1. Introduction

Music is a multifunctional phenomenon in a person's life and their interaction with the outside world: it serves as a reflection of the emotional state of the individual, performs the functions of communication between people, and contributes to the manifestation of the uniqueness of each individual person in the context of society.

Music weaves a narrative of our inner emotional landscapes, speaking a language that transcends words and directly engages the soul's palette of feelings. As our neurological pathways light up in response to its rhythms and melodies, music becomes a mirror, reflecting the depths of our joy, the weight of our sorrow, and the complexities of our emotional states that might otherwise remain unvoiced. In the dance between sound and sensation, music offers a universal yet intimately personal narrative that echoes our emotions, connecting us to the shared human experience while honoring our unique emotional journeys. Such qualities of musical art allow it to become one of the most effective communication tools, contributing to the establishment of deep social ties in modern society. The creation and exchanging between people contributes to the mutual transmission of information about each person's character, individual values, emotional state, and perception of the world. Music playlists can be a very intimate thing for a person that they would not want to share with anyone (^{Rochow, 2012}) ⁽¹⁾. The importance of the noted fact lies in the fact that it helps strangers comprehend a larger amount of information about their cultural, spiritual, moral, and aesthetic preferences, in contrast to photo or video sources. In the realm of academic inquiry, the distinction between music and visual media in facilitating comprehension has been substantiated through various interdisciplinary studies. For instance, M. ^{Thaut and S. de l'Etoile (2014}) ⁽²⁾ underscore music's efficacy in cognitive processing through its rhythmic and melodic structures, which can lead to enhanced memory and emotional engagement, as compared to static images. The rhythmic precision and temporal dynamics inherent in music make it a robust framework for neurologic music therapy and cognitive rehabilitation. M. ^{Wallentin et al. (2010}) ⁽³⁾ provide empirical evidence supporting the notion that music activates broad neural networks, including those associated with emotions, motor functions, and creativity, which are less prominently engaged when processing visual stimuli. This extensive neural engagement with music suggests a more holistic cognitive activation that could facilitate complex learning processes.

In their examination of cross-modal cognition, A. ^{Patel (2008}) ⁽⁴⁾ posits that music's abstractness compels the brain to engage in deep semantic processing, which can foster more robust associative learning. This aligns with R. ^{Mayer's (2001}) ⁽⁵⁾ multimedia learning theory, which emphasizes the cognitive benefits of multimodal information processing, with music serving as an auditory channel that complements the visual channel, thereby enhancing comprehension. D. ^{Levitin (2006}) ⁽⁶⁾ discusses how music can encode emotional and contextual nuances in ways that surpass visual cues, allowing for a more nuanced communication of cultural and historical contexts. This sentiment echoes the findings of S. ^{Koelsch (2014}) ⁽⁷⁾, who emphasizes music's capacity to convey emotions without explicit semantic content, which can influence cognitive and emotional states powerfully.

To summarize the academic literature, music's role in enhancing comprehension is multifaceted and deeply rooted in both cognitive and emotional processes. Its temporal dynamics, emotional evocation, and cross-modal abstraction capabilities provide a rich tapestry for engagement and understanding, surpassing the abilities of static or moving visual media in certain respects. The communicative power available in music also reveals aspects of intuitive comprehension of the relationship between a person’s artistic preferences and his individuality (^{Flannery & Woolhouse, 2021}) ⁽⁸⁾.

The trends inherent in the performing arts of our time encourage Western instrumentalists of the classical tradition to realise new facets of the significance of their work in the context of interpretation. Modern musical culture, on the one hand, recognises the composer's activity as the leading link in the creation of works; on the other hand, it opens up new opportunities for interaction between representatives of various fields of musical creativity (^{Obukhova, 2019}) ⁽⁹⁾. Today, the scale and versatility of creative projects in the world of music unite artists in dance, theatre, and writing.

Thanks to the principle of the synthesis of arts, which occurs in such situations, interpretation becomes a complex phenomenon, the basis of which are the components of plasticity: the live presence of people as participants in the artistic process; their actions; and the perspectives contained in them.

