How does it make you feel? Analyzing emotional experience in performers and listeners during an improv-based training

Emotions are a central part of Expressive Music Performance (EMP). While multiple studies show the complexity of the role of emotion in EMP, the different pathways that musicians take to engage with emotion and how this affects their expressiveness and performance experience remain understudied (Van Zijl & Sloboda, 2010). Furthermore, the listener’s emotional experience, particularly how it relates to the performer’s expressive process, has also received little systematic attention (Schubert, 2014). Research shows various strands when it comes to Emotional Engagement in music. Some musicians follow the premise that for emotions to be aroused in the listener, musicians should experience those emotions in their bodies (Bania & Skowroneck, 2020). Others follow a more controlled approach, striving for emotional identification while having conscious control of performance (Gabrielsson & Juslin, 2003), or acting “as if” they are experiencing certain emotions, making the audience experience them too while watching them (Wöllner, 2017). Whether attempting to feel the emotion physically or choosing a more conscious identification, musicians often use strategies that rely heavily on cognitive processes to engage emotionally, such as mood induction or visualization (Persson, 2001; Van Zijl & Sloboda, 2010). These strategies are not always successful, and they overlook the critical role of the body in EMP. Acting traditions emphasize the body’s role in experiencing and expressing emotions. Stanislavsky's method (1961) draws from personal emotional experience to embody the role's circumstances (Clare, 2017), while Chekhov advocates using movement to evoke psychological states without relying on one’s own memories (Petit, 2010; Olenina et al., 2019). Despite their differences, both approaches are grounded in embodied cognition, which claims that physical experience shapes conceptual thought (Kemp, 2012; Schneegans & Schöner, 2008). They also make extensive use of improvisational theatre exercises, where spontaneous physical exploration helps actors develop expressive skills that can later be applied to scripted performances. Building on this, the present study aimed to understand how students in Higher Music Education can develop expressive skills using improvisational theatre as a tool. Through nine practical sessions, eight Master students explored various pathways for (embodied) Emotional Engagement and how they made them feel (from the role of the performer and the listener), hoping to find effective pathways towards EMP. Based on participants’ subjective experiences, the findings support the view that the role of emotion in performance is complex and multilayered, consistent with Schubert (2014) and Van Zijl & Sloboda (2010). The present study expands their works by exploring the interplay between musical emotion, performers’ emotion, and listeners' emotion. The results also revealed an important dichotomy during Emotionally Engaged Performances (EEP): what the listener perceives as expressive may not always align with the performer's emotional experience, and vice versa. Furthermore, and contrary to Czepiel & Luck (2018), EEP did not always lead to positive or ‘freer’ experiences for the performer. These findings highlight the need for continuous collaboration between musicians, audiences, and researchers, to better understand the role of emotion in performance, and facilitate the development of EMP in music education.