Ear training can enhance consistency and reduce repetitive overuse injuries.

Ear training can enhance consistency and reduce repetitive overuse injuries. Problem: your student is inconsistent in performance. One solution:have them practice less. What is the logic here? Repetitive practice maynot necessarily improve things. Sometimes it produces the opposite--lessconsistency. The question is, why? Findings from neuroscience studies can provide an answer. Brainmapping studies that demonstrate motor preparation activity in thecortex confirm that images run the show. "If your golf swingisn't improving," these studies tell us, "stop swingingand start imagining it better." Swinging it wrong, each time a bitdifferently, actually deteriorates a golfer's image of a correctswing. The counterpart to visualizing in athletics is auditory"envisioning" for musicians--hearing the score accurately. Butlacking good ear-training and sight-singing skills, many students findit easier to use repetitive practicing to learn a piece. Two problems:first, practicing passages sometimes right and sometimes wrong meansmixed images are being stored in the memory banks, which interferes withdeveloping the essential muscle memory we learn to rely on. Second, asthey practice even more, there is increased risk for cumulative overusepain and injury, and the weaker their ability to hear the music, themore repetitions needed and so on. Will superb hearing guarantee perfect consistency? Of coursestudents will miss notes anyway, but imperfect hearing doesn't helpmatters. Under the pressure of live performance, confidence erodes, andwith rising uncertainty different performing images flash up. Thenanything can happen, producing those unwelcome surprises we callinconsistency. I certainly agree there is a vital role for spontaneity inperformance: when suddenly a wonderful insight flashes into aperformer's mind or a risk is worth taking that just lifts themusic to another level. But confidently knowing how a piece sounds doesnot necessarily rule out spontaneity. I believe accurate mentalpreparation can in fact liberate a performer to be more likely toexperience those precious flashes of artistic insight. Just how strongly do our mental images direct behavior? A study bythree psychologists' provides a vivid example of the effect ofrehearsed images on performance. Here is a summary of that report: "An investigation was carried out on the effect of imageryinstructions on a simple motor skill accuracy task (putting a golfball). Thirty college students were assessed and sorted into equivalentgroups for skill in putting ability, then randomly assigned to one ofthree experimental groups: A. Positive Imagery B. Negative Imagery C. Control (no special instructions)." "Subjects in the A and B groups were given identicalinstructions for imagining the backswing and putting stroke. Thesubjects were instructed to imagine the ball going into the cup.Subjects in the B group were instructed to visualize the ball narrowlymissing the cup. Subjects in the control group putted withoutinstructions." Subjects in the A group were instructed to imagine the ball goinginto the cup. Subjects in the B group were instructed to visualize theball narrowly missing the cup. Subjects in the conrol group puttedwithout instructions. Did you guess that the A group's putting improved? You wereright. But the big news was about the B group. The results: Positiveimagery produced the most improvement. The control group produced lessimprovement. The negative imagery group resulted in performance deterioration.The image directed the outcome. The message for the performer? What you hear is what you get. Haveyour students devote more time to sight singing and ear training. Ifthey have imprecise mental images, they risk undermining their potentialfor successful performance. Reinforce how important you consider this byregularly asking them to vocalize their music for you. You can reassurethem, whether vocal students or shy instrumentalists, you are not askingthem to give you an all-out Pavarotti performance. This is aboutchecking out hearing; light vocalizing, humming, even whistling will dofine. But if they reveal errors or are inconsistent, they need tounderstand they are heading into a performance with more uncertaintythan is good for them. The take-away message? Cultivating ear-training can reduce practicetime, which lessens risks for cumulative overuse pain, and willcontribute significantly to producing more confident, more musical, andmore consistently accurate performances. NOTE (1.) R. Woolfolk, M. Parrish and S. Murphy, "The Effects ofPositive and Negative Imagery on Motor Skill Performance," Journalof Cognitive Therapy and Research 9, 3, no. 6, (1985): 332-341. David J. Sternbach, a former professional hornist, has been apsychotherapist since 1983, specializing in musicians. Director of theCenter for Arts and Wellness at George Mason University, he is afrequent writer and speaker on musicians' health issues.