TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Simon A1 - Längler, Manuel A1 - Altenbuchner, Amelie A1 - Kobl, Louisa A1 - Gruber, Hans T1 - Acquiring the Art of Conducting: Deliberate Practice as Part of Professional Learning T2 - Journal of Advanced Academics N2 - esearch was and still is involved in the controversial issue about innate talent or extensive practice as the determinants of excellent performance in a range of domains. This study aims to contribute by presenting an analysis of practice activities in a domain that appears to be particularly suitable—orchestral conducting. Most conductors usually attain expertise in instrument playing prior to commencing conducting studies. Twenty-seven students of German study programs of orchestral conducting (approximately 18.7% of the population) responded to a questionnaire about their practice activities in conducting programs and their instrumental experiences. Descriptive results show the wealth of prestudy experiences conducting students have. A clear influence on practice activities cannot be stated. During study, students rated conducting-specific practice activities as more demanding and devoted more time to them than to general music practice activities. Therefore, conducting-specific practice activities might have been practiced more deliberately than general music practice activities. KW - conducting KW - conservatory KW - deliberate practice KW - expertise KW - professional learning KW - talent development KW - university of music Y1 - 2021 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-oth-regensburg/frontdoor/index/index/docId/2659 VL - 32 IS - 3 SP - 354 EP - 379 PB - Sage ER -