Title:  Audiation  and  Mental  Imagery:  Implications  for  Artistic                              Performance    Author(s):  William  H.  Trusheim    Source:  Trusheim,  W.  H.  (1991,  Spring  &  Summer).  Audiation  and  mental  imagery:  Implications  for  artistic  performance.  The  Quarterly,  2(1-­‐2),  pp.  138-­‐147.  (Reprinted  with  permission  in  Visions  of  Research  in  Music  Education,  16(2),  Autumn,  2010).  Retrieved  from  http://www-­usr.rider.edu/~vrme  

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Audiation and Mental Imagery:Implications for Artistic

PerformanceBy William H. Trusheim

Pequannock Township High SchoolPompton Plains, New Jersey

Edwin Gordon coined the term "audia-tion" to describe the ability to recall orcreate a mental image of the sound in

the mind's ear in response to rememberedmusical patterns and, later, in response toprinted notation. Gordon (1977, 1989)chooses not to use the term "image" because,for him, it connotes a visual representation.The product of audiation, however, is clearlya mental imagery experience in the form ofan auditory or aural image.

This article explores audiation from amental imagery perspective and illustratesways in which audiation, as well as mentalimagery experiences in other sense modali-ties, is used in the performance process byleading orchestral brass players. Theseillustrations are drawn from an ethnographicstudy (Trusheim, 1987) that used informantsto explore mental imagery experiences whichcontribute to superior musical performance.

Mental Imagery: HistoricalBackground

Some background in the field of mentalimagery will provide a framework for anunderstanding of audiation as an imageryprocess and its potential role in musicalperformance. This section will briefly outlinea variety of imagery characteristics, experi-ences, and abilities, and will provide somebasic information about mental imagery andits relationship to music.

Interest in the phenomenon of mentalimagery dates back to the earliest psycho-logical investigations of Galton (1880), whocompared the nature of imagery experiencesand abilities in scientists, normal adult males,and schoolboys. Research in mental imagery

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flourished until the rise of behaviorism inpsychology caused a waning of interest ininner mental processes which could only bestudied subjectively by "self-report" meas-ures.

With the current interest in cognitivepsychology, imagery is again in the vanguardof psychological research. Richardson offers

"The responses of the brassartists suggest that their au-diation processes go far be-yond tonal and rhythm pat-terns .... They hear a com-plete rendition of the pas-sage in terms of tone color,volume, and nuance."

the classical definition of imagery in hisseminal work on the subject. He definesmental imagery as:

(1) all those quasi-sensory or quasi-perceptualexperiences of which(2) we are self-consciously aware and which(3) exist for us in the absence of the stimulusconditions that are known to produce thegenuine sensory or perceptual counterparts, and(4) may be expected to have different conse-quences from the sensory or perceptualcounterparts (1969, pp. 2-3).

Mental images can be experienced in anyof six sensory modalities - visual (sight),auditory (sound), kinesthetic (movement),

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tactile (touch), olfactory (smell), and gusta-tory (taste). Practically speaking, an exampleof a gustatory image would be mentallyexperiencing the taste of biting into a lemon.The measure of the strength of this imagewould be the production of saliva in re-sponse to the image rather than the actualsensory event (see Richardson, 1983).

Gordon associates the term "image" withvisual perception only, warns against the useof the term "aural imagery," and states "touse the term 'aural imagery' is to suggest aprocess that deals with notation, a processthat involves seeing and not necessarilyhearing" 0989, pp. 8-9). Audiation as aprocess is analogous to visualization. Theproduct of visualization is a visual image,and the product of audiation is an auralimage (see Walters, 1989, for a more com-plete discussion of this analogy). Gordon'sconcern is that the visual connotation of theword "image" would cause a misunderstand-ing about the product of audiation.

