ESPLAT 2025 conference: Scientific thinking in challenging times

This study investigates the relationship between body, movement, and intentionality in group piano teaching, aiming to understand how these elements contribute to the musical learning process and psychic development. Based on Cultural-Historical Psychology, the study analyzes a group piano teaching episode, highlighting the appropriation of music as a system of signs and how social interactions contribute to the development of Higher Mental Functions. The research adopts a qualitative approach, collecting data through video recordings of 10 group piano lessons with a group of six students, transcription of dialogues, and field journal descriptions. The data were systematized and analyzed based on the concepts of movement, double stimulation, and social interactions. The results indicate that lessons and interactions play an essential role in students' psychic and musical development; however, this does not occur directly or spontaneously. Considering the dialectical perspective between mind and body, as proposed by Luria (1979; 1981) and Damasio (2010), the study demonstrates that the body is not merely a passive receiver but an active agent in learning. Through cultural mediation, the body learns, interacts, represents, and understands, enabling the individual to constitute themselves as both a process and a product of a volitional act. In the context of group piano teaching, movement-based practices, such as those inspired by the Orff approach, facilitated not only the internalization of musical content but also the students' expressive musical development. By integrating movement and musical thought, students demonstrated greater engagement in the activity, improving rhythmic precision, motor coordination, and interpretative expressiveness. The analyzed episodes revealed that practices in which body movement precedes instrumental practice enhance musical learning, allowing students to physically experience concepts such as pulse, phrasing, and dynamics. This process not only facilitates the appropriation of these elements but also leads to the aesthetic appropriation of music, promoting more musical interpretations.