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REVIEW article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Performance Science
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1452179

Voluntary Musical Imagery in Music Practice: Contextual Meaning, Neuroscientific Mechanisms and Practical Applications

Provisionally accepted
Chen Meng Chen Meng 1*Geoff Luck Geoff Luck 2
  • 1 Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Central Finland, Finland
  • 2 Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain (CoE MMBB), University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Central Finland, Finland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Practice is acknowledged as a crucial facilitator for musicians to achieve performance excellence. Despite the rich literature on incorporating musical imagery intentionally to improve one's practice efficacy, limitations remain in the understanding of voluntary musical imagery (VMI) in the context of musical practice. Therefore, our aims in this review are threefold. First, we enriched the interpretation of VMI in the context of music practice through the lens of embodied cognition. Second, we integrated neuroscientific findings to elucidate how the deliberate use of musical imagery parallels physical practice in effectiveness. Third, we synthesize work on the application of VMI in enhancing musical learning from both theoretical and practical perspectives. By providing an integrated overview of voluntary musical imagery, we highlight gaps in the literature and encourage further research on 1) the impact of embodied experiences on VMI formation, 2) optimal imagery content and ratio combination to establish a personalized intervention protocol for more effective musical pedagogy, and 3) on physiological measures to access VMI effectiveness. Additionally, we highlight the crucial implications of VMI for researchers, performers, and music educators.

    Keywords: Music practice, Voluntary musical imagery, embodied music cognition, neural activation, functional equivalence, Mental Practice, Practice strategies, PETTLEP model

    Received: 20 Jun 2024; Accepted: 29 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Meng and Luck. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Chen Meng, Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, 40014, Central Finland, Finland

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.