Research in Mental ImageryGordon's assumption, however, is not

consistent with the research in the field ofmental imagery. The mental imagery litera-ture does not place a visual boundary on theterm "image." Based on Richardson's defini-tion, images can arise from any sensory orperceptual experience. It is logical toassume that the mind encodes these experi-ences in the sense modality of the originalstimulus. The recall of that experience isalso likely to occur as a mental representa-tion (image) in the same sense as the origi-nal. Hearing with the mind's ear is just aslikely as seeing with the mind's eye. As onemight expect, musicians often experienceimages in the auditory domain; but visual,kinesthetic, and even tactile images cancontribute in special ways to performance.

As with any human ability, imagery skillsvary greatly according to individual differ-ence, and this variation occurs in terms ofvividness (the clarity or strength of theimage), controllability (an individual's abilityto control or manipulate the images), andfluency (the ability to recall or create a largenumber of images). Individuals may also beprone to experience images more strongly

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and frequently in one or another of the sixsenses. Multi-sensory images are alsocommonly experienced. Imagery is anability that can be developed through use,and the conscious application of one'simagery ability can result in increases in allof the above-mentioned variables.

Richardson (1983) identifies four majortypes of images-the after-image, eideticimage, memory image, and imaginationlinage. The me mory image and imaginationimage are probably the most frequentlyexperienced by musicians, and, interestingly,Gordon's seven types of audiation (1989) fallinto these two categories. The memoryimage is "the common and relatively familiarimage of everyday life. It may accompanythe recall of events from the past, theongoing thought processes of the present, orthe anticipatory actions and events of thefuture" (Richardson, 1969, p. 43).

Gordon's Type 4 and Type 5 audiationinvolve the recall of memory images frompast experiences with the musical material.Imagination imagery can be differentiatedfrom memory imagery by the qualities ofnovelty, substantiality, and color. Imagina-tion images can arise from novel recombina-tions of memory images and can differ indetail and vividness from the simple recall ofa past sensate experience. Composers andperformers engage in imagination imagery asthey create music in their minds throughcomposition, improvisation, and interpreta-tion. Gordon would classify these imagina-tion imagery experiences as Type 6 and Type7 audiation.

Documentation of imagery experiences bycomposers has been gathered from manysources (see Agnew, 1922; Cowell, 1926;Sessions, 1970; and Khatena, 1984). Schu-mann, Mozart, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, Wagner,and Brahms all wrote about their imageryexperiences and compositional strategies.Mozart states that his compositions werealready finished in his mind and that "itrarely differs on paper from what it was inmy imagination" (quoted in Agnew, 1922,pp. 283-284). Memory and imaginationimages are often part of the normal composi-tional process used by many composers (seeBennett, 1976, and Nass, 1984). Composers

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often work out compositional problems intheir minds through the recall of memoryimages and the creation of imaginationimages, creating their work in the mind's earprior to committing it to paper. A character-istic comment is offe red by Sessions:

The aural imagination is simply the working ofthe composer's ear, fully reliable and sure of itsdirection as it must be, in the service of acompletely envisaged conception. The concep-tion, developed in consequence of musicalideas with which the composer started out, isthe premise of everything that happens in thework which he is composing 0970, p. 110).

The imagery experiences or these compos-crs rall into IWOcategories. The first of thesedeals entirely in sound, involving the audia-(ion or note and rhythm patterns, insirumcn-tal textures, and other nuances of the workhc:ing composed. The second categorywould he consistent with Cordon's "1101.:1-

Iional aucliation" 09R9) and would involvehearing the piece in connection with or inresponse 10 written musical notation. ForIn,IIlY composers, imagery experiences inboth categories wou ld he synthesized into aprocess or working out compositionalproblems in the mind's car, consistent withtypes 6 and 7 lrorn Cordon's typology.

Imagery is also experienced and used byperformers in a variety or practice, rehearsal,and performance situations. Like composers,performers recall or create aural images andLise them in specific ways to enhancedifferent aspects of their performance, Whilethe .rudiation of note and rhythm patternswould certainly he used to build consistency,note accuracy, .mcl musiral understanding;performers also llse audiation in the develop-ment of tone or timbre as well as for musicalexpression and interpretation. In addition,players use imagery strategies in a variety ofsensory domains in order to make practiceserve as a surrogate for actual performancethrough their development and use of mentalrehearsal techniques.

