the study of holistic listening to music in school: 
results and potential for further research  
študija celostnega poslušanja glasbe v šoli:  
rezultati in potencial za nadaljnje raziskave
sabina vidulin
Academy of Music in Pula, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula
sabina.vidulin@unipu.hr
Abstract: The focus of this paper is to highlight the importance of music listening, which 
affects pupils’ holistic development. It encompasses a greater engagement during lis-
tening to music, so pupils can feel, understand and appreciate it. To achieve a better un-
derstanding of music, pupils should be actively involved during the musical experience 
and respond spontaneously before engaging in a more detailed analysis. In regards to 
the study of cognitive-emotional listening to music in Croatian schools, this paper will 
be focused on pupils’ motivational incentive and impressions, and teachers’ reflections.
Keywords: classical music, cognitive-emotional listening to music, general school, mu-
sic lessons 
Izvleček: Osrednja pozornost prispevka je usmerjena v poslušanje glasbe, saj le-to vpli-
va na celostni razvoj učencev. Celostno poslušanje učence bolj angažira, da glasbo za-
čutijo, razumejo in jo cenijo. Za boljše razumevanje glasbe je pomembno, da so učenci 
med poslušanjem aktivni in da se na glasbo spontano odzovejo, še preden so usmerjeni 
v podrobnejšo analizo. V povezavi z raziskavo o kognitivno-emocionalnem poslušanju 
glasbe, izvedeno v hrvaških šolah, se prispevek osredinja na spodbujanje motivacije učen-
cev, na vtise učencev in na refleksijo učiteljev.
Ključne besede: klasična glasba, kognitivno-emocionalno poslušanje glasbe, splošno izo-
braževanje, ure glasbe
introduction
Listening to music in school can be realized through various forms, from passive to active, with a focus on imaginative, aesthetic, emotional or sensor-motoric listening (Alt, 1973; Eggebrecht, 1979; Hunter et al., 
2010, Lehmann et al., 2007; Vidulin et al., 2020). Mostly, active listening to 
music is recommended and encompasses intentional directing of attention to 
the music being listened to. It can be analytical or cognitive and emotional 
(Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2007; Cho et al., 2018) and it is led by tasks 
related to the music (Diaz, 2014; Rojko, 1996), with the main goal of recog-
nizing musical elements. In regard to the emotional component of listening to 
music, pupils have the opportunity to give some affective responses during lis-
Izvirni znanstveni članek ◆ Original Scientific Article
https://doi.org/10.26493/2712-3987.18(37)31-51
© Author
tening to music (Inks, 2018), to address their point of view and discuss various 
opinions. In that way the holistic approach, the idea that the whole should be 
considered in order to interconnect and understand different parts, can be ap-
plied to music listening in school. 
In the Croatian Curriculum of Music Culture for General Schools and 
Music Art for Gymnasiums (Kurikulum nastavnog predmeta Glazbena kul-
tura za osnovne škole i Glazbena umjetnost za gimnazije, 2019), active listen-
ing to music is based on the cognitive paradigm, which encompasses recog-
nizing, distinguishing and comparing of musical components. The cognitive 
paradigm, or the standard approach to listening to music, is very usual in class-
rooms and didactically skilfully realized, but it is questionable what level of ex-
perience, understanding and appreciation of a musical piece pupils can achieve 
when taking into consideration only the cognitive part (Vidulin et al., 2022). 
The second issue is that the tasks for listening to and analysing the musical 
work are often identical for each piece, while at the same time the specifics of 
the music are rarely taken into consideration. The third concern is that there is 
no time or space during the lesson for the pupils’ personal musical experience, 
thoughts, associations and meanings. Emotional listening is not encouraged, 
neither is discussion of emotions felt while listening to music. 
It is very important that pupils are actively involved during listening to 
music and that their experience and engagement in music listening is deeper, 
more comprehensive and holistic, fully fledged. Finding various didactical ap-
proaches is a necessity and cognitive-emotional listening to music is one path 
that can improve the musical experience.
framework of the holistic approach to listening to music
The advancement of listening to music as a cognitive activity to a cogni-
tive-emotional one with the intention to offer a complete musical experience 
is a starting point of the cognitive-emotional listening to music developed by 
Vidulin et al. (2020). It is directed to pupils’ greater engagement during lis-
tening to music, so they can understand and appreciate it. Pupils are provided 
with the opportunity for a personal experience of the musical work and emo-
tional enjoyment while listening, they become acquainted with the compos-
er’s life and work, locate it in the context of the time and social circumstances 
in which it arose, and talk about their own experience and observations. This 
kind of listening is holistic since it encompasses plenty of nurture and educa-
tional areas which allow pupils to develop their inclinations and skills. In ad-
dition to analytical tasks that lead to the acquisition of musical knowledge, the 
associative tasks stimulate imagination, and pupils are facilitated in recogniz-
ing emotions in music and responding emotionally. Listening to music in the 
classroom, with the teacher’s guidance and with the opportunity to discuss ex-
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periences, and to stimulate imagination and powers of observations, can con-
tribute to an enrichment of musical experience, expansion of knowledge and a 
deepening of children’s interest in music. 