There is an opinion that improvisation is a purely spontaneous phenomenon, a set of random actions that exclude any adherence to pre-known postulates. However, reality reveals other facets of the noted phenomenon: the path to freedom of creative expression of thoughts and the removal of boundaries delineated by rules and relative logic. The dual perception of improvisation is a reflection of the opposition of several concepts formed in the context of modernism. They are original, opposing stylistic conditioning and its limits and creativity as opposed to strict predetermination regarding the formation of compositional structures (^{Volkov, 2023}) ⁽¹⁰⁾. Thus, the standard and familiar beginnings are opposed to the creative impulse that contributes to the creation of a masterpiece. Improvisation, as an artistic phenomenon of our time, acquires the role of "the subjectivity of the present time", helping scientists discover the mechanisms of interconnection and interaction between ideas that are opposite in content and direction. These ideas represent freedom and strict regulation, individual and universal aspects, and private and general principles (^{Siljamaki & Kanellopoulos, 2020}) ⁽¹¹⁾.

Musical intelligence is fundamental in interpreting the nuanced demands of different genres and species characteristics, serving as a bridge between theoretical knowledge and expressive performance. This cognitive ability plays a crucial role in adapting one's musical and performing interpretation to the diverse landscapes of genre-specific styles and forms. Musical intelligence is a system whose leading components are creativity, analysis of works, composing, performing, and listening practices, and artistic experience. These components are universal and can be applied to various areas of musical art. In particular, to its creation, perception, and the process of learning its basics. Outstanding interpreters, referring to the most striking works of world musical culture, reflected their own vision of their ideas in accordance with the period of time in which their performing activities fell. Thus, they created an updated version of the compositions, which found a positive response from the widest audience and opened up new facets of the worldview to the listeners (^{Sternberg, 2020}) ⁽¹²⁾.

In the context of the academic tradition of Western countries, the quality and level of interpretation of musical works are of fundamental importance for their transmission to society. Interpretation makes it possible to reproduce age-old music today while remaining modern. Nevertheless, many performers, even during their higher musical education, have limited experience or even no experience at all learning the score or forming an interpretation. They often attend classes and rehearsals without any clear personal interpretation of the pieces they perform. In this case, the teacher "imposes" his or her own vision of the composition on the student rather than teaching the interpretation (^{Novosiadla, 2023}) ⁽¹³⁾. The qualities of a brilliant performer are formed in students if they perceive interpretation as an integral and especially significant aspect of learning musical works. His scale extends from the basic level (mastering dynamic hues, execution speed, and stroke system) to the pinnacle of performance (^{Trapkus, 2020}) ⁽¹⁴⁾. However, the problem of the implementation of the genre and artistic specificity of works in the context of performing practice still remains unsolved. An attempt to highlight it is made in this publication. The purpose of the article is to study the processes of realisation of the genre and artistic foundations of music in the interpretation of vocalists and instrumentalists.

2. Materials and Methods

While considering the issue of genre and species characteristics of musical and performing interpretation, the following scientific methods were applied: analytical method, method of comparison, deductive method, method of generalisation, method of systematisation, method of questionnaire survey, and systematic analysis, which provided an opportunity to link all the research results together.

The application of systems analysis in this study was due to the fact that systems' analysis is part of systems theory, a methodological concept for investigating objects within a single, closed, and complete system. In this study, higher music education, within which the processes in question took place, is used as such a system. With the help of the analytical method, this study presented a list of components that influence genre and species characteristics in musical and performing interpretation. Logical analysis is defined as applying methods of mathematical logic with the aim of finding truth in philosophical and methodological problems. It became the foundation for discovering the system of genre and species characteristics of musical and performing interpretation, as well as the factors that affect the extent to which interpretive skill is developed.

In the study, the method of comparison was used to collate the results of the experimental part of the study for musicians representing different genres in order to identify the influence of different musical genres and directions on the levels of musical interpretation. The method of synthesis is used by researchers to connect the elements of a system or process into a coherent whole in both practical and theoretical human activities. This research method was used to collate data about the role of different principles of teaching music in institutions where students have wide opportunities for the growth of their interpretation skills.