Since Gordon's work is primarily devotedto musical learning by students at earlystages of their musical development, hisfocus is on the use of audiation in theacquisition of syntactical understanding ofmusical material. While it is clear that

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performers at an advanced stage of musicalsophistication have already acquired thissyntactical understanding, research indicatesthat such performers continue to find im-agery useful in the refinement of theirconcept of timbre, musical expression andinterpretation, and mental rehearsal.

Imagery Use by Elite Brass PlayersThis discussion is based on a research

project (Trusheim, 1987) which studied theuse of imagery by eminent orchestral brassplayers in five major American symphonyorchestras - the Baltimore Symphony, theBoston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony,the New York Philharmonic, and the Phila-delphia Orchestra Twenty-six musiciansfrom the brass sections or these orchestraswere interviewed facc-to-tacc to explore thepotential importance or mental images andimagery .-;Ir:ttegic:s in hrass pcrfonna nee.This grollp or musicians represent the elite ofthe brass playing community. Several orthese players arc: generally considered to beUK: best in the world, and all could I)l'considered "world-class" performers. Theresponses of these IJra.-;sartists and tilesubsequent results of analysis arc illustrativeor the significance of audiation and otherimagery experiences in performance.

The actual interview process focused oneight broad areas of iilwgcry used by brassplayers. These areas, or topics, were idenri-rieel through a study of recent mcihodologi-c:al literature in brass performance (seeWeast, 1979; Johnson, 191:)]; Severson &McDunn, 1<)8/1;Ristad, 1<)82; Dale, 1965; andBll.~h, 1962) and included Background andTraining, the Mentor-Student Relationship,the Warm-Up Process, Development of ToneProduction (or "Concept" of Tone), MusicalExpression and Interpretation, Conductor'sImagery, Mental Rehearsal, and the Reduc-tion of Performance Anxiety. Each interviewwas tape-recorded and later transcribed fordetailed analysis. The responses of eachbrass artist were coded for imagery-relatedstatements, and the responses of the entiresample were analyzed to identify commontrends as well as unique or novel imageryexperiences or strategies within each topic.

Because of limitations in the scope of thisdiscussion, the focus will be narrowed to

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imagery issues which most depend upon aplayer's ability to evoke a vivid aural imageof the sound to be produced-Tone Produc-tion, Musical Expression and Interpretation,and Mental Rehearsal. Significant imageryexperiences in sensory domains other thanthe auditory will also be included as appro-priate to the discussion. The findings of thisstudy support the notion that aural imagery(the product of audiation), as well as imageryin sense modalities other than the auditory, iscentral to artistic musical performance.

Tone Production or "Concept" ofSound

"Concept" is used by brass players todenote some kind of mental representationof the sound character or timbre of theirinstrumental performance. This "concept"appears to consist of an aural image of thesound (although for some players, the mentalrepresentation is multi-sensory), verbaldescriptions that refer to certain soundqualities, musical knowledge, and a store-house of prior listening and performingexperiences.

The earliest stage in this process is thecultivation of the ability to audiate anidealized sound or timbre. This idealizationoccurs through the accumulation of a widevariety of listening and performance experi-ences and is an ongoing process. Onesource of this image might be the influenceof a mentor or master teacher as reported byone of the trombonists in the study:

I can hear his sound and I can hear his voice.. I can hear it vividly ... , I consider aspects of

his sound and playing to be sort of the HolyGrail that you're trying to reach for. (DY)

The majority of players build this aurallinage from a wide variety of sources whichare primarily listening experiences. Theseexperiences come from a storehouse ofmemory images which starts to accumulatefrom a player'S earliest musical experiences.Players then pick and choose those experi-ences that seem appropriate and desirableand construct an aggregate of how they wantto sound. Two characteristic responsesillustrate this idea:

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I think as the years have progressed, I'mdeveloping more my own aural concept at thistime which is a combination of everything I'veheard. (PS)

