When I used to take music exams I'd pass them but it often says "could have played with more feeling".
Now, I played all the notes in the right order. Made them louder when it says ff. And quieter when it says pp. Faster when it says fast and slow when it says slow. And it sounded pretty nice to me.
Thefore I was following exactly what was written.
Now when I see people play instruments with "feeling" I see them do all sorts of things like being expressive with their arms and swaying. (Think of a concert pianist). But none of which has any affect on the sound.
So my only conclusion is that they didn't want me to play what was on the page. (Like my music teachers taught me to do and didn't tell me otherwise). But put in my own interpretation of when to get loud and when to speed up and slow down. But then surely I would fail my exam for reading the music wrong? (I guess it is subjective on which examiner you get.)
I don't believe in something called "putting feeling" into music. There is only musical technique. You can feel what you like in your head but it is the technique which makes the sound come out of the instrument.
What do you think? How do you achieve (or fake) this?