Comparison of beliefs about teaching and learning of emotional expression in music performance between Spanish and English HE students of music

Despite an increase in research on emotional expression in music and its teaching and learning, little is known about the beliefs and conceptualizations that students hold regarding musical expression, and how they differ depending on educational context. To address this gap, a comparison was made between a sample of 79 UK and 117 Spanish higher education students of music, who were asked to indicate their beliefs about expressivity, most useful instructional methods to develop expressive performance, and factors that influence expressiveness and its teaching and learning. Results indicated agreement, but also several significant differences across cohorts. UK students endorsed the idea more strongly that musical context (i.e., piece and instrument) influences expressivity and the choice of teaching strategy, while Spanish students linked expressivity more strongly to particular music-emotional characteristics. Both groups considered using technical explanation as the better method for teaching expressivity, whilst modelling was considered the worst. On the other hand, they agreed that the choice of the teaching approach should depend on the age of the student with modelling being preferred for younger age groups, and technique for adults only. These results highlight differences in the understanding of musical expressivity that parallel academic debates on emotional vs. stylistic expressiveness.