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Abstract
Musical expression is the art of playing or singing music with a personal response (Scruton, 1982). Practically speaking, performing with musical expression means making appropriate use of dynamics, phrasing, timbre, and articulations to help make the music come to life (Scruton, 1982). Experiment 1 of this study addressed the following questions: Does the sequence in which a choir learns the elements of a song (i.e. rhythm, pitch, text, expression) influence the musical expression (articulation, dynamics) in their performance? And does a choirs expressive performance improve with multiple rehearsals? Experiment 1 participants included 27 choir students (age in years M = 11.43, SD = 1.20) who were members of a community childrens choir program. Participants learned the song Now All the Woods Are Waking by Max Exner using one of two pre-recorded song-learning sequences (infused-expression sequence or post-expression sequence). Participants in the infused-expression sequence group learned expressive elements alongside rhythm, pitch, and text. Participants in the post-expression sequence group learned the rhythm, pitch, and text first, followed by expressive elements. Each participant recorded a performance of the song immediately after the initial learning sequence and again one week later after an at home practice session. Results showed no statistical significance between the expressivity of either sequence group. However, both sequence groups improved their expressivity with multiple learning sessions. Experiment 2 of this study addressed the previous research questions as well as: Does feedback during a song-learning sequence influence the musical expression (articulation, dynamics) of a choral performance? Experiment 2 participants included 28 choir students (age in years M = 9.85, SD = 0.72) from an upper middle-class elementary school choir program. For experiment 2, I added feedback statements to both the infused-expression and post-expression sequences. Besides the addition of feedback statements methodology remained the same as in experiment 1. Results indicated the infused-expression group was significantly more expressive than the post-expression group both initially and after a weeks time. Feedback statements seemed to help participants in the infused expression group perform more expressively. Implications for the use and benefits of infused-expression sequencing as well as future research are discussed.