Regulation of Learning Strategies during Practice: A Case Study of a Single Church Organ Student Preparing a Particular Work for a Concert Performance

Abstract

This case study of a church organ student focuses on the student's use of learning strategies during the initial phase of preparing a complex piece for public concert performance. It explores whether the results of regulatory decisions on speed and intensity of cognitive activities can be identified in the observed practice behaviour. The subject's use of learning strategies in different tasks during practice indicates to some degree that the results of regulatory decisions of intensity and speed of cognitive activities can be found in the observed behaviour. Chi-square analyses revealed that the transitions from mastering identical to mastering new patterns, and from mastering identical to mastering related patterns, caused the student to increase intensity and subsequently decrease speed of cognitive activities, while the transition from mastering new to mastering identical patterns, and from mastering related to mastering identical patterns, caused the student to decrease intensity and increase speed of his cognitive activities.