The purpose, goal, tasks, procedure and outcomes of cognitive-emotional 
(CE) listening to music can be seen in Table 1. 
Table 1
Purpose, goal, tasks, procedure and outcomes of CE listening to music
Purpose - to experience music- to facilitate deeper understanding and respond to music
Goal - to shape the cultural and artistic pupils’ worldview  
Tasks - to develop and improve pupils’ musical competencies
Procedure
- multimodal experience with music and non-music activities / stimuli / modes 
of communication (singing, playing, dancing, dramatic performances, storytel-
ling, multimedia shows, etc.)
- analytical-contextual approach for music understanding with music and 
non-music stimuli (historical, social, geographical, personal)
Outcomes
- to experience music holistically
- to recognize and understand the musical elements, the identity and characte-
ristics of the work and composer, era, environment
- to endorse music
- to express and identify various emotional states
- to make associations with real life
- to establish positive human values
Since this kind of listening intertwines two general aspects of listening, it 
should be mentioned what they imply and on what are they focused. The cog-
nitive aspect of CE listening to music focuses on the theoretical musical ele-
ments, from identifying tempo, dynamics, mood/character to the recognition 
of instruments, voices, forms etc., while the emotional aspect focuses on pu-
pils’ personal experience and the recognition of emotions in the music. To en-
hance the pupils’ overall experience, multimodality serves as a base for musical 
and extra-musical involvement. By singing a song, playing a melody, dancing 
pupils’ familiarize with the life and work of the composer and enhance their 
understanding of the historical, social and geographical context in which the 
work was created.
The outcomes of CE listening to music are to increase pupils’ attention 
and concentration on the musical work, to stimulate their interest, and to ena-
ble active participation and musicianship, in order to memorize the work and 
expand their probability of accepting it. However, the most important feature 
is exploring positive humanistic values and well-being through classical mu-
sic and the composers’ life, thus encouraging pupils to reflect on their personal 
characteristics, behaviour, values, etc. (Vidulin et al., 2020). Besides the emo-
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tional experience, the stimulation of the musical imagination is an important 
aspect of the musical experience (Johnson, 2013). Imagination while listening 
to music can include personal content, so personal meaning can be given to 
music. 
If the musical work is presented with musical (singing, playing, dancing) 
and non-musical stimuli (narration, drawing, intersubject connection, etc.) en-
couraging pupils’ involvement, activity and expression, easier and faster learn-
ing, better music understanding and emotional reception of music can be real-
ized (Dunn, 2014; Fung & Gromko, 2001; Johnson 2013). Separating listening 
from other musical/non-musical activities can reduce the listening experience, 
while encouraging a multimodal approach to listening could enhance the ex-
perience (Kress, 2010).
The CE listening to music proposes three listening phases during the 
hour-long lesson: initial, central, and final, with different objectives for each 
phase (Table 2). It is challenging to aurally perceive all the relevant character-
istics of a work in one listening, so it is desirable to listen to the musical work 
more than once. Listening to the work over again allows for additional knowl-
edge acquisition (Lehmann et al., 2007).
Table 2
Phases of listening to music according to the CE listening to music
Experience Listening objectives and context Specifics
Initial listening
(once, complete 
work or excerpt)
emotional 
experiencing the comp-
lete work; pupils’ initial 
reaction without teacher’s 
input or direction
spontaneous, without questi-
on; dialogue about the pupils’ 
impressions, experience and 
states after listening to music 
Central  
listening
(several liste-
nings)
cognitive 
and emoti-
onal
musical and non-musical 
stimuli given by teachers’ 
for more intensive 
experience and music 
understanding 
multimodal and directed; 
questions about musical 
characteristics; pupils’ active 
participation 
Final listening
(once, complete 
work or excerpt)
emotional 
and cogni-
tive
experiencing the music 
again; reconsideration of 
the lesson contents 
spontaneous; overall impressi-
on and reaction
The “initial listening” phase focuses on pupils’ holistic experience of the 
music during which the music is experienced in its entirety, or one excerpt if 
the musical work is longer. They are then encouraged to respond spontane-
ously, without the teacher’s direction, and to express their initial opinions and 
emotional reactions to the music. 
The “central listening” phase is more task-oriented in nature. Pupils lis-
ten in order to identify such elements as tempo, dynamics, mood/character, in-
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struments, voices, musical form, type, and melodic and rhythmic features. The 
emotional context deepens due to the music and non-music activities which 
take place with listening to music. These activities aim to increase pupils’ atten-
tion and concentration on the work, to stimulate their interest, to enable active 
participation and musicianship, and to widen the likelihood of accepting the 
work on a personal level. Central listening is multiple and multimodal and en-
hances the pupils’ emotional states.
The “final listening” phase affords pupils the opportunity to experience 
the music again holistically. There are no specified tasks. The aim is to allow 
pupils to form their impressions, express their emotions and to demonstrate 
their knowledge and understanding of the music through, for example, writ-
ing or drawing. 
