Imagery and Movement in Music-Based Rehabilitation and Music Pedagogy

Abstract

This chapter discusses ways in which various kinds of imagery may affect movement and movement learning in two different domains, namely music-based rehabilitation and music pedagogy. While an argument can be made that movement learning is crucial in both these domains, music imagery is more commonly applied to rehabilitation settings, by creating an endogenous version of an auditory movement cue, while in pedagogy settings, imagery is generally used in a much broader sense, for instance to support music memorization or performance expressiveness. The current ideas on how imagery might be harnessed for these practical applications are considered in the light of what we know about the neural, behavioural, and cognitive correlates of imagery processes. Crucially, the way that imagery tasks are instructed, the individual differences in imagery ability, as well as level of expertise in the targeted movement should be taken into account when designing movement interventions or training programmes that involve imagery. Future directions in this budding area of research are discussed.