The Role of Metacognitive Skills in Music Learning and Performing: Theoretical Features and Educational Implications.

Eleonora Concina

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01583

Abstract

Metacognition is a key component of musical performance. Metacognitive knowledge and skills are fundamental for musicians at all stages of their academic and professional career to allow them to structure, monitor, assess and, if needed, revise practice sessions toward specific performance goals. Research in music education has highlighted the impact that metacognition has on enhancing musical performance and the learning processes that characterize it. Expert musicians usually show a high level of metacognitive competence, which allows them to effectively self-regulate their learning activity while preparing for a performance. While professional musicians seem to have a wide range of learning strategies and skills, music students are not always aware of the importance of adopting a metacognitive approach in their learning process. In addition, the metacognitive dimension is not always explicitly addressed during music lessons, leaving students to adopt inefficacious learning strategies, or to repeatedly use sets of strategies in an incorrect manner. The aim of the current paper is to present and discuss the most recent studies on metacognition in music performance from an educational perspective that focuses on process as well as results. The role of metacognitive competence in musical activity will be discussed, first by examining the components of the metacognitive competence exhibited by expert musicians, and then by focusing on the impact of metacognition on music students’ learning. Educational implications for enhancing the learning experience of young musicians will also be discussed.

Highlights

Listening to a highly accomplished musician could lead non-musicians and novice players to believe that making music is a simple and easy task
The metacognitive dimension includes all the abilities and information needed to manage the executive strategies involved in music performance: it is fundamental for organizing musical practice, directing individual choices and efforts toward specific strategies, and promoting the effective management and monitoring of time and personal resources
Metacognition in musical performance is characterized by several components related to knowledge about the cognitive process and learning strategies (Nielsen, 1999; Hallam, 2001; Abushanab and Bishara, 2013), the abilities needed for effectively selecting and using these strategies for learning and memorizing the musical material (Nielsen, 1999; Ginsborg, 2002; Lisboa et al, 2015), and the ability to evaluate individual musical practice, learning outcomes and performance (Peynircioglu et al, 2014)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Listening to a highly accomplished musician could lead non-musicians and novice players to believe that making music is a simple and easy task. Metacognition in musical performance is characterized by several components related to knowledge about the cognitive process and learning strategies (Nielsen, 1999; Hallam, 2001; Abushanab and Bishara, 2013), the abilities needed for effectively selecting and using these strategies for learning and memorizing the musical material (Nielsen, 1999; Ginsborg, 2002; Lisboa et al, 2015), and the ability to evaluate individual musical practice, learning outcomes and performance (Peynircioglu et al, 2014) All these features are summarized by the three dimensions proposed by Benton (2014) for metacognition in music performance, namely reflecting upon the task and the individual cognitive process (self-reflection), regulating individual activity (self-regulation), and evaluating individual performance (selfevaluation). In this holistic perspective that connects emotion and cognition, the role of cognitive and metacognitive features in music education has been reconsidered, and addressed in musical pedagogy This approach highlights the need to enhance students’ musical learning processes, in terms of empowering cognitive skills, and metacognitive competence for reaching successful learning outcomes in the musical domain. According to Nielsen (1999), strategic behaviors in TABLE 1 | Summary of the main literature contributions in the research topic of music and metacognition

Managing self-regulation in collaborative practice and performance

CONCLUSION