Multiple listenings to a music work, perceiving and understanding it from 
different perspectives, as well as allowing pupils to express their experience, af-
fect the pupils’ development and enable a better understanding of the music 
which is listened to. 
summarizing of the results from the institutional project 
and study1
Two pedagogical approaches to music listening were tested in Croatian general 
school: the cognitive-emotional listening to music (CE) with the standard one. 
The research methodology was a two-group experimental design in which the 
control group was taught according to the standard teaching approach, while 
the experimental group followed the CE listening. The same music teacher led 
both groups in each school. The experimental method was used so that the 
two approaches could be directly compared, and to evaluate the outcomes of 
each approach in relation to pupils’ engagement with and experiences of clas-
sical music. 
The study results in general (see more in: Vidulin, 2020; Vidulin & Plavšić, 
2020a, 2020b; Vidulin et al., 2019, 2020; Vidulin et al. 2022) show that the ac-
curacy of pupils’ assessments of musical components/elements (tempo, dynam-
ics, forms, instrument, voices, etc.) is very similar, regardless of the music lis-
tening approach. Namely, both approaches have in common that they teach 
about the components of a musical work. A slightly more accurate assessment 
1 The project was accepted at the Academy of Music in Pula as an institutional inter-faculty 
project. Code: MAPU/GP-ZN-2018-1, title: Cognitive and emotional aspects of music lis-
tening in the music-pedagogical context of general school. The study had a number of rese-
arch objectives. The complete results and discussion are published in articles and the book 
written by the authors of the CE listening to music. Since the sample, measurement instru-
ments, music material and procedure are the same, these parts are identical as in the previo-
usly mentioned papers and book. 
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of some elements was found in the CE listening. Although pupils experienced 
the music works as equally emotionally coloured regardless of the approach, 
pupils who were exposed to the CE listening to music experienced the emo-
tions of a pleasant hedonistic tone more intensely, and those with the unpleas-
ant tone more weakly. While the pupils in the fifth grade undoubtedly liked 
the music lesson, as well as all four works they listened to, the ones who had 
lessons based on the CE listening liked both the lesson and the works more. 
The musical and non-musical activities that the teachers carried out as an in-
troduction to the second listening during the implementation of the CE listen-
ing guided the pupils to listen to the music more carefully and to give more an-
swers about what the activity prompted them to do, what they thought about 
while listening and what they remembered from the work. In addition, when 
teaching according to the CE listening, their answers were more related to 
thoughts, evaluations of liking the work, the content of the work and the artic-
ulation of the lesson. Pupils who listened according to the CE listening while 
stimulated by music drew more themes related to the content of the piece than 
those who listened to music according to the standard approach. The CE lis-
tening leads to a greater focus on the content of the works. At the end of the 
school year, more pupils who listened to four works using the CE listening re-
membered those music works significantly more often compared to the pupils 
who were engaged in the standard approach. In conclusion, the standard ap-
proach to listening to music proves to be effective enough in encouraging chil-
dren to listen to music in music classes. But the new approach, cognitive-emo-
tional, showed advantages by applying multimodal interactive activities.
goal, aims and hypothesis
The goal of the research part which will be described in this paper is to ex-
amine the pupils’ motivational incentive and impressions. The content of the 
answers to the open-ended questions What did the teacher’s instruction and 
guidance before listening to the musical work encourage you on?2 and What will 
you remember about this musical work? was analysed. These questions were giv-
en to the pupils after listening to music in classes conducted according to the 
cognitive-emotional and standard approaches. It is expected that the teach-
ers’ instruction and guidance with different multimodal activities during the 
cognitive-emotional approach will facilitate the emotional reception of music, 
thanks to a more detailed introduction to its identity (work, composer, time, 
social context, etc.) than is usual with the standard approach. For the question 
What will you remember about this musical work? a variety of answers is expect-
ed regardless of the teaching approach, whereby it is assumed that the enrich-
2 It was planned as multimodal activities prior to the second listening to the musical work.
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ment of teaching according to the cognitive-emotional approach will result in 
more frequent mention of the specifics of the work to which the pupils’ at-
tention is focused, as well as related feelings and/or observations. Besides this, 
teachers’ reflections and evaluations about CE listening to music will be de-
scribed as the second goal. 
methodology
Sample 
Thirty music classes in 16 general schools across 12 Croatian towns participat-
ed in this research. The lessons were taught by 14 music teachers, six of whom 
were certified as “teacher mentor”. Teachers varied in experience from 2 to 19 
years’ experience (M = 7.6, SD = 5.59). In all, 557 fifth grade pupils (49% boys 
and 51% girls) participated with an average age of 10.7 years (SD = 0.80). 
Measurement instruments and variables
For the purpose of the overall study, one questionnaire was prepared for all pu-
pils, and two questionnaires were prepared for the teachers. All questionnaires 
comprised YES/NO, open-ended, multiple choice questions and rating scales. 
Quantitative and qualitative approaches to data analysis were adopted, con-
sidering the cognitive processes, cognitive and emotional processes, motiva-
tional incentive, impressions and fantasy, cognition, emotion, reflections and 
evaluation.
