Pleasing your own ear has its beginnings in acknowledging that you like some sounds better than others. As soon as you realize that you don't like a sound--for whatever reason, or for no apparent reason at all--you are on the way to a dramatic "plot line" for a piece. Getting from a sound we do like to a sound we don't like and doing so on purpose is quite like telling a story.

Thinking about singing tone: Many pianists play with a singing tone because they know how to do it not because they hear what a difference it makes.

The more music I hear (and play) the more I am convinced that it is involvement with sound that conveys feeling. The feeling itself is not literal. When attempts are made to make it literal (as in sad or mournful) it becomes rehash. Nothing could be more phony or more boring.