The deductive method is used to move from general statements to particular, singular, and specific facts, knowledge, and processes. In the study, deduction is achieved by moving from the abstract to the exact. Deduction helped to discover the creative process of finding solutions to real-life problems concerning interpretation skills that students may encounter in class during their higher music education. In order to carry out a multi-stage and branching study of a number of concepts and knowledge, the classification method is used. This method can be used to classify, distribute, or divide a certain number of objects, concepts, or names into classes, groups, or divisions, whereby objects that have a common feature fall into one group. In this study, the classification method was applied to group the research participants according to the genre in which they perform music (classical, folk, or jazz), as well as in the categories of instrumentalists and vocalists. The questionnaire method was presented in two stages.

At the first stage, students of higher music institutions gave an assessment of statements that related to their skills and views on musical interpretation (Table 1), and at the second stage, independent music experts assessed the interpretation skills in the students' performances.

An analysis of the literature and academic papers devoted to the topic of genre and species characteristics of musical and performing interpretation was carried out. Authors declare that the investigations were carried out following the rules of the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975, revised in 2013.

3. Results

As modern performing practice testifies, the interpretation of musical works is based on the observance of certain instructions specified in most forms of musical notation. As for ensemble performances, it is extremely important for each of their participants to come to a general agreement on the principles of interpretation. This will allow artists who have their own individual characteristics for playing a musical instrument to realise the complex task associated with collective performance (^{Bishop & Goebl, 2020}) ⁽¹⁵⁾.

The present study examines the genre and species characteristics of musical and performing interpretation in different genres of music (classical compositions; traditional music of different nations; jazz improvisations) and in relation to vocalists with respect to instrumentalists.

The research included a questionnaire section and a video recording of the performance, followed by an evaluation by independent experts. The results of the questionnaire section (Table 2) consist of statements that participants had to rate from 1 to 4 and the arithmetic mean of the participants' scores. It should be noted that there are practically no people who completely disagree (number 1) or fully support the established position (number 4). Positions are much more common, according to which the project participants either partially disagree (figure 2) or agree but not completely.

It was also found that when comparing information reflecting the specialty of musicians (instrumentalists and vocalists), the difference in the data obtained was insignificant. It turned out to be much more tangible when comparing indicators directly related to the genre nature of the performed works. The study shows that classical musicians are more inclined towards individual performing practices. Representatives of folk and jazz cultures often practice playing in an ensemble. At the same time, performers of all directions, without exception, consider individual music-making a necessary part of their activity. In their opinion, it makes the highest demands regarding the accuracy of the reproduction of the author's texts and the technical training of interpreters. All groups of musicians surveyed say that individual performance practice has brought them more positive experiences than negative ones (^{Sandgren, 2019}a) ⁽¹⁶⁾.

The performances of the study participants recorded on video were evaluated by independent experts in order to determine their degree of qualification. In particular, musical and performing interpretations of the different genre groups' representatives were considered (Table 3). Only the level of interpretation skills of the study participants was assessed, with scores ranging from 0 to 10. Table 3 presents the arithmetic mean values for each group of musicians from each of the 7 experts who took part in the study.

The study provides a comprehensive framework for understanding how music evokes emotions by considering performance, individual listener characteristics, and contextual factors. It focuses on two main areas influencing the emotional impact of music: the auditory experience shaped by a performer's use of expressive elements like tempo and dynamics, and the effect of both static and dynamic indicators, such as a performer's appearance and interpretative style, on the listener's emotional response. (^{Coutinho & Scherer, 2017}) ⁽¹⁷⁾.

The formation of an executor of the academic tradition implies not only the development of the necessary arsenal of technical skills but also the acquisition of knowledge in this area. It is a complex sociocultural phenomenon that encourages future professional musicians to study national traditions, be creative in interpreting musical classics, and recognise themselves as a part of society, identifying themselves in its environment (^{Vico, 2018}) ⁽¹⁸⁾.

