This Master's thesis examines the possibilities of using mental practice in guitar lessons at the primary level of music education. One of the main practical goals and measures of success in primary music education guitar lessons is the successful performance of students and their reliable playing by heart. Performance of memorised pieces is generally expected in performances and in the annual examinations, where it is an important prerequisite for progression. Mental practice is seen as a method or strategy of practice that can significantly improve the quality of memorisation and can help to better prepare for performance. In order to better situate mental practice in the teaching and practice of guitar at the primary level of music education, and to examine more closely the possibilities and rationale for its use, we have first looked at the main areas that define and relate to mental practice. Therefore, this thesis first looks in detail into learning, memory, music-specific memory and other musical abilities from a psychological perspective, relating them to the circumstances and practical situations of guitar teaching in a music school. It then focuses in more detail on individual strategies for effective learning and practice as well as how they can be applied in the classroom and in the students' own practice. In doing so, it highlights and elaborates on the mental practice techniques, their understanding, functioning and conditions of implementation. We draw on the perspective of guitar learning and teaching at the primary level of music education and reflect on the practical possibilities and effects of using this more complex approach to practising the instrument. Ways of combining focused and deliberate approach to learning and practising with more complex practising techniques are examined, in particular with a mental practising strategy. It is shown that testing, training and applying mental practice, and especially developing the skills that it enables, certainly makes sense at the basic level of instrument teaching.
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