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198304 https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.2.N.198304 http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ All Rights Reserved 2024 171 pages Doctoral Dissertation Academic theses Text eng Braase, Riley Andrew Spring, Robert Gardner, Joshua Caslor, Jason Shea, Nicholas Arizona State University Partial requirement for: D.M.A., Arizona State University, 2024 Field of study: Music Neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain and nervous system to change, has captured scientific and public attention in recent decades. Practice engages short and long-term neuroplasticity and is the primary determinant of expertise in any field. Accordingly, many musicians spend tens of thousands of hours practicing throughout their lives. Musicians of any level can learn, teach, and perform better using evidence-based practice strategies from fields including neuroscience, motor learning, music education, educational psychology, and performance psychology. Fortunately, many resources have been published in the last five years that directly apply cognitive science to musical training. This paper discusses strategies for three critical elements of learning and neuroplasticity: focus, repetition, and rest. Effective focus includes attention and mindfulness, physical alertness and arousal, and executive functions such as self-control, planning, and emotional regulation. Feedback, motivation, situational context, and goals direct focus and improve learning. While excessive mindless repetition leads to diminishing returns, dulled perception, and even performance injury, effective repetition remains a requirement for motor learning. Effective repetition is mindful, varied, deliberate, spaced out over time, and even playful, creative, and interesting. Instead of aiming for exact replication, each iteration leads to improvement or discovery. Furthermore, new research suggests that most learning happens during rest, not when actively performing the skill. Rest improves cognitive performance, stabilizes and strengthens memories, and facilitates physical and mental wellness. Learners can leverage the benefits of rest through sleep, distributing practice schedules, deep rest in the hours after learning, and microbreaks between repetitions. Your Brain on Practice integrates my experience as a performer and researcher by applying strategies that leverage focus, repetition, and rest to Carl Nielsen’s Concerto for Clarinet, op. 57 (1928). I performed Nielsen’s Concerto for my final doctoral recital and used my preparation of the piece to deliberately apply and reflect on evidence-based practice strategies to facilitate artistic expression and technical fluency. While specific examples are drawn from Nielsen and discussed through my lens as a clarinetist, I aim for this research to benefit anyone who wants to continue learning throughout life, young learners who are making the most of their neuroplasticity, and musicians looking for specific strategies to master their craft. Music Education Neurosciences Music Carl Nielsen's Concerto for Clarinet Focus Music performance psychology Neuroscience of learning Repetition REST Your Brain on Practice: Evidence-based Strategies for Musical Training