Pupils completed four questionnaires in all during the music lessons from 
September to December 2018. Teachers completed two questionnaires; the ini-
tial questionnaire before conducting the survey with pupils (in September and 
early October 2018), and the second one after finishing the experiment (in Jan-
uary and February 2019). In the first they described their usual pedagogical ap-
proach to listening and their attitudes about listening to classical music. In the 
second questionnaire, their experiences and reflections on implementing the 
CE listening were identified.
Music materials
The music used in this research project was: Waltz from the Masquerade by 
Aram Khachaturian; Wellington’s Victory by Ludwig van Beethoven; Sche-
herazade: The Sea and Sindbad’s Ship by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Pavane 
by Gabriel Fauré. They were chosen because of the rhythmic and/or melodic 
specifics, structural and characteristic features. Another important criterion 
was that these musical examples had the potential to convey and/or stimulate 
different emotional experiences, and to provoke musical and non-musical as-
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sociations. They also needed to be appropriate to the pupils’ age (fifth grade), 
could be listened to several times during one music lesson, and not already be 
part of the curriculum. 
Procedure
Each class group had one lesson per month from September through Decem-
ber 2018, totalling four lessons in all. Each teacher taught the same musical ma-
terial to two different groups, adopting two different didactical approaches to 
music listening. For the control group each teacher devised their own stand-
ard teaching plans but the teaching plans for the experimental group were pre-
pared by the author. Teachers implemented these accordingly. Common to 
both the control group and the experimental group was the number of times 
the pupils listened to the music during the lesson. What was different were the 
activities prior to and after listening. 
Vidulin (2020) analysed the teaching plans created by the teachers for the 
control groups. These plans primarily focused on an analysis of musical ele-
ments. In these lessons the main listening activity tended to be preceded by 
singing, playing and dancing activities from previous lessons, which did not 
correlate to the music that was about to be introduced. In the central part of 
the lesson, pupils analysed the music by listening for various musical elements. 
After listening to the music in the concluding part of the lesson, pupils were 
again involved in singing/playing/dancing which were not related to the mu-
sical works. 
The CE teaching plans for the experimental group situated the music and 
composers in their historical and social context. Musical experiences were en-
riched through engaging in various multimodal activities. Rather than set-
ting the same listening tasks for each of the four music works, the suggested 
tasks were carefully selected to enhance pupils’ understanding and appraisal 
of the music. Cognitive listening with multimodal engagement in Masquer-
ade focused on recognising musical form. This was enhanced through danc-
ing and acting. In Wellington’s Victory pupils determined the following terms: 
rhythm, melody, dynamics, crescendo, decrescendo, solo trumpet, tutti, and 
pitch tones. They learned by ear and performed the song “For He’s a Jolly Good 
Fellow” because the melody is used in the musical work. Through Scheheraza-
de pupils explored and discovered the different character of the themes, the 
higher, lower, longer and shorter sounds, the movement of melodies and iden-
tified the instruments, while in Pavane they identified the following elements: 
instruments, voices, character/mood, musical genres. 
A musicological understanding was facilitated through specific questions 
about the pieces, appealing to the pupils’ emotional experience and discover-
ing their positive human values. Information about the composers was not just 
fact-related, but connected with real life and pupils’ experiences.
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The teaching plans according to CE listening to music extend the cog-
nitive component to the emotional by putting pupils in a position of feeling, 
thinking about and describing the music, evaluating the quality of the perfor-
mances and expressing reasons for their appreciation.
results
Pupils’ motivational incentive and impressions 
When pupils were asked Did the teacher’s instruction and guidance before the 
second listening encourage you to listen more carefully? pupils in the CE group 
found that the teacher’s instructions and guidance facilitated more careful lis-
tening (83%) compared with pupils experiencing a standard approach (75%) 
(Vidulin & Plavšić, 2020a). In this paper, we provide a more detailed analysis 
of the question What did the teacher’s instruction and guidance before the second 
listening to the musical work encourage you on?
Table 3 shows the number of answers collected for each musical work in 
both didactical approaches. All answers are classified into categories related to: 
(i) following lessons, (ii) cognitive aspect, (iii) musical activities, (iv) emotional 
aspect, (v) stimulation of imagination - non-musical associations, (vi) express-
ing an opinion about the context of a musical work, and (vii) other. One re-
spondent’s answer could be classified into several categories. Table 3 shows the 
percentages of responses in each category.
Table 3 
Number of answers regarding the question “What did the teacher’s instruction and guidance 
before the second listening to the musical work encourage you on?” for 4 musical works 
 and didactical approach
Didactical 
approach
Music works
Masquerade
(Khachatu-
rian)
Wellington’s 
Victory (Be-
ethoven)
Scheherazade 
(Rimsky-
-Korsakov)
Pavane
(Fauré)
What the tea-
cher’s instruction 
and guidance 
before the second 
listening to the 
music work enco-
uraged you on?