I think that each of us has to develop anindividualized and very specific image of howwe want to sound .. , . I think that each personneeds to take a little from here, a little fromthere, and wrap things up into an individualizedpackage that says "this is the way I would liketo hear my horn playing." eRG)

For the majority of players the aural imageapproaches their own ideal sound in vivid-ness, clarity. Players audiate their idealtimbre in complete detail, capturing all thenuances of instrumental timbre:

It's not simply just the color or the beauty, it'sthe clarity of attack, the evenness of slurs. andthe ability to change registers and dynamics.(Ve)

]\0( just the pitch of the note, but the dynamic,the intensity, the length-all the things that areinvolved. (eS)

The process is dynamic and ever-changing,subject to each and every musical experiencethe player has. When a listening or perform-ing experience is particularly meaningful, theplayer'S concept may undergo renovation toinclude some new aspect of performance.The following comment illustrates this point:

As soon as you get to the point where you canproduce your ideal, you'll go to a concert andyou'll hear somebody do something-a littleaspect of something, and you'll go back [to thepractice room] and you can't do it. The idealjust went up' (WD)

This attitude was echoed by many of theplayers, indicating that the development of anideal is surely a process which is "always openfor renovation." (RG)

The next stage occurs as the stored imageof instrumental timbre is audiated and usedas a guide in actual playing. Audiationserves as a guide not only in producing thecorrect passage in terms of note and rhythmaccuracy, but also in producing specific tonequalities or effects. One of the tuba playersin the study asserts that the mental image or

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"concept" is a replete version of the musicalproduct that is used as the driving forcebehind actual performance, This playerconsiders the aural image to be the stimulusfor the production of the musical product:

We have to be very musical in the head, Theability you call imagery is the ability to conceivesound that has to come out in terms of-insteadof vocal chord activity in the larynx, we do it byvocal chord activity in the trumpet, (AJ)

Another player makes a similar assertionabout the importance of the use of audiationas a guide to playing:

I like to use the slogan, "111emusic plays me,"The music that I have inside my head is whatplays the horn and that's what guides theproduct that comes out. eRG)

The following comment describes astrategy which this player uses to accomplishthis goal:

I would find a room in the music building, , , Iwould turn the lights off and I would just playsingle notes, going for the sound I had in myhead, , , , I would listen for the characteristicsthat I considered ideal, and gradually, withouthying to force it to happen, got closer andcloser to that. (RG)

Time spent audiating the "ideal" soundseems to directly influence the production ofthe sound as one plays the instrument. Oneplayer suggests that "if you want to play thenote louder, then hear it louder and then themental side will tell the physical side what todo" (AJ), The responses of these brass artistssuggest that the auc!iation process that theyuse goes far beyond tonal and rhythmpatterns, As they audiate, they hear acomplete rendition of the passage in terms oftone color, volume, and nuance, Thisprocess utilizes Gordon's Type 4 audiationinvolving the recall of both memory andimagination images,

Some players find that the mental repre-sentation of their ideal sound has a visual,kinesthetic, or spatial aspect for them,Several players think of their timbre in termsof a triangle, or pyramid, The followingcomment explains this thinking:

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I think of sound as being sort of triangular orpyramid-shaped, and the broadest part of thatpyramid or triangle is the resonating point ofthe instrument. For me, the concept of thattriangle or pyramid-depending on whetheryou're looking at it two-dimensionally or three-dimensionally-establishes getting the sound tobe broad and focused on as much fundamentalor overtones in the sound, (CS)

Another player recalls an experience hehad as a young musician when he practicedin an open field, projecting his sound acrossa large open space, Besides helping himbuild specific characteristics in his sound, hecan vividly recall those youthful experiencesto this day, imagining qualities of space andshape in his timbre, Yet another playervisualizes his sound projecting the shape ofhis trumpet bell to fill the entire concert hall:

I try to spread the sound out following thecontour of the bell so the sound is as broad asthe concert hall. (CS)