The role, significance, and spread of improvisation in the context of performing activities of various scales are confirmed by the results of modern research practice in the field of music, as well as the appeal to it by musicians during classes, concert performances, and competitions. However, the creative thinking of outstanding Western improvisers still needs to be documented. Thus, a number of questions regarding this aspect arise. Among them, the problem of identifying special artistic improvisation strategies used by classical music performers has key importance. To solve it, semi-structured interviews were organised with world-famous experts in the field of classical musical improvisation. Five people took part in this project. Each of them provided their own original improvisation. Following this, an interview was conducted, with the help of which the subjective auxiliary memories of the musicians were revealed. They served as the basis for the collection, as well as a retrospective verbal analysis of the data that revealed the strategy of their improvisations. With the help of the software, the materials from the noted interviews were coded and, subsequently, analyzed. As a result, 46 improvisation strategies were discovered. Besides, they were divided into five categories. They are related to such aspects as plan, concept, structure, atmosphere, style, and reality. These results are of great importance for modern musical pedagogy in the field of performance. They encourage educators to inspire students to implement a range of improvisational strategies, as well as encourage them to use these principles (^{Desores et al., 2017}) ⁽¹⁹⁾.

Thus, it becomes obvious that the genre direction in which musicians work plays an important role in determining the specifics of interpretation. If, for performers of classical music, individual music-making turns out to be more acceptable, then for vocalists and instrumentalists of jazz and folklore styles, playing in an ensemble is more typical. No less important in the context of musical art is the nature of interpretation.

Following the academic canons is typical for representatives of the classical branch of performing (^{Hromchenko, 2022}) ⁽²⁰⁾. The use of improvisation is typical for jazz and, to some extent, folklore musicians. It should be noted that genre direction and the specificity of interpretation are components of a single, complex system that embodies modern musical culture as a whole. They are closely interconnected and largely determine the nature of music, its style, belonging to a particular era, as well as national tradition. This fact contributes to the perception by performers and listeners of the cultural, ethnic, historical identification of musical works. It also favors their preservation for future generations.

4. Discussion

The study underlines the significance of genre in shaping musicians' interpretive practices, showing that classical musicians favor solo practice, while jazz and folk musicians prefer ensemble settings. Experts evaluated performances, with classical musicians scoring higher in individual practice and jazz musicians excelling in ensemble contexts, highlighting the role of genre in performance interpretation. These findings point to the importance of both individual and collective practices in music-making and the varied approaches to interpretation across different musical genres, emphasizing the rich complexity of musical culture and its transmission through generations. The basis for the study of creative processes, which are integral components of artistic interpretation, were video sources (recordings of rehearsals) and the survey regarding the performance aspect received from nine musicians. In addition, the musicians were given a reflective questionnaire to fill out. Independent observers recorded the creative activity of the musicians. At the first stage of processing the information obtained in this way, the principle of content analysis was used. Further, the leading aspects of phenomenology, adapted on the basis of interviews, found application. With their help, the actions of the performers were framed in a scientific text. Explanatory interviews played an important role in deciphering the activity of the musicians' subconscious at the time of interpretation. They contributed to a wide coverage of the details of the work of the human intellect in the field of art and a detailed description of this phenomenon. As the results of this experiment show, there are a number of strategies that are most effective in giving an interpretation of a unique concept. These strategies are based on the activation of such areas of mental activity as variability (divergence), optimisation (convergence), and identity (creative associativity). However, all of them are refracted individually in each specific case, becoming the material of the author's decision, characteristic of a single musician (^{Heroux, 2016}) ⁽²¹⁾. This information confirmed the concept of the proposed study, according to which interpretation is a single complex system consisting of a number of components. They, in turn, are closely interconnected and determine the nature of memorization of the work, its genre affiliation, and the specifics of the performing manner.

Modern researchers also focus their attention on such aspects as the characteristics of the personality of the performer, the objectivity of perception and statement of one's capabilities, and creative identity. So, in the example of comparing the listed indicators provided by vocalists and instrumentalists (N = 108), general (large-scale) and specific categories of this phenomenon were analysed. According to the conclusions of scientists, vocalists' emotions, positive attitude, and readiness for dialogue with the audience and society as a whole are wider and more multifaceted than instrumentalists'. Musical self-perception was examined using the following method: students were asked to share their own thoughts about the art of self-identification. The following components of creative self-identification and progress were equally significant for both vocalists and instrumentalists: focus on results; uniqueness of self-expression of the personality; brightness and versatility of shades of manifestation of musical activity. It should be noted that individuality in all its variety of qualitative characteristics is considered by singers as an object of the greatest importance and value in the world of art. The instrumentalists put the marked object only in third place. In addition, there are various aspects of perception of the creative process that are realized in musicians' own work that have paramount importance for vocalists and instrumentalists. So, for singers, the key elements of creative self-expression and self-perception turned out to be the tone of the voice, the emotional colouring of the performance, and the artistic concept. For performers on musical instruments, the leading role is played by: a system of dynamic shades; a concept; and sound colour (timbre) (^{Sandgren, 2019}b) ⁽²²⁾. Such conclusions also testify to the importance of identifying the nature of the interpretation. This is facilitated by the factors discussed in the proposed study. They are: the specialisation of the musician; the performing composition of ensembles and larger groups (orchestras).

