This book brings together researchers from a range of disciplines that use diverse methodologies to provide new perspectives and formulate answers to questions about the meaning, means, and contextualisation of expressive performance in music.

What does it mean to be expressive in music performance across diverse historical and cultural domains? What are the means at the disposal of a performer in various time periods and musical practice conventions? What are the conceptualisations of expression and the roles of performers that shape expressive performance? This book brings together research from a range of disciplines that use diverse methodologies to provide new perspectives and formulate answers to these questions about the meaning, means, and contextualisation of expressive performance in music. The contributors to this book explore expressiveness in music performance in four interlinked parts. Starting with the philosophical and historical underpinnings crucially relevant for Western classical musical performance it then reaches out to cross-cultural issues and finally focuses the attention on various specific problems, including the teaching of expressive music performance skills. The overviews provide a focussed and comprehensive account of the current state of research as well as new developments and a prospective of future directions. This is a valuable new book for those in the fields of music, music psychology, and music education.

We talk not only of enjoying music, but of understanding it. Music is often taken to have expressive import--and in that sense to have meaning. But what does music mean, and how does it mean? Stephen Davies addresses these questions in this sophisticated and knowledgeable overview of current theories in the philosophy of music. Reviewing and criticizing the aesthetic positions of recent years, he offers a spirited explanation of his own position. Davies considers and rejects in turn the positions that music describes (like language), or depicts (like pictures), or symbolizes (in a distinctive fashion) emotions. Similarly, he resists the idea that music's expressiveness is to be explained solely as the composer's self-expression, or in terms of its power to evoke a response from the audience. Music's ability to describe emotions, he believes, is located within the music itself; it presents the aural appearance of what he calls emotion characteristics. The expressive power of music awakens emotions in the listener, and music is valued for this power although the responses are sometimes ones of sadness. Davies shows that appreciation and understanding may require more than recognition of and reaction to music's expressive character, but need not depend on formal musicological training.

Musical Understandings presents an engaging collection of essays by Stephen Davies on the philosophy of music. He explores a range of topics, including how music expresses emotion, modes of perception, and musical profundity. The volume includes original material, newly revised articles, and work published in English for the first time.

Music Theory operates with a number of fundamental terms that are rarely explored in detail. This book offers in-depth reflections on key concepts from a range of philosophical and critical approaches that reflect the diversity of the contemporary music theory landscape.

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In The Musician's Way, veteran performer and educator Gerald Klickstein combines the latest research with his 30 years of professional experience to provide aspiring musicians with a roadmap to artistic excellence. Part I, Artful Practice, describes strategies to interpret and memorize compositions, fuel motivation, collaborate, and more. Part II, Fearless Performance, lifts the lid on the hidden causes of nervousness and shows how musicians can become confident performers. Part III, Lifelong Creativity, surveys tactics to prevent music-related injuries and equips musicians to tap their own innate creativity. Written in a conversational style, The Musician's Way presents an inclusive system for all instrumentalists and vocalists to advance their musical abilities and succeed as performing artists.