ABSTRACT
How do young musicians learn to perform expressively, and how can teachers help their pupils to improve their expressiveness? In an action research project tutors explored these questions and investigated methods for teaching children and teenagers expressive music performance. Research findings show that open questions and dialogue between tutors and pupils are at the heart of teaching and learning expressiveness. Aural modelling, playing for pupils or listening to recordings, is also helpful for young musicians’ learning of expressiveness. These findings have important teaching implications as they demonstrate that tutors can help their pupils to improve their expressiveness from the early stages of instrumental music learning.
