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writing a new piece. Practice should always be guided by the appropri-
ate character of motion in the piece. This was later confirmed by numer-
ous studies (Schaefer, 2014).
Accordingly, the concept of embodied music cognition has emerged
in recent years (Leman et al., 2018; Schiavio & Menin, 2013). The con-
cept examines the foundations of musical experience, starting from an
ecological approach to perception, where the human body, with its need
to react and interact with the environment by the use of voice, hands,
and the motor system, becomes the primary component of perception 39
and comprehension of music (Leman et al., 2018).
Summarizing the results of the research conducted on mental im-
agery, we find that the imagery is shaped by interactive factors such as
structure, content, expression, imagination, mood, and spatial motor
patterns.

2.1.2 Personality Characteristics
Are there personality traits that distinguish musicians from non-musi-
cians, do musicians who play different music genres differ from one an- Indirect Factors of Musical Performance Success
other? Do personalities of performers differ from those of composers,
conductors, and music educators? Are there differences in personality
structure with regard to the chosen instrument? Is the musician’s person-
ality to a greater extent innate or learned? Do successful music perform-
ers possess certain distinctive personality traits that set them apart from
less successful performers?
Musicians are just a part of the entire artistic population, whose
personalities are at once quite similar and yet different. It is interesting
that there are considerable differences in the personality structure and
dynamics among composers, performers, music educators, and conduc-
tors. And if we compare the individuals who play instruments to those
who sing, we find a fair number of differences. An important group of
musicians is that of top performers, where personality parallels could be
drawn with top performers in general rather than with the wider popu-
lation of musicians (Kemp & Mills, 2002).
The study of a musician’s personality was highly phenomenological
in its beginnings, as will become apparent in the next paragraph. But it
was not until Kemp’s efforts (1996) that the area of musicians’ personal-
ity was finally systematized.
The stereotype of artistic rapture refers to the artist’s escape from re-
ality, engagement in a subjective world, connected to something divine,