The Development of Manipulative Aural Skills in Improvising Musicians via Mental Practice during Performance Preparation

This project investigated how to develop the ability to improvise in the mind while away from the instrument, and whether doing so might positively affect the author’s creative practices and artistic output. Via qualitative interviews and practice-led research, the project investigated how the engagement of this skill could be best applied to the author’s performance preparation and then streamlined. Major outcomes of this research are the exegesis and fourteen recordings documenting the varying degrees to which the development of this skill impacted-upon the author’s approach to improvisation, in a jazz music context.