The effects of sensory deprivations during the initial practice of short piano pieces: An experiment with four students at different academic levels

Abstract

This article discusses the effects of sensory deprivations during the initial practice of four short piano compositions in both deprivation and postdeprivation situations. Four different experimental conditions were employed: (A) deprivation of the piano, with visual decoding of the score; (B) deprivation of the piano and score, with auditory decoding of a commercial recording of the practiced composition; (C) deprivation of the sound response, with the score being decoded in a turned-off digital piano; and (D) deprivation of the score, with the recording being decoded on an acoustic piano. Four participants, all piano students, were part of the research sample: one who was taking piano classes in the university’s extension program; two undergraduate participants, a sophomore and a senior; and a student in the graduate program. Three participants managed to recreate the auditory information they did not have as a function of the condition of deprivation based on their own manipulations and aural skills. The effects of the deprivations on the four participants while practicing raised their awareness of how to use their personal skills to extract information from their practice sessions and affected their aims regarding the pieces they practiced.