The Development of Music Expertise: Applications of the Theories of Deliberate Practice and Deliberate Play

Musicians and athletes share many common traits. Both groups learn a combination of physical and mental skills to attain expert status. In this literature review, I provide a short history of research on expertise development and two models: Bloom’s model of expertise development and the Developmental Model of Sport Participation. The Bloom model categorizes learning activities between combinations of free play and deliberate practice throughout the three stages of development. However, Developmental Model of Sport Participation includes a new category, deliberate play, which combines aspects of play and deliberate practice. Research indicating music learning through deliberate practice, deliberate play, and music play is presented. If students are able to learn through the more enjoyable deliberate play and music play, teachers should consider including these activities to better match developmental stages and potentially improve retention. Implications for future research and music teachers are discussed.

Deliberate Practice, Functional Performance and Psychological Characteristics in Young Basketball Players: A Bayesian Multilevel Analysis

Background: Early sport specialization has increased its popularity mostly based on the deliberate practice theory premises. In this study, we examined the influence of the age of onset of deliberate basketball practice on body size, functional performance (countermovement jump, line drill and yo-yo intermittent recovery level 1), motivation for achievement and competitiveness, motivation for deliberate practice and sources of enjoyment among young Brazilian basketball players. In addition, we adjusted for the influence of gender, age group, maturity status and state basketball federation on the outcomes. Methods: The sample included 120 female and 201 male adolescent basketball players aged 14.0 (1.7) years, on average. We grouped players by the age of onset of deliberate basketball practice as related to biologic maturation milestones (pre-puberty deliberate practice onset, mid-puberty deliberate practice onset and late-puberty deliberate practice onset). Results: There was no substantial variation among contrasting players by the onset of deliberate practice in all of the outcomes. Adjusting for gender, male players with late-puberty deliberate practice onset had better functional performance than players with pre- and mid-puberty onset of practice. Females players with late-puberty deliberate practice onset had slightly worst functional performance than players with pre- and mid-puberty onset of practice. Conclusions: Early deliberate basketball practice does not appear to provide an advantage for the development of physiological functions. Likewise, enjoyment, motivation for deliberate practice and motivation for achievement and competition do not appear to be negatively influenced by early deliberate basketball practice. The debate about the relationship between time spent in deliberate practice and performance development in young athletes will need to emphasize the coaching pedagogical quality and the training environment and account for informal practice and deliberate play.

Nelisiwe Xaba: Dancing between South Africa and the Global North

Nelisiwe Xaba has spent her career creating and touring works between South Africa and the Global North. Signature elements of her work include small-scale formats (solos, duets, trios), the use of objects that blur the distinction between costume and set, the repurposing of everyday materials, and the deliberate play with the performer’s and spectators’ gaze. In this cluster of articles writers based in South Africa, Germany, and the US explore how her works take on different meanings for different spectators in different cultural contexts.

Complexity and Copyright in Contradiction

The title of the article is a deliberate play on architect Robert Venturi's classic of post-modern architectural theory, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. The article analyzes metaphorical 'architectures' of copyright and cyberspace using architectural and land use theories developed for the physical world. It applies this analysis to copyright law through the lens of the First Amendment. I argue that the 'simplicity' of digital engineering is undermining desirable 'complexity' in legal and physical structures that regulate expressive works.

Expertise development in musicians : the roles of deliberate play and deliberate practice

For many years, researchers have been investigating how and why certain people develop into experts in a given field. A primary difference between experts and non-experts is how they practice. Experts spend considerable amounts of time in deliberate practice, i.e., an intense, targeted form of practice (Ericsson, 1996), rather than mindless repetition. While this explains expertise in musicians, chess players and medical students (Ericsson, 2008), it does not fully explain the differences among athletes (Starkes, Deakin, Allard, Hodges, and Hayes, 1996). At first, sport psychologists were not able to understand why some athletes were able to change sports and learn the skills for the new sport with less than predicted amounts of deliberate practice. While studying athletes, sport psychologists developed a more comprehensive model to explain athletic expertise by including activities in a new category, deliberate play. The Developmental Model of Sport Participation (DMSP) includes the intense activities of deliberate practice, and the more flexible, play-like activities of deliberate play. Like many other fields, music study requires a great deal of time and effort before a student can progress to expert levels of performance. DMSP has clarified how athletes develop, particularly by accounting for the skills gained before intense, deliberate practice becomes a priority. Research has shown that musicians also gain skills through deliberate practice; however, deliberate play activities have not been considered in a music setting. Given recent advances in research related to the development of expertise in athletes, the purpose of this dissertation was to apply these theories to the development of expertise in musicians, through three studies. The first study is a review of literature pertaining to expertise development and the activities of development. The second study was based on interviews to determine if DMPS and the concept of deliberate play could be applied to expert musicians. Findings from the two studies indicated that DMSP did explain music expertise development, and that a new aspect termed awareness should be added to the model for musicians. The third study was an experiment to investigate the use of deliberate play activities in band classes, carried out with two groups of middle school students. One group of students replaced traditional music scale practice as part of their group warm-up with deliberate play scale games. The second group of students continued to practice their scales using the traditional methods. Each week, the students audio recorded a scale for the researcher. The weekly scale performance scores were compared for accuracy and overall skill level, but there was no difference between groups. Results of a practice behavior and motivation questionnaire indicated that attitudes did not change during the short study. By considering the results of the three papers, I have determined that music deliberate play is an idea relevant to musicans' development, and that students can learn through music deliberate play activities. Although more research is needed to determine how deliberate play functions in a classroom setting, educators should consider using these types of activities because they may be more enjoyable than traditional practice techniques.

The Progressive Involvement of Youth in Niche Sport: The Perspective of Youth Participants and Their Parents

The current study explores youth sport participation by examining the factors perceived to influence youth sampling and specialization in a niche sport. Further, the role of parental influence was examined as a contributing factor to youth sport progression. In-person semi-structured interviews were performed with 18 youth target archery participants and their parents (N = 28). Data analysis revealed target archery may provide a unique context that enhances previously agreed upon perceptions of sampling and specializing within youth sport development. The youth participants’ experiences with target archery were found to both confirm and challenge previous conceptions of the deliberate play and practice framework, while parental influence was largely based on opinion and prior experience. Based on these findings, theoretical contributions, suggestions for future research, and practical implications are discussed.