Kinaesthesia and Instrumental Music Instruction: Some Implications

Abstract

This paper reflects on some aspects of research on kinaesthesia and how it relates to music education as a whole and instrumental music teaching in particular. It explores the problems of terminology that exist in the literature (kinaesthesia versus proprioception) and describes kinaesthesia as it relates to human physiology. The article contrasts the phenomenological approach of instrumental teachers with the more experimental view of psychological research on this topic and concludes that the current research on kinaesthesia/proprioception is still introductory. Notwithstanding, some ways of benefiting from what is already known on the subject are suggested through the paper.