Abstract¶

This study explores the relationship between a singer’s auditory imagery ability and their maintenance of tonal and temporal accuracy when performing and audiating (singing to one’s self and hearing the music in the mind without producing any external sound) with altered auditory feedback. Musicians performed a sung piece under conditions of pitch shift and delay and with speech distractions while both singing aloud and audiating. We find that musicians who indicate higher self-indicated auditory imagery abilities on the Bucknell Auditory Imagery Scale (BAIS), regardless of their principal instrument or formal training, are better able to maintain accuracy in altered performance settings and different tasks. We find that performers with higher BAIS scores have less tonal reference deviation when presented with pitch shifted feedback and speech distraction and are consistent in tempo variation with delayed feedback conditions. This study further proposes a connection between performance experience, rather than formal training, and auditory imagery ability.