Emotional Intelligence and Self-regulation in the Teaching and Learning Process of Music Ensemble with Singing

The motivation behind the development of the research project “Emotional Intelligence and Self-regulation in the teaching and learning process of Music Ensemble with singing” was the academic and professional background of one of the authors who, throughout her experience in the field of music, became aware of the decisive role that Emotional Intelligence and Self-regulation play in performance - in classes, in individual/group study and in the performative context. The context of the curricular stage of the Master in Music Teaching – Singing and Music Ensemble, in the academic year 2020/2021, created the opportunity to design and implement the research project with a chamber music group composed of three singing students and one piano student. Music and Emotional Intelligence go “hand in hand” in the teaching and learning process, as one stimulates the other. The Teaching of Music could, therefore, be an opportunity for students to raise awareness of the emotions associated with music, understand their role in the creative and artistic dimension of musical performance, developing, in parallel, their cognitive and metacognitive skills, associating with “know how to do”. The main objectives of the research were: to understand the role of Emotional Intelligence and Self-regulation in learning processes; to promote Emotional Intelligence skills in the music teaching-learning process; design and implement strategies that promote self-regulation skills in learning; and evaluate the results through the monitoring and follow-up of the project, with a view to its reorientation. According to the context and objectives of the research, we organized the investigative process following the methodology of an action-research of a qualitative nature, making use of storytelling, focus group, questionnaires, interview and field notes for data collection. The analysis of results was supported by content analysis and data triangulation. As the most significant results, we highlight the fact that, through the chosen repertoire, a Performative Story was developed, inserting texts chosen or created by the students, movements (staging) and music, from a context and characters created by them. Through these elements and from the emotions that the students felt as interpreters and as a “character” of the poems, the songs and the story, the emotions were worked on, in the sense of the defined objectives. All Emotional and Musical Intelligence development tasks had a self-regulating basis, promoting self-reflection and self-analysis. The Performative Story was presented by the students in a public performance.