Self-regulatory processes of practice and memorization strategies in children's and youth orchestras
Self-regulation. Learning. Memorization. Cognitive Social Theory. Children
and Youth Orchestras
Understanding the musical learning processes of musicians is a challenge, because playing an instrument is a complex activity where planning, organization, effective strategies, self-monitoring and evaluation are required. The practice of memorization is present in the experiences of expert as well as less experienced musicians. Although most of the research documenting memorization processes is with expert musicians, current studies indicate that there is a greater interest in understanding how student musicians manage their practices. Self-regulation is one of the constructs of Social Cognitive Theory with potential in the educational field, in order to understand students' learning processes. The objectives of this research were: 1) to identify the self-regulatory processes of musical practice and memorization that can be found, at lower or higher levels, with students in the early and intermediate stages of learning; 2) to seek to understand how students acquire the strategies and resources necessary to monitor and control their knowledge, feelings and emotions in order to improve their music practice and memorization. Two studies were conducted. Study I was a survey that sought to give a macro view of how musicians from Portuguese and Brazilian juvenile orchestras (170 musicians aged between 11 and 17 years) get involved in musical practice and memorization. Study II was an exploratory, descriptive and explanatory case study that sought to understand the self-regulatory processes of learning in musical practice and memorization (20 musicians aged between 12 and 17 years). The results point to the involvement of student musicians in choosing, applying and adapting the necessary cognitive strategies in the process of their practices. They have also pointed that, even if the young musicians are unaware of the memorization strategies employed by experienced musicians, they use some of the strategies used by the experts. Aural, kinesthetic and visual memories have stood out among the memory recovery strategies used by the students in their practice and performance.