Much has been written about expressivity by philosophers, composers, musicologists, and psychologists, but little is known about how the musicians of tomorrow — music students — approach this subject. This paper reports an exploratory study in which 135 students from music conservatories in three countries (England, Italy, Sweden) filled out a questionnaire that addressed four themes: (a) conceptualizing expressivity, (b) expressivity in everyday practice, (c) expressivity in music teaching, and (d) novel teaching strategies. The results suggest that students define expressivity mainly in terms of communicating emotions and `playing with feeling'. Expressive skills are regarded as highly important by students, and they would like to practice more on expressivity than is currently the case. However, most students are skeptical toward using computers in teaching of expressivity since they cannot see how such applications could work. The results suggest that expressivity deserves more attention in music education than has hitherto been the case.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abeles, H.F., Hoffer, C.R., & Klotman, R.H. (1984). Foundations of music education. New York: Schirmer books.
2.
Bach, C.P.E. (1778/1985). Essay on the true art of playing keyboard instruments (Transl. and ed. by W. J. Mitchell). London: Eulenburg Books.
3.
Barten, S.S. (1998). Speaking of music: The use of motor-affective metaphors in music instruction. Journal of Aesthetic Education , 32, 89-97.
4.
Boal-Palheiros, G.M., & Hargreaves, D.J. (2001). Listening to music at home and at school. British Journal of Music Education, 18, 103-118.
5.
Bonvicini, C. (1992). My friend Pavarotti. London : Omnibus Press.
6.
Boyd, J., & George-Warren, H. (1992). Musicians in tune. Seventy-five contemporary musicians discuss the creative processNew York: Fireside.
7.
Brändström, S. (1999). Music teachers' everyday conceptions of musicality . Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education , 141, 21-25.
8.
Budd, M. (1985). Music and the emotions: The philosophical theories . London: Routledge.
9.
Clarke, E.F. (1988). Generative principles in music performance. In J. A. Sloboda (Ed.), Generative processes in music. The psychology of performance, improvisation, and composition (pp. 1-26). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
10.
Clarke, E.F., & Windsor, W.L. (2000). Real and simulated expression: A listening study . Music Perception, 17, 277-313.
11.
Cook, N., & Dibben, N. (2001). Musicological approaches to emotion. In P. N. Juslin & J. A. Sloboda (Eds.), Music and emotion: Theory and research (pp. 45-70) New York: Oxford University Press.
12.
Davidson, J.W., & Da Costa Coimbra, D. (2001). Investigating performance evaluation by assessors of singers in a music college setting. Musicae Scientiae, 5, 33-53.
13.
Davidson, L., & Scripp, L. (1992). Surveying the coordinates of cognitive skills in music. In R. Colwell (Ed.), Handbook of research on music teaching and learning (pp. 392-413). New York: Schirmer Books.
14.
Davies, S. (1994). Musical meaning and expression. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
15.
Davies, S. (2001). Philosophical perspectives on music's expressiveness . In P. N. Juslin & J. A. Sloboda (Eds.), Music and emotion: Theory and research (pp. 23-44). New York: Oxford University Press.
16.
Dickey, M.R. (1992). A review of research on modeling in music teaching and learning. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 113, 27-40.
17.
Dubal, D. (1985). The world of the concert pianist. Conversations with 35 internationally celebrated pianists. London: Victor Gollancz.
18.
Elliott, D.J. (2000). Music and affect: The praxial view. Philosophy of MusicEducation Review, 8, 79-88.
19.
Gabrielsson, A. (1999). The performance of music. In D. Deutsch (Ed). The psychology of music (2nd ed.). (pp. 501-602). San Diego: Academic Press.
20.
Gabrielsson, A., & Juslin, P.N. (2003). Emotional expression in music. In R. J. Davidson, H. H. Goldsmith , & K. R. Scherer (Eds.), Handbook of affective sciences (pp. 503-534). New York: Oxford University Press.