Two players in the study report experienc-ing sound in terms of specific colors, Thisconcept is congruent with "chromesthesia" or"colored hearing" in response to a musicalpassage:

I love the idea, the thought of color. There'sthe shadings of color from vivid to pastel toopaque, And then different colors seem tohave different kinds of reactions, , , .There areall kinds of things going on mentally while I'mplaying, It's not uncommon that I woule! minkof colors and actually see them [while playing],(WK)

This player experiences color and associ-ates color with the musical content of apassage, This is a secondary associationwhich may deepen the musical experience,He encourages his horn students to use thisapproach as a tool in their playing, One ofthe trombone players in the study actuallyvisualizes his ideal sound in terms of colorperception:

Sounds do have actual colors, , , , the idealtrombone sound-you know, mat nice shinybronze or shiny gold-not too gold-not a dullgold-has to have that shiny edge which willbe the projection that I have, (NB)

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Several horn players in this study speak ofthe visual and kinesthetic image of actually"throwing" their sound into the audience toconquer the inherent projection problems ofthe horn. Another horn player in the studyuses a tactile image of "stickiness" to pro-mote legato playing on the horn. The imageused is one of notes sticking together topromote continuity in the phrase. He furtherenhances this image by imagining that hisfingers are sticking to the valves of the horn.The variety and scope of the images used bythese brass artists is remarkable, indicatingthat they are willing to use any musical orreal-life experience that seems relevant totheir performance.

It is obvious that these players havedeveloped a very strong aural concept whichis important in guiding their tone productionin practice, rehearsal, and performance.Their imagery may be auditory in nature, orit may be associated with sensations orperceptions in other modalities. They hearinstrumental timbre in their mind's ear anduse it regularly as part of their performanceprocess.

Musical Expression andInterpretation

This study dealt with musicians who areinterpretive performance artists participatingin an ensemble. The issue of musicalexpression and interpretation for themreaches clearly into the "aesthetic" of musicalperformance. Interpretation of the orchestralliterature is personalized and individual foreach player. Many of these players utilizeaudiation and visualization to build thispersonalized interpretation from a widevariety of sources.

These findings illustrate ways in whichaudiation can be used to refine expressionand nuance. Because of the advancedmusical abilities of the players who partici-pated in this study, it must be assumed thatthey possess the ability to audiate the tonaland rhythmic patterns of the passages thatthey perform. The comments relevant tomusical expression and interpretationindicate that they also audiate and visualizeother characteristics of these passages inorder to add understanding, depth, and

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meaning to their performance. This repre-sents ground which is not covered byGordon in the practical application ofaudiation in his music learning theory.

Many players use a generalized imagery asthey practice or rehearse expressive issues.These players form images from a variety ofsources, manipulate them in their mindsthrough imaging strategies, and externalizethe resulting image in some way in theirplaying. This approach is congruent with the"iii Framework," a model developed byRosenberg (1987) to describe the role ofimagery in the artistic process. Playersidentify the primary sources of these imagesto be the actual musical content of a piece,prior personal experiences deemed to berelevant to the piece, and extra-musicalassociations based on the programmaticcontent of a work as supplied by the com-poser or from the player's own imagination.Once the image is recalled from memory,players review a passage in their minds:

... to clarify a phrase. I'll go over it and I'llthink about it many times and then .... I'll tryto realize [on the instrument] what I've arrivedat in my mind. (PK)

Imaging strategies allow players to tryoutdifferent interpretive ideas prior to actuallyplaying the passage. One of the hornplayers comments on the approach that heuses as he practices. He uses a combinationof actual and imaginary playing to arrive at apersonalized interpretation of the work he ispracticing:

That's essentially what I'm doing betweenplayings too. With the horn in my lap, I'mhearing the phrase and thinking about doing itin a different fashion. (RG)

Through the imaging process, manipula-tion of various aspects and nuances oftempo, phrasing, dynamics, articulation,intensity, and tone color build what amountsto an imagination image which serves as atemporary "ideal" interpretation for thatpassage. Most players audiate as they dothis, dealing directly in the sound of thepassage. According to Gordon's typology,these players would engage in both Type 2

