Emotion, originating from the Latin word "emovere" meaning to stir or agitate, generally encompasses intense feelings directed at events or objects in the world, often prompting specific behavioural responses. Throughout history, these emotional experiences have been categorised and labelled as emotions such as shame, anger, fear, joy, embarrassment, or disgust. It is widely agreed that emotions are distinct in nature, marked by particular patterns of personal experiences, physiological changes, outward expressions, and tendencies to action. Emotions are also believed to be adaptive because they serve a purpose and convey meaning to the individual, allowing them to engage with their environment and prepare for specific actions. Furthermore, emotions are believed to have communicative functions, often expressed through facial or vocal cues, making them crucial for social interaction. (Cristóvão et al., 2023). Unlike moods or sentiments, categories of emotions align with situational, rather than dispositional, affective connections to the world (Pan et al., 2022).

According to Keltner et al. (2016), emotional expressions are multifaceted dynamic behavioural patterns that encompass facial expressions, vocalisations, bodily movements, gaze, gestures, head movements, touch, autonomic responses, and even scent. They argue that these emotional expressions serve as the language of social interaction, binding individuals together in dyadic and group-based interactions. At its core, emotions are essentially geared towards prompting action and altering the likelihood of future actions (Raugh & Strauss, 2024). They empower individuals to respond to impactful stimuli, external or internal, by eliciting intricate patterns of behaviour that encompass various modalities, such as facial muscle movements, vocal signals, bodily motions, gestures, posture, and more.

The notion that music serves as a powerful form of emotional expression and communication has a long-standing tradition. In this discourse, vocal music holds a particularly unique position, especially when examining the interconnections among the evolution of non-verbal affective expression, the origins of music, and its capacity to evoke emotions in the listener. The precise nature of these emotions and their components (such as physiological arousal, action tendencies, motor expressions, and feelings) remains a debatable issue (Scherer & Coutinho, 2013). If the roots of singing are embedded in the emotional expression conveyed through the human voice, then the singing voice (or vocal music) emerges as the most likely catalyst for eliciting strong emotional responses. Davies et al. (2023) present three main features of singing: it is an enjoyable experience when done in a group, it is a social activity, and it has a soothing effect. According to Picado et al. (2023), songs are not only a sphere of aesthetic appeal but also serve as a significant educational tool. Since human emotions are grounded in spiritual and moral concepts, singing and emotional intelligence are interconnected in the teaching and learning process, mutually stimulating each other. The teaching of music thus presents an opportunity for students to heighten awareness of the emotions associated with music, comprehend their role in the creative and artistic dimensions of musical performance, and concurrently develop cognitive and metacognitive skills, aligning with the concept of "know how to do."

However, there is a lack of detailed research on promoting emotional expression in singing practice for third and fourth grade learners in primary education. The research question: What is characteristic of the process of promoting emotional expression in the music lesson for primary learners of the third and fourth grades, which helps to involve learners in the practice of singing activities?

The aim of the research is to theoretically and empirically reveal the possibilities of promoting emotional expression among third and fourth grade primary school learners in singing activities.

A systematic literature review was used to theoretically substantiate the definitions of emotions, their functions, aspects of expression, classification, models and emotions accompanying the process of music education. This research uses an approach of qualitative research to explore the possibilities of promoting emotional expression in singing activities for primary learners of the third and fourth grades. In qualitative research, qualitative content analysis was conducted using the inductive method. Thus, inductive content analysis was applied to examine various forms of emotional expression among primary schoolchildren during singing practice, considering both content forms and communication dynamics. In the first qualitative research stage, 40 lessons were recorded on video. These lessons were conducted by 14 primary school music teachers and involved 760 primary learners. Fourteen teachers from eight schools volunteered to participate and agreed to be observed. These eight schools are situated in various regions of Vilnius, Lithuania, which represent various types of schools. The observed lessons were coded according to grades. Teachers and learners provided characteristics of emotional expressions in musical activities. During the observation 36 positive and 10 negative emotional expressions of learners in singing activities were established. The emotional expression of primary school learners was classified according to the list of ten representative positive emotions by Fredrickson (2013) and to that of negative academic emotions by Finch et al. (2016). In the second qualitative research stage, it was important to empirically substantiate the possibilities of promoting the emotional expression of primary school learners in singing activities. Five teachers (from 3 primary schools) were selected by purposive sampling and 15 lessons were observed; five teachers who participated in the observation in the first stage of the qualitative study and showed the highest motivation to plan musical activities. This time 285 learners participated. A total of 93 pages of observation material and 675 minutes of video were collected. Observing by recording video singing activities was relevant to understand emotional expression in singing activities. Video recordings were used as empirical data for research purposes. A series of 15 lessons, conducted by a team of five music instructors, was recorded on video, each session lasting 45 minutes. These recordings captured the techniques used by music teachers to foster emotional expression among learners during planned musical singing activities. Critical incidents related to the study of musical activities were identified through a review process employing the Critical Incident Technique (Butterfield et al., 2005).

The study revealed that learners typically display more positive emotional expressions than negative ones during singing activities. This discovery is significant as intense negative emotions are believed to disrupt children's cooperation and may potentially affect their behaviour and relationships with teachers at school. Joy, awe, pride, gratitude, hope, serenity, and love are among the emotions evident during singing lessons. Observations of emotional expressions indicate that learners feel amused, interested and inspired while singing, conveying positivity through their voice, body movements, and various facial expressions. Positive expressivity is demonstrated through smiles, bright eyes, animated body movements, and upbeat tones or laughter, among other signals. Research indicates that music teachers employ various motivational strategies to encourage learners to actively express their emotions during the teaching process. These strategies include: 1) establishing an emotional connection with lyrics: music teachers explain the meaning of lyrics through musical storytelling to establish a link between the songs and learners’ life. By intertwining songs with personal experiences, teachers foster an environment conducive to connecting with learners’ emotional experiences; 2) analysing the melody of the song: learners are encouraged to discern subtle changes in the emotional tone of the song, fostering an aesthetic appreciation of the music; 3) incorporating elements of play: the inherent fun in singing activities promotes learner participation in a relaxed manner that enhances their willingness and motivation to express emotions through music; 4) engaging the body in emotional expression: learners improvise movements in response to the song, enabling them to experience the nuances of musical language. By coordinating movements with the music, learners perceive emotional cues, which allow them to listen, express, imitate, and create. This experiential approach is instrumental in helping learners listen to and analyse music characteristics while understanding the emotions conveyed by the song.

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