6533b7d3fe1ef96bd1261589

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Performers’ experienced emotions in the construction of expressive musical performance: An exploratory investigation

subject

description

Does a performer feel sad when s/he performs a sad piece of music, or does s/he perform sadness? Not much is known about the relationship between felt and performed emotions in performing musicians. Some studies emphasize the importance of feeling the emotions; others underline the idea of planned expressiveness. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between a performer’s experienced emotions and the construction of a musically expressive performance. Eight music students (mean age: 20.9, SD: 1.13) completed an introductory, semi-structured interview; a monitoring period during which they filled out an Individual Playing Diary; and an in-depth, semi-structured interview based on the diary. Differences were found between performers’ emotions related to the practice activity (e.g., frustration at not being able to master technical difficulties) and emotions related to the music (e.g., aesthetic delight). Initially, practice-related emotions prevailed. Then, music-related emotions came to the fore. As the learning process developed, ‘feeling’ the musical emotions transformed into ‘knowing’ the musical emotions: the expressive interpretation, and the intensity of felt emotions waned. At the point of performance, some felt emotion was added again. These findings provide a detailed insight into an under-studied aspect of music performance as a creative practice.