A Comparative Case Study on the Effectiveness of a Multisensory Instructional Method for Learning Musical Expression

Abstract

This study sought to investigate the perceptions of five undergraduate students and their private teachers using the Multisensory Music Making (MSMM) approach for teaching and learning musical expression. Musicians interacted with a combination of visual and auditory stimuli to inspire new concepts about the music they were learning. Through this approach, musicians learned to connect with music on a deeper level and to expand their range of emotional and expressive performing. The MSMM approach employs three methods for playing expressively, which include: (1) Artistic Representation; (2) Aural Modeling; and (3) Improvisatory Storytelling. These methods were intended to help musicians play more expressively in relation to several musical components.