349
• ISBN10: 0198525346
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-08-26
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Musical Excellence offers performers, teachers, and researchers, new perspectives and practical guidance for enhancing performance and managing the stress that typically accompanies performance situations. It draws together, for the first time in a single collection, the findings of pioneeringinitiatives from across the arts and sciences. Specific recommendations are provided alongside comprehensive reviews of existing theory and research, enabling the practitioner to place the strategies and techniques within the broader context of human performance and encouraging novel ways ofconceptualizing music making and teaching. Part I, Prospects and Limits, sets out ground rules for achieving musical excellence. What roles do innate talent, environmental influences, and sheer hard work play in attaining eminence? How can musicians best manage the physical demands of a profession that is intrinsically arduous, throughout acareer that can literally span a lifetime? How can performers, teachers, and researchers effectively assess and reflect on performance enhancement for themselves, their colleagues, and their students? Part II, Practice Strategies, presents approaches for increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of practice. These are examined generally for the individual and ensembles and specifically for the tasks of memorizing, sight-reading, and improvising music. Musicians spend vast amounts of time andenergy acquiring and refining their skills, but are there particular rehearsal strategies that they can employ to produce better performance results or to achieve the same results more quickly? What implication does existing knowledge of human information processing and physical functioning have formusical learning and practice? Part III, Techniques and Interventions, introduces scientifically validated methods for enhancing musical achievement, ordered from the more physical to the psychological to the pharmacological; however, they all address issues of both mental and physical significance for the musician.Collectively, they stand as clear evidence that applied, cross-disciplinary research can facilitate musicians' strive for performance excellence. Throughout, the book highlights ways for musicians to make the most of their existing practice, training, and experience and gives them additional tools for acquiring and developing new skills. Each chapter is underpinned by physical and psychological principles relevant to all performancetraditions that demand dedication and resilience, unique artistic vision, and effective communication.

Table of Contents

Contributors	xi
Part I Prospects and limits
A guide to enhancing musical performance	3	(16)
Aaron Williamon
General perspectives on achieving musical excellence	19	(22)
Roger Chaffin
Anthony F. Lemieux
Managing the physical demands of musical performance	41	(20)
Christopher B. Wynn Parry
Measuring performance enhancement in music	61	(24)
Gary E. McPherson
Emery Schubert
Part II Practice strategies
Strategies for individual practice	85	(20)
Harald Jorgensen
Strategies for ensemble practice	105	(18)
Jane W. Davidson
Elaine C. King
Strategies for memorizing music	123	(20)
Jane Ginsborg
Strategies for sight-reading and improvising music	143	(20)
Sam Thompson
Andreas C. Lehmann
Part III Techniques and interventions
Physical fitness	163	(16)
Adrian H. Taylor
David Wasley
Alexander technique	179	(18)
Elizabeth Valentine
Physiological self-regulation: Biofeedback and neurofeedback	197	(24)
John H. Gruzelier
Tobias Egner
Mental skills training	221	(26)
Christopher Connolly
Aaron Williamon
Feedback learning of musical expressivity	247	(24)
Patrik N. Juslin
Anders Friberg
Erwin Schoonderwaldt
Jessika Karlsson
Drugs and musical performance	271	(20)
Robert West
Epilogue: A note on future directions for enhancing musical performance	291	(2)
Aaron Williamon
Index	293