CEa 257 190 178 138
STb 131 102 115 86
Note. ªCE = Cognitive-emotional approach; bST = Standard approach
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Table 4
Percentage of answers per categories regarding the question “What did the teacher’s instruction 
and guidance before the second listening to the musical work encourage you on?”  
and didactical approach 
Music works
Masquerade
(Khachatu-
rian)
Wellington’s  
Victory 
(Beethoven)
Scheherazade  
(Rimsky-Kor-
sakov)
Pavane  
(Fauré)
Didactical 
approach CE
a STb CE ST CE ST CE ST
Catego-
ries of 
answers
Following 
lessons 19.46 50.38 40.00 57.84 60.67 59.13 66.67 84.88
Cognitive aspect:
Connection 
with the 
content of the 
musical work
21.79 10.69 4.74 14.71 10.11 6.09 0.72 0.00
Connection 
with com-
poser
8.17 0.76 10.53 0.98 0.56 0.87 3.62 1.16
Musical activities:
Singing 0.00 0.00 6.32 3.92 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Playing 
instrument 0.00 0.76 7.37 0.98 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Dancing 13.23 5.34 0.00 0.98 0.00 0.00 2.17 0.00
Emotional aspect:
Identification 
of emotions 1.95 2.29 4.21 2.94 2.25 13.91 2.17 1.16
Experien-
cing and 
expressing of 
emotions
28.40 14.50 10.00 7.84 13.48 4.35 6.52 4.65
Stimulation of imagination - non-musical associations:
Outside the 
context of the 
musical work 
and content
0.78 0.76 0.00 0.00 2.25 0.00 2.17 0.00
Within the 
context of the 
musical work 
and content
4.67 13.74 9.47 8.82 2.25 6.96 4.35 0.00
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Music works
Masquerade
(Khachatu-
rian)
Wellington’s  
Victory 
(Beethoven)
Scheherazade  
(Rimsky-Kor-
sakov)
Pavane  
(Fauré)
Expressing an 
opinion about 
the context 
of a musical 
work (musical 
and non-mu-
sical elements)
1.17 0.00 5.26 0.00 6.74 3.48 3.62 1.16
Other 0.39 0.76 2.11 0.98 1.69 5.22 7.97 6.98
In total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Note. ªCE = Cognitive-emotional approach; bST = Standard approach
Regarding the question What will you remember about this musical work?, 
the pupils’ experience of listening and participating in the lesson were cap-
tured. Table 5 shows the number of answers collected for each musical work in 
both didactical approaches. All answers are classified into categories related to: 
(i) cognitive aspects (musical components), (ii) musicological orientation, (iii) 
emotional aspect, (iv) stimulation of imagination – non-musical associations, 
(v) expressing an opinion, and (vi) other. Table 6 shows the percentages of re-
sponses to the question What will you remember …?
Table 5 
Number of answers regarding the question “What will you remember about this musical work?” 
for 4 musical works and didactical approach
Didactical 
approach
Music work
Masquerade
(Khachatu-
rian)
Wellington’s 
Victory (Be-
ethoven)
Schehera-
zade 
(Rimsky-
-Korsakov)
Pavane
(Fauré)
What will you 
remember about 
this music work?
CEa 461 233 210 171
STb 309 206 192 216
Note. ªCE = Cognitive-emotional approach; bST = Standard approach
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Table 6 
Percentage of answers per categories regarding the question “What will you remember about this 
musical work?” and didactical approach
Music work
Masquerade
(Khachatu-
rian)
Wellington’s 
Victory (Be-
ethoven)
Schehera-
zade  
(Rimsky-
-Korsakov)
Pavane  
(Fauré)
Didactical approach CEa STb CE ST CE ST CE ST
Categories 
of answers
Cognitive aspect - musical components:
Rhythm 19.31 39.81 13.73 5.34 2.86 4.69 2.92 3.70
Tempo 4.56 6.47 7.30 5.83 2.38 8.33 6.43 6.02
Mood 4.12 7.12 12.02 14.56 10.95 13.54 25.15 18.52
Structure 0.65 0.65 0.86 0.97 0.48 4.69 0.00 0.93
Melody 3.25 6.47 3.00 3.88 14.76 7.81 14.04 15.74
Instruments 4.56 6.47 16.74 20.87 6.19 12.50 6.43 8.33
Dinamics 3.04 4.21 7.73 9.22 5.24 8.33 4.09 3.70
Musicological orientation:
Work 5.64 5.50 8.58 3.88 6.19 8.33 18.71 18.52
Composer 1.08 0.65 3.86 1.46 1.43 1.56 0.00 1.85
Content 6.94 1.62 15.45 23.30 34.76 14.06 4.09 0.00
Emotional aspect:
Identification of 
emotion
12.58 1.29 3.86 2.43 0.00 0.52 1.75 5.56
Experiencing and 
expressing of emo-
tions
14.53 0.97 1.72 2.43 1.43 1.56 5.26 4.17
Stimulation of imagination - non-musical associations:
Outside the context 
of the musical work 
and content
0.43 0.97 0.43 0.49 1.43 2.60 4.68 4.63
Within the context 
of the musical work 
and content
16.27 6.15 0.43 0.00 2.86 8.85 0.58 0.93
Expressing an opinion 2.39 7.44 4.29 2.43 8.10 2.60 2.34 2.31
Other 0.65 4.21 0.00 2.91 0.95 0.00 3.51 5.09
In total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Note. ªCE = Cognitive-emotional approach; bST = Standard approach
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The drawings completed by the pupils can also be taken into consider-
ation here. Four categories can be identified: (i) drawings related to musical 
elements (e.g. musical instruments, notes, concert hall), (ii) drawings related 
to emotions (e.g. sad, happy faces, feelings), (iii) drawings related to the mu-
sical content or the composer, and (iv) drawings that are not related to either 
the music or the content of the lesson. Although topics related to the content 
of the work and to the musical elements predominate in both groups, the CE 
group differ from the standard group in that there were more drawings with a 
theme related to the content of the work (57% vs 13%) and a fewer number of 
drawings with a theme related to musical elements (27% vs 35%) (more in: Vid-
ulin et al., 2020).
