Tip 26: Exercises for Developing Your Musical Expressiveness

Expression in music is what really hits people’s emotions. Learning to play expressively isn’t easy, and to a large extent it’s very personal and instinctive. But there are ways you can improve your expressive skills.

Try some of these exercises: If your music is in a major key, experiment with making it sound a) more romantic and b) more excited. If your music is in a minor key, trying mak- ing it a) angry and then b) sad.

Really exaggerate these emotions as much as you can – and then try to figure out what you changed in order to produce those effects. Did you attack the notes in a different way? Did you use different dynamics?