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and Type 4 audiation-responding tomusical notation and also recalling retainedimages from memory. Some players reporthaving an inventory of sounds which can berecalled as the playing situation demands:

It's hard now to think about my sound. per se. Ithink about the sound that I want for a particu-lar kind of effect. I always have a mental imageof what I want to sound like-many differentsounds ... but I don't think of the same things,or the same sounds, or the quality of color, orwhatever, when I play Mahler as I do when Iplay Haydn. (DC)

The importance of this approach is that byaudiating the appropriate sound or style, aplayer can facilitate the changing of timbreand interpretation in actual performance.Gordon would consider this to be high-levelaudiation in that the player would be audi-ating a given passage in relation to otherpieces or styles which have been previouslyretained. Gordon identifies this as Stage 5audiation (see Gordon, 1988, pp. 14-17 for acomplete discussion of these stages).

Images that players deem to be importantin issues of interpretation are not alwaysaural. Some players also cultivate kinestheticimages or movements as related to the musicthat they are to perform:

A lot of times, I'll think movement too-I mean,how would my body move to this, you know.If Iwere going to dance to this, how would mybody move? And therefore, I can see themovement before I play this thing. (WD)

Visual images can also help players inbuilding an outline of a passage or an entirepiece. One of the players visualizes a piecein terms of a road map and uses this to helphim externalize his interpretation:

The notes on the page are like a road map andyou just give an aural representation of that-how the map looks. You have lines in differentcolors, and it shows the roads and where theycurve. (CS)

This player sees musical form and phrasestructures as the route that a compositiontakes. He realizes that in performing thepiece, nuances of expression are likely to bedifferent, just as the scenery might change

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along the route:

... and every day, you make the same trip,though it may take longer sometimes, or it maytake less time. The scenery is going to bedifferent depending on what time of year it is.Sometimes, the cows are out in the field, andsometimes they're next to the fence. So youhave to report, you know, as you're driving.(CS)

This comment recognizes that, for theinterpretive musician, the essence of expres-sion is the addition of a personalized view-point to the written part and that this per-sonal expression may be different each timethe piece is played. This visualization of thestructure of the piece is important for thisplayer in his musical expression.

For many players, the issue of interpreta-tion goes beyond the simple matching of asound that is audiated in the mind's ear.These players make a wide variety of multi-sensory associations based on their percep-tion of the content of a piece of music. Thiscontent may be programmatic in nature, or itmay be an imaginal association which theplayer has made in response to the musicalcontent of the piece. Sometimes, by recall-ing a memory or imagination image of oneof these associations, players can evoke amood or atmosphere which becomes part ofthe substance of musical expression forthem, giving them an added level of inspira-tion in their playing. One player commentsthat:

Everypiece we play has some [connectionllikethat. And if you haven't had something definitein your background for it, you have to substi-tute something from your imagination. I don'tthink any of us would be playing in a grouplike this if we didn't have that kind of resource.CAB)

He goes on to give a specific example ofthis phenomenon from his own personalexperience which he considers a vitalresource in his playing:

So when I play, for instance, in the slowmovement of the Mahler-[he singsl-all I'mthinking of is that marvelous feeling the veryfirst time I played that with Bruno Walter upthere. I can see that man up there and I can

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get back that feeling.... You've got to havesomething there to feed into you to tell a story.(AH)

Mental RehearsalA great majority of players regard mental

rehearsal as a useful tool in practice andperformance situations. Perhaps the mostsignificant point here is the way that musi-cians use their imagination to make practicea surrogate for performance. One of themost convincing statements on this issue wasmade by a horn player who said "I neverpractice, I only perform" (DC). What hemeans by this is that he plays his best whenunder the stress of actual performance, so heviews practice as an extension of the per-forming atmosphere.