Teachers’ reflection and evaluation concerning the CEA
The results from the teachers’ reflections on and evaluations of CE listening to 
music (Vidulin et al., 2020, p. 197) indicate a positive reaction to this approach 
(as illustrated in Table 7).
Table 7 
Teachers’ evaluation after implementation of the CE listening to music
Teachers’ experience with CEA Yes Not sure No
It took much longer than usual to prepare the lesson according to the 
CEA. 10 2 2
I managed to implement teaching according to the given CEA teaching 
plans. 12 2 -
CEA approach differs from the conventional approach to music 
listening. 8 6 -
The experience of working with the given CEA teaching plans will 
affect my future work. 11 3 -
I want to change the didactical approach to music listening. 9 5 -
I plan to create teaching plans according to the CEA in my future work. 8 6 -
discussion
Different categories of answers to the question What did teacher’s instruction 
and guidance before listening to the musical work encouraged you on? were rep-
resented for four music works. In line with expectations, pupils in both groups 
predominantly responded that guidance before listening encouraged them 
to follow the lesson, which suggests that the way in which the teachers intro-
duced the pupils to listening to music aroused the pupils’ interest and was mo-
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tivating. For Scheherazade about 60% of answers in both groups were within 
the category related to following the lesson. For other works, answers in the 
category related to following the lessons were more represented by the stand-
ard approach (p < .05). Namely, about 50% of answers for Masquerade, 60% for 
Wellington’s Victory, and even 85% for Pavane fell within this category in the 
standard approach, compared to about 20%, 40% and 67% of answers coming 
within the same category for the three works in the CE listening. This result 
suggests that answering was more uniform in the ST than in the CE listen-
ing. On the other hand, answers in the CE listening were more diverse. Table 
4 shows that for all works, the answers in other categories are less represented, 
mostly in the range from 0 to 15%. 
The cognitive aspects of this question related to the connections with 
the content of the musical works that were listened to (about the war, boat, 
sea, ball; I thought how Scheherazade tells the story to the Sultan) and the con-
nection with the composers (The work prompted me to think about the compos-
er’s life, his sad childhood, how he lost his hearing, how talented he was), while 
the emotional aspects related to identification and experiencing and express-
ing emotions. From Table 4, it can be seen that the representation of respons-
es of the pupils who listened to Masquerade according to the cognitive-emo-
tional approach is equal in the categories related to following the lessons and 
to the connection with the content of the musical work (about 20%) and that 
there are also responses related to experiencing and expressing emotions (about 
30%). At the same time, the answers in the category of following lessons are 
less common compared to the standard approach, while the answers related to 
the connection with the content of the musical work and experiencing and ex-
pressing emotions are more represented compared to the standard approach 
(p < .05). On the other hand, in Wellington’s Victory answers related to the 
connection with the content of the musical work are more represented in the 
standard approach (p < .05). The introduction made by the teacher before lis-
tening to Scheherazade in the standard approach resulted in a higher preva-
lence of responses related to the identification of emotions, while in the CE 
listening, responses related to experiencing and expressing emotions are more 
prevalent (p < .05).
It should be mentioned that the introduction and guidance given by the 
teacher encouraged the pupils who listened to Masquerade according to the 
CE listening to dance more often than the pupils who listened to it according 
to the standard approach (p < .05). Also, pupils who listened to Wellington’s 
Victory according to the CE listening reported more often that the introduc-
tion encouraged them to play compared to those who listened to it according 
to the standard approach (p < .05). Wellington’s Victory equally encouraged 
pupils of both approaches to sing. Regarding the stimulation of imagination, 
non-musical associations that are not in the context of the four musical works 
and contents were mentioned very rarely (about football, bees and flies, games, 
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girls; I was thinking about a man who meditates in a beautiful meadow; I was 
thinking about being famous, that people appreciate me for my music) while part 
of the answer includes associations that are in the context of the musical works 
and contents (about humanity, values, altruism; I thought about no more war. 
Violence is never a solution; I thought how important peace is in the world; Peo-
ple should not commit evil towards innocent people). As stated earlier, this is a 
low representation of responses, with the notable exception of the standard 
approach to listening to Masquerade, where the percentage of associations is 
around 14%.
By looking at the content of the answer it can be concluded that the teach-
ers’ guidance achieved its key function, which is to arouse interest in participa-
tion in class and active listening.
