RESEARCHER
“Ms. Canali stands out for the passion, enthusiasm and at the same time the utmost seriousness with which she conducts her research. Her actions are to be seen as part of an interconnected triad: that of the pedagogue, the artist and the scientist. It is necessary to underline her highly qualified interdisciplinarity and at the same time emphasise that, together with all her professionalism, the authenticity of her person remains always clearly perceptible and touching.“
Prof. DDDr.Wolfgang Mastnak
In addition to her performing and teaching activities, Francesca Canali devotes herself intensively to interdisciplinary research in the fields of music and art education, musician’s physiology and medicine (prevention, self-care and health), performance science.
In particular, her interest focuses on following topics: different forms, concepts and methodologies of teaching, giftedness (discovery, promotion and development of musical talent), psychology of learning, creativity, integral development of one’s personality, empowerment, anthropological and socio-cultural aspects related to music education.
Her main purpose is, on the one hand, to constantly deepen and expand her own artistic and pedagogical expertise and, on the other hand, to develop and foster a holistic pedagogical approach to flute/music education, which integrates the various bodily, educational, artistic, scientific, social and ‘spiritual’ aspects involved in making (playing and teaching) music.
Until 2020 she was part of a research team and taught music physiology, anatomy and musician’s medicine at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg.
As a pedagogue, she pursues a pedagogical methodology characterized by a holistic body-oriented approach that is grounded on the ‘human factor’ (bodily and mental human processes) involved in making music.
Since 1998, during her advanced studies in flute-performance in Salzburg, Francesca Canali began an in-depth interdisciplinary research into the anatomy and the physiological as well as artistic processes involved in flute and wind instrument playing and their similarities with singing.
During more than twenty years, she has investigated all the main artistic and pedagogical issues concerning sound, musical expressiveness, perception, acoustics and psychoacoustics, and the different techniques of sound production on the flute, focusing especially on the role of the vocal and respiratory system in determining different qualities of sound in parallel with different body postures, attitudes and ways of using the body whilst playing.
The results she has achieved open up new perspectives in instrumental didactics and pedagogy and set new impulses for musical interpretation on flute and winds instruments.
Part of these results were published in the doctoral dissertation with which Francesca Canali brilliantly obtained the academic title of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in music science and pedagogy cum Laude at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg (2013).
On this basis, Francesca Canali has developed a new pedagogical model and her own teaching methodology, characterised by a holistic didactic approach and a personal and scientifically founded synthesis of the main themes of instrumental didactics, pedagogy and interpretation.
She has been invited as a teacher and expert by many institutions and universities all around the world and she has lectured at international medical conferences and numerous international congresses on music pedagogy and the physiology of the musician.
A publication of her method will appear soon.
For more detailed information see profiles in the corresponding submenus
Research Areas
The main research areas of Francesca Canali are closely linked to her personality and her artistic and pedagogical activities and experiences…
Singing flute
From 1998 onwards she dedicated herself to an extensive interdisciplinary research on the physiological and mental processes of creation and development of sound…
Beyond Music!
What is music ‘beyond’ music itself?
What does making-music represent for the human being? What ‘happens’ in her/him when she/he makes music? What does music trigger in people?….
Lectures & Seminars
Francesca Canali currently focuses on the following research topics, on which she holds lectures, seminars and workshops….