The use of mental rehearsal falls into twocategories-spontaneous and controlled.Spontaneous mental rehearsal occurs whenthe image of a piece to be played enters theconscious thought of the player without anattempt on the player's part to evoke theimage. This can occur at any time depend-ing on the player. The following comment isillustrative of this phenomenon:

At times, I've awakened in the morning thinkingof some passage-the first thing I thought ofwas playing the passage and how to do it-thefingerings-and that stays with you during theday.... Sometimes you get wrapped up in it,but it does happen, and it does help. (DM)

Once the image of a piece rises to con-sciousness, the player can decide to eitherdismiss it, or to use it as an opportunity formental rehearsal. When players decide toapply mental rehearsal techniques to thisimagery occurrence, they find it has potentialvalue in their playing:

It is valuable to imagine through a thing-sometimes sort of half practicing-by doing thearriculation with the instrument or maybe doingsome other movement-maybe moving thebody like dance ... something to help loosenthings up and make it a little different in someway. (DF)

In controlled mental rehearsal, playersconsciously audiate a passage to be per-formed in order to try out some interpretiveidea or work on technical problems involved

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with the passage. The majority of the playersthat were interviewed utilized some con-scious form of mental rehearsal as part oftheir practice regimen. For some, mentalrehearsal simply means evoking a vividimage of the music end product:

Mymental rehearsal is primarily the musicalmessage. I always conceive a certain sound.what comes out of the bell should be a mirrorimage of your concept. (AJ)

Other players use mental rehearsal tech-niques to conquer specific playing problems.Some find mental rehearsal to be particularlyhelpful in learning a new piece of music, orsomething that is "modern," or somethingthat has a high degree of intricacy withcomplex rhythms or fingering patterns:

I usually do it mentally-I read through it, Idon't play it on the trumpet .... I study throughit a lot of times and just imagine the fingerings.

.. I work on it that way in advance of actuallyplaying it. 111atmakes a big difference on thatkind of music especially. (DT)

This comment is congruent with Gordon'snotational audiation-Iooking at the printedmusic and audiating the proper end result.Another common technique which involvesthe audiation is the development of theability to hear mentally the piece as a wholeduring practice:

I can't playa symphonic passage anymorewithout hearing the orchestra. The sound ofwhat is going on in the rest of the orchestra isalways in my imagination. eYe)

If I played the opening to "Pictures" Iwouldhear the opening couple of bars by myself, butthen Iwould hear the whole brass section inthe third and fourth bars. So I never playedalone. (YP)

Several players comment on audiatingconnecting passages and interludes as theypractice. This helps them prepare for thenext entrance as well as to promote continu-ity in the piece. One of these players states:

Hearing, while you're playing, all the otherparts going on in your head so that you're norjust listening to yourself, but you're training

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yourself to think of what else is happening.You're hearing the whole picture ... you've gotto play the interlude too-sing it through inyour mind. (PS)

Another important issue in mental re-hearsal is the use of visualization or othermulti-sensory images to recreate the perform-ance environment in the practice studio. Theplayers picture themselves in the concerthall, playing before an audience. One playercomments about the importance that thiscould have for students, even more than fora more seasoned orchestral musician:

Some students have a tendency to get used toplaying for the four walls of their practicestudio and that's one of the hardest things forthem to overcome-to suddenly realize thatthey're no longer playing for those four walls,they're playing for an audience. Your thinkingprocess has to be practiced the same as yourmusic has to be practiced. If you think you'replaying in a practice room, you're going tosound like it. If you think you're playing for aperformance, you will. (WS)

One of the players uses guided imagery tohelp him prepare for special performancessuch as auditions or recitals. He recreatesthe experience as meticulously as possible inhis mind as he sits quietly in a chair. Hisimagery involves all the senses as he guideshimself through the experience. He visual-izes the performing environment, he seeshimself in that environment, and audiates incomplete detail. Incorporated in this guidedimagery is "positive imagery," which somecall "rehearsal for success" (Severson &McDunn, 1984). The following passagedescribes this player's experience withguided imagery:

