A NOVEL APPROACH TO TEACHING EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION IN MUSIC PERFORMANCE
Diploma
Introduction
“I see a lot of technical
musicians, and very few of them seem to have that feel that goes along with it.
They’re able to do technically a lot more than the next guy, but for some
reason it doesn’t communicate…” Musician cited in Boyd and George-Warren (1992,
pp. 104-105)
“Ah, expression! It’s what
the majority of musicians believe music to be. Yet, for some unknown reason, it
is rarely talked about.” Music teacher cited in Vosskuhler (2005, p. 1)
One of the most important aspects of music performance is
the ability to play expressively (e.g., Juslin & Laukka, 2004; Laukka,
2004; Lindström, Juslin, Bresin, & Williamon, 2003) and thus to ‘move’
listeners (Juslin & Västfjäll, in press). An expressive performance is
often what makes people prefer one musician over another, and it is expression
that makes new interpretations of familiar music pieces possible. Most
performers and listeners define musical expression in terms of communicating
emotions (e.g., Lindström et al., 2003; Laukka, 2004). Thus, to master the
skill of emotional expression in music is an important goal for a performer.
Given the importance of expression in music performance, it is reasonable to
expect that music teachers devote a lot of their time to developing this skill.
However, on the contrary, there is some evidence that expression is neglected
in music education (see Persson, 1993; Rostvall & West, 2001; Tait, 1992),
perhaps because it is often regarded as a skill that reflects talent and thus
cannot be learnt (Sloboda, 1996), or because knowledge about expression is mostly
tacit and therefore difficult to convey in words (Hoffren, 1964).
The present thesis is part of a project,
Feedback-learning of Musical Expressivity
(Feel-ME), which aimed to define the
nature of expression in music performance, and to develop new methods for
teaching expression, particularly expression of emotions. The focus of this
thesis is on the latter aspect of the project: Is it possible to develop a
computer program that can improve a performer’s ability to express emotions?
The thesis is based on three empirical studies. In Study I, the nature of
instrumental teaching is explored in detail to elucidate possible problems with
the current teaching. Study II presents and evaluates a new computer-assisted
teaching method aiming to enhance music performers’ emotional expression. In
Study III, various factors that may influence performers’ views on
computer-assisted teaching of expression are explored.
The thesis is organized in the following
way. Firstly, a background to the problems surrounding musical expression in
music education and in earlier research is outlined. Secondly, a new
empirically-based approach to teaching expression is presented. Thirdly, the
specific aims of the thesis are stated. Fourthly, the three empirical studies
are summarized. Finally, the findings from the studies are discussed.