21.
Green, J., & D'Oliveira, M. (1982). Learning to use statistical tests in psychology. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press.
22.
Hallam, S. (1997). What do we know about practising? Towards a model synthesising the research literature. In H. Jørgensen & A. C. Lehmann (Eds.), Does practice make perfect? (pp. 179-231). Oslo: The Norwegian State Academy of Music.
23.
Hevner, K. (1935). Expression in music: A discussion of experimental studies and theories. Psychological Review, 42, 186-204.
24.
Hunt, A., & Kirk, R. (1997). Technology and music: incompatible subjects?British Journal of Music Education, 14, 151-161.
25.
Johnson, C.M. (1998). Effect of instruction in appropriate rubato usage on the onset timings and perceived musicianship of musical performances. Journal of Research in Music Education, 46, 436-445.
26.
Juslin, P.N. (2000). Cue utilization in communication of emotion in music performance: Relating performance to perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 26, 1797-1813.
27.
Juslin, P.N. (2001). Communicating emotion in music performance: A review and a theoretical framework. In P. N. Juslin & J. A. Sloboda (Eds.), Music and emotion: Theory and research (pp. 309-337). New York: Oxford University Press.
28.
Juslin, P.N. (in press). Five facets of musical expression: A psychologist's perspective on music performance. Psychology of Music.
29.
Juslin, P.N., Friberg, A., & Bresin, R. (2002). Toward a computational model of expression in music performance: The GERM model. Musicae Scientiae, Special Issue 2001-2002, 63-122.
30.
Juslin, P.N., Friberg, A., Schoonderwaldt, E. & Karlsson, J. (in press). Feedback-learning of musical expressivity. In A. Williamon (Ed.), Enhancing musical performance. A resource for performers, teachers, and researchers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
31.
Juslin, P.N., & Laukka, P. (2000). Improving emotional communication in music performance through cognitive feedback. Musicae Scientiae, 4, 151-183.
32.
Juslin, P.N., & Laukka, P. (2001). Impact of intended emotion intensity on cue utilization and decoding accuracy in vocal expression of emotion. Emotion , 1, 381-412.
33.
Juslin, P.N., & Laukka, P. (in press). Communication of emotion in vocal expression and music performance: Different channels, same code? Psychological Bulletin.
34.
Juslin, P.N., & Persson, R.S. (2002). Emotional communication. In R. Parncutt & G. E. McPherson (Eds.), The science and psychology of music performance. Creative strategies for teaching and learning (pp. 219-236). New York: Oxford University Press.
35.
Juslin, P. N., & Sloboda, J. A. (Eds.). (2001). Music and emotion: Theory and research. New York: Oxford University Press.
36.
Juslin, P.N., & Zentner, M.R. (2002). Current trends in the study of music and emotion: Overture. Musicae Scientiae, Special Issue 2001-2002, 3-21.
37.
King, B.B. (1996). Blues all around me. London : Hodder & Stoughton.
38.
Langer, S.K. (1942). Philosophy in a new key. Cambridge : Harvard University Press.
39.
Lewis, B.E., & Schmidt, C.P. (1991). Listeners' responses to music as a function of personality type. Journal of Research in Music Education, 39, 311-321.
40.
Lewis, M., & Haviland-Jones, J. M. (Eds.). (2000). Handbook of emotions (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.
London, J. (2002). Some theories of emotion in music and their implications for research in music psychology. Musicae Scientiae, Special Issue 2001-2002, 23-36.
43.
Marchand, D.J. (1975). A study of two approaches to developing expressive performance. Journal of Research in Music Education, 23, 14-22.
44.
Matravers, D. (1998). Art and emotion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
45.
Menuhin, Y. (1996). Unfinished journey. London : Methuen.
Palmer, C. (1997). Music performance. Annual Review ofPsychology, 48, 115-138.
48.