For the question What will you remember about this musical work? (Table 
6) the distribution of responses varied. This distribution of answers is expect-
ed since the question about memory captures the current availability of the lis-
tened, imagined and reflected content and state during listening, which can re-
flect large individual differences among listeners and which consequently leads 
to a large variety of answers. In the case of Masquerade, it can be observed that 
most of the answers collected in the standard approach refer to rhythm (about 
40%), while the representation of answers in all other categories does not ex-
ceed 8%. This finding reflects the emphasis on the cognitive aspects of listen-
ing in the standard approach. On the other hand, although rhythm represents 
20% of the responses in the cognitive-emotional listening to music, it is noticed 
that there are also responses related to emotional aspects and non-musical as-
sociations within the context of the piece of music (between 12 and 16%). This 
finding confirms the multidimensionality of the CE listening.
In Wellington’s Victory and in Pavane, the distribution of responses is sim-
ilar in both didactical approaches. However, in the case of Wellington’s Victo-
ry, it can be observed that with the CE listening, the answers related to rhythm 
are more prevalent (about 14%, p < .05), possibly due to the activity that includ-
ed playing rhythmic instruments. Differences were also obtained in the cate-
gory related to musicological orientation, so the answers related to the work are 
more prevalent in the cognitive-emotional approach, and those related to the 
content in the standard approach (p < .05). In the case of Pavane, it is noticed 
that the answers related to mood, melody and work are more prevalent than 
others, regardless of the didactical approach.
In the case of Scheherazade, it can be noticed that most of the answers col-
lected in the CE listening are in the category related to the content of the mu-
sical work (about 35%), and that there are also answers related to the melody 
(about 15%), and it is also noticeable that more than 10% of the answers refer to 
the mood. In the case of the standard approach, the answers are predominant-
ly distributed within categories related to the cognitive aspect (around 60% in 
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total). Answers related to the content were also represented, but to a lesser ex-
tent than with the cognitive-emotional approach (p < .05).
Even though the school context is limited because pupils do not choose 
the music they would like to listen to or the group with whom they engage 
in listening, the results show that the teacher’s instruction and guidance in 
CE listening to music (that can be observed in lessons about Scheherazade and 
Masquerade) can stimulate a stronger, more intense emotional musical experi-
ence in school-age children, thereby enhancing their overall experience. Teach-
ers encourage them to reflect upon the music and also on non-musical elements 
like human characteristics, values and ways of problem solving. 
It should be considered, as Juslin and Laukka (2004) highlight, that mu-
sic itself and different musical characteristics transmit or stimulate the appear-
ance of emotions. Besides the emotional experience influenced by the char-
acteristics of the musical piece, the listener, and the context within which 
listening takes place are of great importance (Cespedes-Guevara & Eerola, 
2018; Juslin, 2013). 
It is suggested here that the CE listening, compared to the standard ap-
proach to music listening, can be regarded as more holistic as it engages pu-
pils across a range of musical and non-musical modalities (singing, dancing, 
playing and verbal and/or non-verbal presentations) and pupils also respond to 
the music through these modalities. Singing has advantages related to well-be-
ing over just listening to music (Kreutz et al., 2004) and the connection be-
tween drumming and music, especially in the company of peers, is also evi-
dent (Kirschner & Tomasello, 2009; Honing, 2012; Phillips-Silver & Trainor, 
2007). Pupils’ active participation and performing is a prerequisite for stronger 
impressions and, probably, more successful learning (Fung & Gromko, 2001).
Multimodal lessons address diverse needs and preferences (Picciano, 
2009). The advantages of a multimodal approach are confirmed by many au-
thors (Yu et al., 2010), and it can be seen that using different sources allows 
pupils to create more referential connections out of their experiences (Mayer, 
2001). The variety of learning resources are also found to be beneficial, as stat-
ed by other authors (Sankey et al., 2010). 
The teachers (Vidulin et al., 2020) stated that the CE listening to music 
was successful in practice, innovative and creative as a new didactical approach. 
The music became clearer and more interesting for the pupils. They highlight-
ed that the CE listening facilitated pupils’ better concentration and involve-
ment, more active participation, greater interest in classical music, and better 
knowledge, and gave them the opportunity to express emotions. Teachers liked 
the connection of the musical pieces with real life, in which they could empha-
size positive human values. They also emphasised the well-chosen and interest-
ing musical works selected for music listening and the well-designed teaching 
plans they received. Teachers stated that they would recommend the CE lis-
tening as an effective and contemporary model for music listening at school. 