I try to do it as realistically as is humanlypossible. I try to feel everything that I wouldbe feeling, but I do it in a very positive sense.try to feel very at ease playing the instrument.I'll try to feel extremely comfortable going overthe more difficult passages-having them floatout exactly the way I want them to happenmusically-hearing it-bearing the sound. (RG)

The use of mental rehearsal during per-formance can also be a significant factor inperformance. While the ability to audiatenote and rhythm patterns is an essential

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prerequisite, these players audiate passagesin complete detail moments before playingthem in performance situations. One playerspeaks of "singing along" instants beforeactually playing:

I'm almost reproducing what I'm playing in mymind. It's like I'm singing along. If I don't hearit or conceptualize it in my brain, there's noway I'm going to get it. (PL)

Another player expands on this idea andalso reports using a much more elaboratedimage in his mental rehearsal. This playeralso comments on using these techniques atvarious times relative to actual performance:

Before I play, I try to envision what I intend forit to sound like ... I try to imagine soundingjust a certain way and then try to play it thatway ... I'll do this before playing a concert or atintermission. If there's a particular passage-without playing it, I'll just sit down and try toenvision it. This could be like minutes before,or seconds before-or in terms of intermission,an hour or so before. (DM)

The general feeling among the musiciansin this sample was that mental rehearsal hastremendous potential for them, and they useit as part of their practice and performanceregimen.

ConclusionThe responses of these brass artists point

to the importance of imagery experiences intheir performance process as professionalmusicians. They have cultivated the abilityto audiate an idealized sound with a highdegree of vividness and detail. They usegeneralized imagery strategies as theypractice and perform. They form or recallimages from a storehouse of past experi-ences, manipulate these images through avariety of strategies, and create new imagina-tion images which they externalize in theirperformance. They do not perform inisolation. They draw on a wide variety ofexperiences from everyday life as well asfrom their professional training and perform-ing careers. They find relevance in all kindsof experiences and bring them into anapproach which could be called holistic.They have built up an arsenal of mental toolswhich can be called upon as needed.

Tbe Quarterly

Gordon's assertion that the ability toaudiate is a core ability that is necessary formusical understanding and learning iscertainly supported by these findings. The.ability to hear, in the mind's ear, melodic andrhythmic patterns prior to performance isessential for consistency and accuracy for.both singers and instrumentalists. This basic'imagery ability has the potential to playamuch greater role in performance as theability to audiate is refined in vividness,clarity, and detail and used as a part of theperformance process. Players at the pinnacleof achievement seem to do this naturally.Some make a more conscious effort atdeveloping and using their imagery experi-ences than others.

The literature suggests that imagery is askill that can be developed; by attending tosuch experiences that occur naturally,musicians could begin to discover an addi-tional asset in the process of performance.The development of imagery abilities in allsense modalities should be considered alongwith the development of performancetechnique and musical learning as a vital partof musical training.

The experiences of these brass artists holda number of implications for music educa-tion. Imagery strategies could certainly bebeneficial at all levels of musical learning. Ifaudiation is, as Gordon suggests, a coreability in music learning sequence, then allmusic students should work to develop theiraudiation skills. Music students should alsobe encouraged to expand their ability toaudiate into the areas of tone production andinterpretation. They should work on devel-oping vividness and clarity in their imagery.They should utilize every opportunity toenlarge their personal storehouse of musicaland listening experiences. These experi-ences are valuable resources which can beused in the refinement of their ability toaudiate in complete detail. 111edevelopmentof imagery strategies is also important andshould be incorporated in music instruction,where appropriate, by music educators andstudio teachers. Students should be encour-aged to use mental rehearsal techniques inpractice and performance to enhance theirplaying and to help them prepare for difficult

Volume II, Numbers 1 & 2

passages. Like their counterparts in themajor symphonies, music students shouldwork to develop the mental side of musicalperformance. Musical artistry truly involvesthe use of imagination-through imagery=-toguide the player in selecting the appropriatetool-either mental or physical-at theproper moment to give a convincing andartistic performance.

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