Decisions on the quality of piano performance: Evaluation of self and others

In common with other professional musicians, self-evaluation of practise and performance is an integral part of a pianist’s professional life. They will also have opportunities to listen to and evaluate the performances of others based on their own criteria. These self-constructed perspectives towards to a piano performance will have an influence on both self-evaluation and external evaluation, but whether differently or similarly is not known. Consequently, this research study aimed to explore how judgements on the perceived quality of a performance are undertaken by professional standard pianists and what criteria are applied, both with regards their own performances as well as the performance of others. Participants were six professional pianists (3 men, 3 women) who were based in the United Kingdom (Mean age = 31.5 years old. SD = 5.1). They were asked to play individually six trials of a piece of R. Schumann’s “Träumerei” Op. 15 No. 7 in a hired hall for recordings. Then, within 2 months, each participant was asked to come to a self-evaluation session to listen to and evaluate their own six recordings, using a Triadic method as a Repertory Grid. For the external evaluation focused session, the participants were asked to return again to evaluate a further six recordings made up of ‘best’ recordings as selected by each participant from their own individual self-evaluations. Analyses of the resultant data suggest that there was no significant difference between the participants in their overall ratings in the external phase, but that self-evaluation showed significant individual differences amongst several participants. The performance criteria in both self-evaluation and external evaluation predominately overlapped with each other in terms of musical factors, such as tone quality, phrasing, and pedalling. The ranking of the performances was highly correlated with perceptions of overall flow, tone quality and pedalling. It appears that pianists apply similar criteria to decide performance quality when evaluating their own performances as well as others

The Effect of Self-evaluation on Piano Performers : Using feedback by listening to a recording after performance

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect that listening to recordings of their own performances has on piano performers. Music students, majoring in piano performance, each played while their performances were recorded. They then marked their scores with a pencil, while listening to their recordings, indicating the differences between what they focused on while playing versus what they listened for in their recordings. They were requested to express their feelings about listening to their recordings after they performed twice. The results showed that performers considered their performances were improved by listening to their recordings. On the other hand, some aspects of their performances did not improve because they were too aware of imperfections. As performers recognized their performances by listening to their recordings, they found solutions to problems about their performances through trial and error