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They realized that preparing the teaching plan is more demanding because it 
requires a more detailed preparation by teachers themselves. It means that they 
need to analyse the music and the composer in detail and to research the con-
text, then implement creative ideas in the classroom, planning and leading a 
range of multimodal activities, etc. Two teachers added that they would not 
use it in every lesson because of lack of time.
conclusion
The results of the research indicate that pupils in both groups specify that the 
teacher’s guidance before listening encouraged them to follow the lesson. Even 
though the results show that the answers regarding the categories mentioned 
by pupils were more diverse in the CE listening, it is necessary to point out that 
the guidance achieved the main goal which is to arouse pupils’ interest in active 
listening. It is also evident that, in general, CE listening can stimulate a more 
intense music experience and can be regarded as more holistic, taking into con-
sideration musical and non-musical modalities. The cognitive-emotional ap-
proach is also detected as successful in music teaching in general school by the 
teachers involved in the research. Considering that pupils and teachers were 
satisfied with the teaching plans and the realization of the music lessons ac-
cording to the CE listening, the potential of this approach to listening to mu-
sic can be seen as new perspectives on how to listen to music in music school 
and gymnasium. 
During the school year 2021/2022 the research on CE listening to mu-
sic was realized in 19 music schools in Croatia, with approximately 1000 pu-
pils. The institutional project at the Academy of Music in Pula (MAPU/GP-
ZN-2020-2) aims to check the adequacy of cognitive-emotional listening to 
music in ear training (solfeggio) lessons. The goal was to determine how such 
listening can be realized through the multimodal use of musical and non-mu-
sical areas and activities, but in the context of dictation, singing by ear/notes, 
rhythmic and melo-rhythmic exercises and other theoretical content in order 
to encourage pupils’ experience, perception and apperception. The results will 
be shown during 2023 at several international symposia and the papers in re-
gards to these will be published.
The next step is to test CE listening to music in gymnasium and then com-
pare with all the results, which is the new institutional project being carried 
out at the Academy of Music in Pula (MAPU/GP-ZN-2022-1). After adopting 
the theoretical framework of CE listening to music in gymnasium and prepar-
ing the teaching plans according to it, experimental research in a few schools in 
Croatia will be done during the school/academic year 2022/2023. The research 
in 2023/2024 will follow in a representative number of Croatian gymnasia. 
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The results from the general school, music school and gymnasium settings 
will lead to a complete formatting of the potential of CE listening to music. In 
that way new practices will be promoted to a greater extent, taking into con-
sideration the practical and scientific point of view so that the field of listen-
ing to music can be theoretically and practically enriched. Besides this, and as 
the outcomes of the cognitive-emotional listening, pupils will be able to ex-
perience, feel and understand music holistically, to express and identify their 
emotional states and promote positive human values in the wider community.
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Povzetek 
UDC 78:373.3.016(497.5)
Ko poslušanje glasbe kot kognitivna dejavnost preide v kognitivno-emocionalno poslu-
šanje glasbe (pristop CE), holistično angažira učence. V raziskavi so bile preučene ana-
litične naloge pri poslušanju glasbe, ki učence vodijo k pridobivanju glasbenih znanj, in 
asociativne naloge, ki spodbujajo domišljijo učencev in njihove čustvene reakcije. Razi-
skava je potekala v šolskem letu 2018/2019, vanjo je bilo vključenih 557 učencev petega ra-
zreda iz 16 hrvaških osnovnih šol. Imela je več ciljev. V pričujočem prispevku so predsta-
vljeni rezultati, ki se nanašajo na spodbujanje motivacije učencev, na njihove vtise in na 
refleksije. Raziskava je potekala kot eksperiment, ki je vključeval dve skupini učencev. V 
kontrolni skupini so bili učenci vodeni s standardnim, kognitivno usmerjenim pristo-
pom poučevanja. Učenci, ki so bili vključeni v eksperimentalno skupino, pa so bili vode-
ni po pristopu CE. Podatki so bili pridobljeni z vprašalnikom za učence in z dvema vpra-
šalnikoma za učitelje. Vprašalniki so vključevali vprašanja alternativnega tipa (DA/NE), 
odprta vprašanja, vprašanja izbirnega tipa in ocenjevalne lestvice. Podatki so bili analizi-
rani s kvantitativnim in kvalitativnim pristopom. Rezultati kažejo, da pristop CE spod-
budi intenzivnejšo čustveno glasbeno izkušnjo pri učencih in podkrepi njihov splošni 
vtis o glasbi. Pristop CE učence aktivira skozi več glasbenih in neglasbenih modalitet: 
sa
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id
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 ◆ th
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 listen
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 m
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 in
 sc
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 po
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51
petje, ples, igranje ter verbalne in/ali neverbalne predstavitve. Učenci se skozi navede-
ne modalitete tudi odzivajo na glasbo. Razmišljajo tako o glasbi kot tudi o občih človeš-
kih lastnostnih, vrednotah in načinih reševanja težav. Učitelji so ocenili, da je imel pri-
stop CE v praksi imel dobre rezultate. Pri učencih so opazili boljšo koncentracijo, boljšo 
vključenost, aktivnejše sodelovanje in zmožnost izražanja čustev ter vtisov. Menili so, da 
pristop CE zahteva tudi podrobnejšo pripravo učne ure. Če želimo izboljšati šolsko pra-
kso, bi morali angažirati tako učence za aktivno sodelovanje kot tudi učitelje, da bi bili 
zainteresirani za ustvarjalno poučevanje in uporabo pristopa CE. Pri poslušanju glasbe 
predstavlja CE enega od možnih načinov, ki se preverjajo v nadaljnjih raziskavah.