The process of listening to music, its perception, and the individual interpretation of the content encrypted in the notes have undergone a radical update as a result of the emergence of equipment that captures and preserves the live interpretation of works.

Sound recordings of material related to musical performers of the past and present have become not only a technology for its preservation but have also opened up a unique opportunity for interpreters of the 21st century to comprehend the styles, manners, and nature of the game characteristic of representatives of various national cultures and historical periods. The significance of the archive of audio recordings in the context of the activities of musicians of the present time is becoming an actual topic of research by scientists. It is due to the fact that the problem of the direct impact of audio recordings on the work of contemporary musicians remains completely unexplored. It must be remembered that their activity is a complex phenomenon that combines a predetermined interpretation plan with improvisation, which reflects the unique talent of each performer. Discoveries in this area were obtained thanks to the online survey method aimed at identifying the specifics of the use of records during the educational process and in performing concert activities. The analysis of the results obtained was carried out using the method of thematic induction (N = 130).

Thus, the following facts were revealed: the demand for recordings by modern musicians is increasing; recordings contribute to the creative progress of students and touring artists; they create the prerequisites for a high level of culture among listeners and the formation of objective critical thinking in relation to various interpretations among them as well as among performers. This, in turn, opens the way for the creation of a new progressive method of teaching musical performance, which is based on: a creative approach to mastering the program (repertoire); self-education; and the search for optimal interpretation options, where the originality of the talent of musicians is realised, and their individuality is manifested (^{Volioti & Williamon, 2017}) ⁽²³⁾. This concept serves as an additional aspect of a single and complex system of modern musical performance. It turns out to be a source of fixation and preservation for various interpretations belonging to the classical, folklore, and jazz trends. It, in turn, helps modern musicians better navigate the process of determining the specifics of the performance of their repertoire.

The introduction of society to the musical arts is a multifaceted phenomenon. It contains such areas as composition, the process of listening to works, educational and training performing practice, and interdisciplinary synthesis that contributes to the development of choreographic elements by musicians. This fact indicates that a person can simultaneously master certain types of musical art. Thus, the process of creating music can include a number of components: mastering the discipline in an educational institution; performing on musical instruments; vocal interpretation; playing on a concert stage; festivals and competitions; preparing musical works for publication. The interdisciplinary synthesis noted above is also reflected in the direction of musical culture as choreography. The artist, in the process of performing a dance, comprehends the nature of a musical composition, listening to it attentively and with concentration. It should be noted that in the context of creating music, people who are directly related to it play different roles. These roles are divided into two groups: participation and coordinating activities. In the first case, a person takes over a teacher's knowledge of music, plays in a group, and listens to a piece. In the second case, a person organises the musical process and manages its course. This is how the singing (choir) or instrumental (orchestra) groups are managed, as well as the organisation of music classes by the teacher. In addition, there are differences between the formats of musical practice. They are official if they are directly related to teaching and academic performance on stage.

The process of self-education and amateur music-making (amateur art) has an informal context (^{Krause et al., 2020}) ⁽²⁴⁾. The listed aspects are also important for the characteristics of musical performance. They can be directly related to the genres of works and the specifics of their performances, which are discussed in this article.

