This paper is concerned with the relationship between different meanings of the word expression, and the different kinds of approach to expression that have been adopted. Following a discussion of a number of theoretical issues concerned with the relationship between aesthetics and cognition, the application of a Gibsonian view of perception to music, and the reasons for studying music performance, the results of a number of empirical studies of both the production and perception of expression in musical performance are summarised. These are used to provide an outline of the kinds of question to be addressed in considering the communicative function of expression, and demonstrate the essential continuity between the aesthetic and cognitive components of this process.

The ease or difficulty with which subjects conceive music depends on the level of complexity inherent in the structural organization. An unknown Spanish folk tune and a monophonic section from the "Structures" of Boulez were selected for an experiment. In addition to the original versions six further versions were constructed by shifting pitches into another octave range and by transforming the rhythmical structure. Each musical example was played twice, and 30 graduate students of musicology had to judge whether the second version was the same or not the same, or whether they didn't recognize it. Simple time-grouping enhances comprehension especially weil. But the possibility of relating music to a stylistic category is more important than simplicity of musical structure.

The empirical work reported in this paper aims at the description of experiences provided by the use of a so-called "walkman" . lts results focus on the impact of the subjects' acoustic situation on their experience of the visual world. The data were gathered by means of explorative experimentation in the urban field ("walk around the block"). In one of the experiments the subjects taped their instantaneous verbalisations ; in another they commented afterwards on photographs which they had taken while walking. The presentation is based on a qualitative content analysis of these reports. lt is shown that the specific acoustic situation may produce a spectacle-like impression of the experienced visual world.

To attain and to deal with knowledge outside specific professional training is just as necessary as professional qualification. The present contribution refers to a study on acceptance and tolerance in the musical behaviour of students of a vocational school. By means of extensive projective techniques, an insight into their everyday situation is gained. Their social and cultural interests are revealed by their explanations of given situations and stories they had to make up to pictures.

This exploratory study is concerned with the influence of judgements of visual attractiveness on the auditive evaluation of videotaped female vocal performances. To 158 subjects of heterogeneous groups (professional singers, [Jazz] musicians, music students and non-professionals) playback video performances of a jazz and a classical piece of music were presented. lt was shown that female subjects responded more differenciatedly according to age than males and that experts tended to judge more sophisticatedly than non-professionals in the case of classical music while more reservedly in the case of the jazz title. The results of a regressional and a factor analysis indicate that the visual perception is more important for jazz evaluation than for the evaluation of classical music. The latter seems to be more complex.

Many variables affect ear advantage obtained for musical stimuli. Our research assessed effects of music aptitude and music experience. 103 children (5th and 6th graders) of both sexes took part in a musical aptitude test and a dichotic listening test. They also filled out a handedness questionnaire and a questionnaire about music experience. Results show that higher aptitude, more music experience, and more right-handedness are associated with lower absolute laterality (i.e. less laterality, either left or right) in the recognition of short musical melodies. Stepwise multiple regression shows that melody aptitude accounts for 18 % of the variance in laterality, handedness 9 % , meter aptitude 1 % , and experience less than 1 % . Our results suggest that variation in aptitude (and presumably processing strategy) contributes to the diverse results on ear advantage for musical stimuli.