A Phenomenological Enquiry of Perceived Mental Representations in Thematic Musical Improvisation: Case Studies of Two Professional Pianists
type: CreativeWork
description: This study presents a phenomenological enquiry of two professional music improvisers’ perceived mental representations. The notion of perceived ‘mental representations’ are recognized as having a pedagogical importance in increasing the quality of a musical performance, yet its nature and roles in music learning remain poorly understood. Although they are generally seen as conscious and quasi-perceptual experiential phenomena involving the imagination of events, objects, and settings, music scholars have found ‘mental representations’ difficult to conceptualize due to the coexistence of its different names and definitions in the literature. Synonymous terms of ‘mental representations’ also feature in several phenomenological and psychological models of referent-based musical improvisation. These include the concepts of ‘tonal imagery’ (Pike, 1974), ‘representational structures’ (Clarke, 1988), and ‘analytical representations’ (Pressing, 1988). To address this gap, the present study seeks to conceptualize the nature, formation, and roles of mental representations in the context of the musical improvisation process. An overarching research question guided the study: What characterises the nature of improvisers’ embodied perceived mental representations before, during, and after a thematic musical improvisation? The study’s qualitative methodology is positioned in constructivism and draws on the theoretical thinking of Andreas C. Lehmann and Marc Leman. In particular, this study adopts Lehmann’s (1997) theory of three necessary types of mental representations in an expert musical performance (1. the desired performance goal, 2. the production aspects, and 3. the actual performance) as a theoretical lens to understand how the improvisers’ mental representations are used. In addition, Leman’s (2010) framework of embodied approach to musical semantics is used to access and understand how the improvisers’ mental representations are formed. The research design comprised two…
abstract: This study presents a phenomenological enquiry of two professional music improvisers’ perceived mental representations. The notion of perceived ‘mental representations’ are recognized as having a pedagogical importance in increasing the quality of a musical performance, yet its nature and roles in music learning remain poorly understood. Although they are generally seen as conscious and quasi-perceptual experiential phenomena involving the imagination of events, objects, and settings, music scholars have found ‘mental representations’ difficult to conceptualize due to the coexistence of its different names and definitions in the literature. Synonymous terms of ‘mental representations’ also feature in several phenomenological and psychological models of referent-based musical improvisation. These include the concepts of ‘tonal imagery’ (Pike, 1974), ‘representational structures’ (Clarke, 1988), and ‘analytical representations’ (Pressing, 1988). To address this gap, the present study seeks to conceptualize the nature, formation, and roles of mental representations in the context of the musical improvisation process. An overarching research question guided the study: What characterises the nature of improvisers’ embodied perceived mental representations before, during, and after a thematic musical improvisation? The study’s qualitative methodology is positioned in constructivism and draws on the theoretical thinking of Andreas C. Lehmann and Marc Leman. In particular, this study adopts Lehmann’s (1997) theory of three necessary types of mental representations in an expert musical performance (1. the desired performance goal, 2. the production aspects, and 3. the actual performance) as a theoretical lens to understand how the improvisers’ mental representations are used. In addition, Leman’s (2010) framework of embodied approach to musical semantics is used to access and understand how the improvisers’ mental representations are formed. The research design comprised two…
author: Ragni, Frances
language: en
keywords: Music Improvisation, Education, Music Learning
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/900e8568-3899-4b23-ae1e-14cbb485fda1/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2018-10-20
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:14Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.30851