You have probably heard many times that you should set goals – perhaps it was from a motivational speaker, your high school teacher, or a personal trainer at your local gym.
There is a good reason for this: literally hundreds of studies have shown that goal setting works extremely well.1,2 This has been proven in all types of domains including sport,3,4 academic learning,5 writing6… the list goes on. And music practice is no exception.7
Why are goals helpful?
Below are some of the ways in which goals help us:1,8
- Goals enhance concentration
- Goals increase effort
- Goals make you more persistent
- Goals increase feelings of satisfaction and decrease feelings of helplessness
- Goals encourage you to use appropriate strategies or develop new ones
Goal setting in music practice: proactive vs reactive practice
The learning process of music practice can be seen as a three-phase cycle:
In reactive learning, the learning process is driven by the self-evaluation phase.8 An example of reactive learning is playing through a piece without thinking about what you’re trying to achieve, and working on problematic sections as they come up. You are evaluating first rather than setting goals first.
The problem with this approach is that there is no focus (i.e. you’re trying to work on everything at the same time) and it becomes very difficult to monitor your progress. If you cannot assess your progress, you cannot know exactly what you have accomplished or what you still need to work on. Not being able to see your progress can also leave you feeling dissatisfied and frustrated.
On the other hand, proactive learning occurs when the learning process is driven by the goal setting & planning phase.8 Here is a hypothetical scenario to illustrate this: let’s say that you’re working on a piece and there is a technically tricky passage which you haven’t quite gotten yet. You decide that your goal is to master that passage. Here is a diagram of how the learning process could look:
As you can see, the learning process is a cyclical one, because you adjust your goals after evaluating.
By setting goals:
- You know exactly what you are trying to achieve before you start playing
- You can focus on specific aspects of the piece and use specific strategies
- You can self-evaluate more effectively and know that you’re progressing
How to set effective goals
Here are some of the key factors you need to consider when setting goals:
- Specificity
- Difficulty
- Long term vs short term
- Mastery vs ego goals
Specificity
Goals must be specific in order to be effective. Studies have shown that general goals such as ‘do your best’ do not improve performance.9
Examples of general goals:
✘ “Work on difficult sections”
✘ “Work on this piece”
✘ “Make it sound better”
Examples of specific goals:
(The following are quotes from studies which followed professional musicians’ practice)
- “I’m trying to teach myself to detach those notes to emphasise this syncopation”10(p59)
- “…the two big leaps in left hand in bar 67 and bar 153…I’ll have to work on those”10(p59)
- “In bars 8, 9, 10 and on I’m trying to lighten the sound up … and bring out the left hand”10(p59)
- “…to improve the phrasing, to make it more natural and flexible, more singing, but also more fluid…”11(p7)
- “…to play them with more relaxed body, with a different bow, changing some fingerings and bowings for the less physically demanding solutions…”11(p7)
- “I have to perfect my tone quality…make all changes of positions and bowings smoother and cleaner” 11(p7)
Specific goals are effective because they allow you to choose specific strategies and easily gauge your progress.
Difficulty
Moderately difficult goals have been shown to be the most effective.4 It is important that your goals are challenging but realistic and attainable.12 Goals which are too difficult and unattainable can lead to a sense of helplessness, and result in suboptimal performance.13
Long term vs short-term
Short-term goals are more beneficial than long-term goals because they give more immediate feedback.14 Long-term goals are also beneficial if they are used in combination with short-term goals because they can increase motivation and create a sense of direction. However, long-term goals on their own are not as effective.4
Mastery vs Ego (performance) goals
This is probably more applicable to your overarching goals as a musician, rather than for individual practice sessions. But I thought I’d put it here anyway because it’s extremely interesting and useful.
Goals can be categorised as one of two types: mastery goals or performance goals (also known as ego goals).15–17 I’m going to refer to them as mastery and ego goals, because I think the term ‘performance goals’ can be confusing in a musical context.
Mastery goals are those where learning is the ultimate goal. You seek to demonstrate ability by improving your own skills and learning. On the other hand, ego goals involve comparing yourself to others, and ability is demonstrated by outperforming other people.15
For example, a pianist with mastery goals will practise because they want to improve as a musician, while a pianist with ego goals will practise because they want to be better than other musicians.
Amongst musicians, mastery goals have been linked to:16
- Intrinsic motivation
- Commitment
- Higher practice efficiency
- Higher performance achievement
On the other hand, ego goals have been linked to:16
- Performance anxiety
- Intentions to quit
- Lower life satisfaction
- Fear of failure and anxiety
Ego goals can be beneficial to athletes, but they seem to have more negative effects on musicians. This is most likely because musicians are susceptible to performance anxiety.16
In summary…
- Goals are extremely important for effective, self-regulated practice.
- Goals are the most effective when they are:
- Specific
- Challenging but realistic
- A combination of short-term and long-term goals
- Mastery goals rather than ego goals
We can practise more effectively by setting goals, because goals allow us to practise proactively (with intent and plans) rather than reactively (playing and seeing how it goes).
References