Persson, R.S. (1993). The subjectivity of musical performance. A music-psychological real world enquiry into the determinants and education of musical reality . Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Huddersfield University , UK.
49.
Persson, R.S. (1995). Musical reality: exploring the subjective world of performers. In R. Monelle, & C. T. Gray (Eds.), Song and signification. Studies in music semiotics (pp. 58-63). Edinburgh, Scotland: The University of Edinburgh, Faculty of Music.
50.
Persson, R.S. (1996a). Brilliant performers as teachers: a case study of commonsense teaching in a conservatoire setting. International Journal of Music Education, 28, 1-15.
51.
Persson, R.S. (1996b). Studying with a musical maestro: A case study of commonsense teaching in artistic training. Creativity Research Journal, 9, 33-46.
52.
Persson, R.S. (2001). The subjective world of the performer. In P. N. Juslin & J. A. Sloboda (Eds.), Music and emotion: Theory and research (pp. 275-289). New York: Oxford University Press.
53.
Persson, R.S., Pratt. G., & Robson, C. (1996). Motivational and influential components of musical performance: a qualitative analysis. In A. J. Cropley & D. Dehn (Eds.), Fostering the growth of high ability (pp. 287-301). Norwood, NJ : Ablex.
54.
Pitts, S.E. (2002). Changing tunes: musical experience and self-perception amongst school and university music students. Musicae Scientiae , 6, 73-92.
55.
Plutchik, R. (1994). The psychology and biology of emotion. New York: Harper-Collins.
56.
Reimer, B. (1989). A philosophy of music education. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
57.
Richter, C. (1976). Theorie und Praxis der didaktischen Interpretation von Musik [The theory and practice of teaching and learning the interpretation of music for performance]. Frankfurt: Moritz Diesterweg.
58.
Rohwer, D. (2001). Instrumental music students' cognitive and performance understanding of musical expression. Journal of Band Research , 37, 17-28.
59.
Rostwall, A.-L., & West, T. (2001). Interaktion och kunskapsutveckling →Interaction and learning. A study of music instrument teaching→.. Doctoral Dissertation. Stockholm: KMH Förlaget.
60.
Schumacher, M. (1995). Crossroads. The life and music of Eric Clapton . New York: Hyperion.
61.
Scruton, R. (1997). The aesthetics of music. Oxford : Clarendon Press.
62.
Shaffer, L.H. (1982). Rhythm and timing in skill. Psychological Review, 89, 109-122.
63.
Shove, P., & Repp, B.H. (1995). Musical motion and performance: theoretical and empirical perspectives. In J. Rink (Ed.), The practice of performance. Studies in musical interpretation (pp. 55-83). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
64.
Sloboda, J.A. (1996). The acquisition of musical performance expertise: Deconstructing the ”talent” account of individual differences in musical expressivity. In K. A. Ericsson (Ed.), The road to excellence (pp. 107-126). Mahwah: Erlbaum.
65.
Swanwick, K. (1985). A basis for music education. Windsor, UK: NFER-Nelson.
66.
Tait, M. (1992). Teaching strategies and styles. In R. Colwell (Ed.), Handbook of research on music teaching and learning (pp. 525-534). New York: Schirmer Books.
67.
Taylor, J.A. (1981). Introduction to computers and computer-based instruction in music. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Music Research, Florida State University.
68.
Watson, D. (Ed.). (1991). The Wordsworth dictionary of musical quotations. Ware, UK: Wordsworth.
69.
Woody, R.H. (1999). The relationship between explicit planning and expressive performance of dynamic variations in an aural modeling task. Journal of Research in Music Education, 47, 331-342.
70.
Woody, R.H. (2000). Learning expressivity in music performance: An exploratory study. Research Studies in Music Education, 14, 14-23.
71.
Woody, R.H. (2002). Emotion, imagery, and metaphor in the acquisition of musical performance skill. Music Education Research, 4, 213-224.