Specialists are also interested in the degree of awareness by the members of the chamber ensemble of the processes that occur at the time of their performance of classical music, how their interaction is carried out and coordinated with each other, and the specificity of the audience's perception of their performance in a duet. The fact is revealed that musicians intuitively feel and accurately determine the intentions of partners with whom they perform a musical work (^{Barytska et al., 2022}) ⁽²⁵⁾. Moreover, their assumptions about the existence of a creative, emotional, and intellectual relationship with the audience are justified, which gives the performers a sense of the artistic result of their performance and motivates their activities in the future. The practice of passive participation in the process of musical performance forms in the audience a culture of listening and experience of perception, as well as objective, constructive, and productive criticism of the skill of musicians. The process of perception of musical works by listeners is enriched with the help of the method of observing the text of the music performed on the stage. It happens through the use by the audience of claviers or scores (during the sound of the orchestra) of the compositions being listened to. At the same time, the listener has access to various artistic interpretations of the opus performed by different musicians (^{Spiro & Schober, 2021}) ⁽²⁶⁾. This aspect of performing activity highlights the essence and qualities of collective interpretation as an artistic phenomenon. Here, too, there is a significant role for the genre and the specifics of the performance.

If music teachers believe that students should develop independent musical skills as a consequence of their musical education, it is absolutely essential that large ensembles are structured in a way that promotes musical independence with an emphasis on student free will, critical decision-making, and lifelong musicality. This does not mean that all the curricula should be the same, but each curriculum should ensure that students experience the critical freedom of action that will enable them to make meaningful associations with music throughout their lives. One of the ways to meet this expectation is to incorporate music independence training into the core curriculum of higher music education, giving priority to ensuring that each student develops the skills to interact, criticize, and evaluate the wide range of musical experiences that they can gain throughout their lives by participating in study group programs (^{Weidner, 2020}) ⁽²⁷⁾. It reveals the effectiveness of improvisation, a unique performing technique that is discussed in this study. It can be mastered through individual as well as collective music-making.

The methodological levers contained in the problem statement of the formation of performance thinking can be considered constructive and promising for scientific discussion by the scientific community. These levers include, first and foremost, the following:

1) setting the performer's personality on a reflective structure of self-consciousness, which identifies itself with the other consciousness - the author-creator and the subject of the music itself; hence the role of the personality phenomenology;

2) the role of theoretical principles of musical thinking (pitch structure, principles of development of a given structure, musical texture due specifically to the performance line-up, etc.).

Thus, music theory is enriched by the performance-psychological factors of perception of the new spiritual reality that the interpreter of music creates (intentions of will, love, and human symbiosis with the world). The "starting point" for the performer's search for his or her own concept is taken from the well-established system of integrative links between music theory and its modern "branch," interpretology (^{Shapovalova & Aleksandrova, 2020}) ⁽²⁸⁾. This conclusion is a valuable source for practicing. It is an interdisciplinary synthesis. Thanks to him, the works are interpreted by the interpreter deeper and more expressively and become standards of performance.

The productivity of mastering musical disciplines is based on a number of aspects. Among them, there is one that has key values. This is a research approach to improvisation as a process for creating music. The pedagogical practice of the first decades of the 21st century testifies to the extent to which individual (focused on the person) and creative approaches are in demand in the learning process (^{Kachur, 2015}) ⁽²⁹⁾. The updated methodology for teaching musical disciplines motivates students to independently master subjects in the field of performing arts. Composing music and improvisation are becoming the most effective principles for building a knowledge base and skills that contribute to the professional growth of students. This approach is a constructive learning system that encourages both teachers and students to think outside the box and make creative decisions regarding the rhythmic, intonation, chord-harmonic, thematic, timbre, and stylistic design of the musical material. It serves as a prerequisite for the development of students' skills in independent creative thinking and the creation of artistic images, as well as ideas that are innovative in essence (^{Volioti & Williamon, 2020}) ⁽³⁰⁾. These are the leading aspects of high-level interpretation. It is their development that contributes to the creation of unique samples of the performance of music from various stylistic trends, national schools, and eras.

