An exploratory study of the role of performance feedback and musical imagery in piano playing

Musicians experience various forms of sensory feedback when practising and performing. By studying the extent to which musicians rely on such auditory, visual and kinaesthetic information, insight can be gained (albeit indirectly) into the content and strength of their mental imagery for the music they play. While in previous empirical research, impaired auditory feedback has not been shown to affect performance outcome, the significance of visual and kinaesthetic feedback is less well-understood. In the current study, performance feedback was systematically removed in a repeated measures (within-subjects) design. Eight skilled pianists performed from memory under a normal condition and under three further conditions without auditory, visual and kinaesthetic feedback, one of which included tapping along with the beat of an imagined performance. Differences and similarities in the expressive timing and intensity (dynamic) microstructure were analyzed and compared across conditions. Performance consistency in both timing and intensity profiles was highest for conditions with kinaesthetic feedback, even in the absence of auditory and visual feedback. The results are discussed in relation to their implications for mental imagery and mental practising