Exposition

Symphony of Senses: Fostering Creative Expression through Multisensory Imagery (2025)

Travis Urban
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This study explores how multisensory stimuli can be used to inspire expressive performance in young strings students. While traditional music instruction in a large group or classroom setting often emphasizes technical accuracy and ensemble cohesion, it frequently overlooks the development of expressive interpretation in the individual. To address this gap, the research investigates whether engaging the senses of sight, touch, taste, smell, sound, and body awareness can stimulate students' imagination and foster more expressive playing. A group of 13 strings students participated in a series of interventions, where they experienced a range of sensory stimuli and then re-interpreted a melody in response to each. The methodology prioritized intuitive, student-led interpretation over explicit instruction or imitation, encouraging learners to translate internal sensations into sound. Findings suggest that multisensory prompts enhanced student engagement, stimulated musical imagination, and led to increased expressive nuance in performance. Students often demonstrated more awareness of tone, phrasing, and dynamic contrast following sensory exposure, even in the absence of technical directives. The results support the idea that multisensory learning can awaken musical imagination, promote autonomy, and enrich expressive development in young musicians. This research has implications for reimagining string pedagogy, not only as a technical pursuit, but as an embodied, imaginative, and sensory-rich experience.
typeresearch exposition
date04/11/2024
published17/07/2025
last modified17/07/2025
statuslimited publication
copyrightTravis Urban
licenseAll rights reserved
languageAmerican English
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/3320313/3320314
published inKC Research Portal
portal issue3. Internal publication


Copyrights

nameSymphony of Senses-4
copyrighttug
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameSymphony of Senses Title Page
copyrightTravis Urban
licenseAll rights reserved
usagesbackground, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background, background
nameMelody
copyrightTravis Urban
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameSeries of 6 Multisensory Lesson Plans (revised)
copyrightTGU
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespdf
namePre-Intervention Guiding Questions
copyrightTGU
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespdf
nameVisual Imagery Activity Chart
copyrightTGU
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespdf
nameVisual Lesson Images w_ links
copyrightTGU
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespdf
nameTexture Lesson Activity
copyrightTGU
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespdf
nameSmell Lesson Activity
copyrighttug
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespdf
nameSound Lesson Activity
copyrightTGU
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespdf
nameKinesthesia Lesson Activity
copyrightTGU
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespdf
nameTaste Lesson Activity
copyrightTGU
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespdf

comments: 1 (last entry by Susan Williams - 20/05/2025 at 12:01)
Susan Williams 20/05/2025 at 12:01

Research exposition is approved

Susan Williams: supervisor

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