Through field research based on monitoring the activities of large musical collectives (orchestra rehearsals, sessions, and recordings) as well as conversations with famous conductors (Claudio Abbado, Lawrence Akilby and Claire Guibaud), scientists seek to highlight the problem of group interpretation. According to the results of their research, this phenomenon is an artistic self-realisation not only of an individual but also of the team in general. At the same time, group creativity comes first. The scale of this topic has led to its study in several directions. One of them is focused on revealing the importance of personality and professionalism, as well as the authority of the artistic director of the orchestra (conductor). Coverage of all these aspects helps to comprehend the mechanism of interaction between the conductor and the team and the adoption of public decisions that contribute to the full disclosure of artistic intent.

The second direction is focused on the analysis of a holistic spectrum of various components of the collective performance of music, necessary for a harmonious, balanced, and, at the same time, expressive sound. In accordance with the monitoring data of the activities of various groups, it was revealed that the artistic director (conductor) performs a leading function, and at the same time, he is closely connected with a group of musicians, thanks to which the performance of the works is carried out.

Thus, his role is not autonomous. Collective performance is an artistic phenomenon that is characterized by flexibility, openness to renewal, and the embodiment of performance options that arise spontaneously. Thus, in the process of presenting musical ideas and plots, the significance of each of his creative personalities undergoes a transformation and often appears in a new capacity. The very concept of the work and its essence serve as the foundation for the unification of all performers (including the conductor) into a single whole. Creativity abounds with initiatives by each of the participants and is expressed in their synergy (^{Ravet, 2016}) ⁽³¹⁾. The musical instrument is not just a tool for designing an artistic concept. It also forms a special type of mental activity in the musician who performs with it. This fact helped to reveal a deeper and larger problem in modern musical culture. It consists of the fact that the timbre of a musical instrument acquires the meaning of a certain image, character, or mood and serves as a concentrated expression of artistic ideas. The instrumental timbre, thus, becomes a mechanism for reforming sonority, structure, dramaturgy, plot orientation, and all other components of a musical work of the present period without exception. It forms a modernised type of orchestral (in particular) and compositional (in general) thinking (^{Chernoivanenko, 2019}) ⁽³²⁾.

It is expected that the expressive presentation of the work by the performers will gradually develop over time, as it is seen by the listener as the most appropriate way of reflecting the artistic image of music. As modern studies in the field of musicology show, rhythm, as an artistic, expressive, and compositional-technical aspect, acquires tremendous significance in the context of the musical art of the 21st century. The specifics of the rhythmic design of the composition can convey a certain range of states of the authors and musical characters, as well as the atmosphere of the environment and the period of time in which they have to be. Various facets of expression in the process of performing a musical work can arise spontaneously and also manifest themselves due to a plan outlined in advance by the performers. In the first case, musicians rely mainly on their creative intuition. In the second case, the specificity of the interpretation is due to the musicians' experience of practical activities, which, in turn, contributes to the formation of a conscious, predetermined concept regarding tempo and dynamics. It should be noted that for the masters of the performing sphere, a deliberate, constructive planning of the expressive scale in the context of interpretation is typical (this is confirmed by soloist musicians) (^{Demos et al., 2020}) ⁽³³⁾.

This information is of great importance for understanding the specifics of the performance. They are applicable to various genres and directions in the art of music.

All of these studies have played an important role in highlighting the problem of genre and the specifics of performance in the context of musical art. However, they were focused on one of its sides. This circumstance served as the basis for writing the proposed article, where the noted topic is a multifaceted and, at the same time, holistic phenomenon of performing culture. The study in question explores the intricate dynamics between individual and ensemble practice among musicians from various genres, and how these practices shape their interpretive strategies. The primary limitations of the study arise from the methodology and the scope of the data collected.

5. Conclusions

These findings are important because they underline the significant role genre plays in shaping a musician's interpretative skills, particularly highlighting the value of improvisation in genres like jazz. The research contributes new knowledge by providing empirical evidence that supports a genre-specific approach to teaching musical interpretation in higher education. It reveals that musical interpretation is not a one-size-fits-all skill but rather a spectrum of abilities that vary across musical genres and require different pedagogical strategies. The emphasis on improvisation as a key factor in interpretative skill development is a novel insight, suggesting that educational programs should allow for more creativity and personal expression. This could lead to a more dynamic and innovative approach to music education, ultimately enriching the performance and creation of music across various genres. Further research and methodological development in music pedagogy are recommended to enrich music interpretation and invigorate the progress of musical arts.