Situações de prática deliberada na expertise de Amilton Godoy

Abstract

Research Question/Problem

Expertise is the set of skills that distinguishes individuals who perform above average (experts) from novice or beginner individuals in the most varied domains (Ericsson, Krampe & Tersch-Römmer, 1993). Proposed by Anders Ericsson, the General Theory of Expertise (GTE) postulates that deliberate practice is the gold standard for the acquisition of expertise, being constituted by seven principles: (1) Use of strategies based on the behaviors of other experts in the same domain; (2) Definition of specific objectives that guide practice; (3) Full attention during practice; (4) Leaving the individual’s comfort zone, leading them to a cognitive effort that is not always pleasant; (5) Immediate feedback, generally provided by a teacher in the initial stages of learning and self-monitoring by the practitioner in later stages; (6) Effective use of mental representations; (7) Modification of skills related to this domain over a given period (Ericsson & Pool, 2016).

Amilton Godoy is an expert pianist renowned nationally and internationally due to his virtuosity and important contribution to the Brazilian music scene, having been a member of the “Zimbo Trio”, the first instrumental group to use Brazilian themes to perform jazz (Piedade, 2005). It is known that at the time when Amilton Godoy was in the early stages of the development of his expertise (1950s/60s), the study of the repertoire of Brazilian urban popular music (bossa nova, samba, baião, choro, etc.) had not yet been systematized in Brazil (Saraiva, 2024). Since deliberate practice is a highly structured activity, it is questioned whether Amilton Godoy experienced situations of this type of practice throughout his life.

Objectives

The purpose of this research was to verify whether there is evidence of situations of deliberate practice in the development of Amilton Godoy’s expertise.

Method

Through documentary research, a search was carried out for audiovisual content on the internet that could provide clues about the way Amilton Godoy practiced the piano throughout his life. The selected material involved one interview and one workshop. Both were transcribed and submitted to a content analysis (Krippendorf, 2019), to correlate the pianist’s reports with the principles of deliberate practice mentioned above.

Results

Results made it possible to conclude that Amilton Godoy experienced situations related to all the principles of deliberate practice pointed out in the General Theory of Expertise, which appeared at different moments of his career, although not in a conscious manner.

Conclusions

It is concluded that the structure of Amilton Godoy’s musical expertise involved a mixture of the learning of traditional concert repertoire (through musical score) with the informal learning of popular music repertoire through “playing by ear”. These results suggest the application of the principles of deliberate practice in hybrid learning strategies of popular music and concert music as a possible path for the acquisition of expertise in the practice of Brazilian popular piano.