This study compared three practice approaches for expressive performance—modeling, structural understanding, and narrative imagery—among 54 undergraduate and graduate piano majors. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the three practice conditions and completed a pretest–practice–posttest protocol using the opening excerpt from Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2. During a 60-min practice session, participants practiced according to their assigned condition while annotating