Showing papers in "Musicae Scientiae in 2011"
TL;DR: Juslin and Vastfjall as discussed by the authors reported that people consciously and unconsciously use music to change, create, maintain, and maintain their emotional states, and that music experiences are often reported to influence emotions.
Abstract: Musical experiences are often reported to influence emotions (Juslin & Vastfjall, 2008; Sloboda, O’Neill, & Ivaldi, 2001): people consciously and unconsciously use music to change, create, maintain...
186 citations
TL;DR: A hedonic theory of music and sadness is proposed in this article, where listeners report that nominally sad music genuinely makes them feel sad, and it is suggested that sad affect is evoked by the music.
Abstract: A hedonic theory of music and sadness is proposed. Some listeners report that nominally sad music genuinely makes them feel sad. It is suggested that, for these listeners, sad affect is evoked thro...
145 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors highlighted differences in people's music listening behavior according to their level of involvement with and interest in music, yet these findings are mainly based on qualitative research.
Abstract: Recent qualitative research has highlighted differences in people’s music-listening behaviour according to their level of involvement with and interest in music, yet these findings are mainly based...
142 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare the applicability of music-specific and general emotion models (i.e., Geneva Emotional Music Scale (GEMS), and the discrete and dimensional emotion models) in the assessment of music induced emotions, and explore the role of individual difference variables (such as personality and mood) in music-induced emotions.
Abstract: Most previous studies investigating music-induced emotions have applied emotion models developed in other fields to the domain of music. The aim of this study was to compare the applicability of music-specific and general emotion models – namely the Geneva Emotional Music Scale (GEMS), and the discrete and dimensional emotion models – in the assessment of music-induced emotions. A related aim was to explore the role of individual difference variables (such as personality and mood) in music-induced emotions, and to discover whether some emotion models reflect these individual differences more strongly than others. One hundred and forty-eight participants listened to 16 film music excerpts and rated the emotional responses evoked by the music excerpts. Intraclass correlations and Cronbach alphas revealed that the overall consistency of ratings was the highest in the case of the dimensional model. The dimensional model also outperformed the other two models in the discrimination of music excerpts, and princi...
129 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of the musical characteristics of tempo, mode and percussiveness on the emotional states of participants listening to 16 pop and 16 rock songs while conducting an office task was investigated.
Abstract: People often listen to music to influence their emotional state. However, the specific musical characteristics which cause this process are not yet fully understood. We have investigated the influence of the musical characteristics of tempo, mode and percussiveness on our emotions. In a quest towards ecologically valid results, 32 participants listened to 16 pop and 16 rock songs while conducting an office task. They rated experienced arousal, valence, and tension, while skin conductance and cardiovascular responses were recorded. An increase in tempo was found to lead to an increase in reported arousal and tension and a decrease in heart rate variability. More arousal was reported during minor than major mode songs. Level and frequency of skin conductance responses increased with an increase in percussiveness. Physiological responses revealed patterns that might not have been revealed by self-report. Interaction effects further suggest that musical characteristics interplay in modulating emotions. So, tempo, mode, and percussiveness indeed modulate our emotions and, consequently, can be used to direct emotions. Music presentation revealed subtly different results in a laboratory setting, where music was altered with breaks, from those in a more ecologically valid setting where continuous music was presented. All in all, this enhances our understanding of the influence of music on emotions and creates opportunities seamlessly to tap into listeners’ emotional state through their physiological responses.
123 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the nature of strong experiences of music listening, identifying a number of individual components from physiological through to psychological (Gabrielsson & Lindstrom, 2013).
Abstract: Research has begun to explore the nature of strong experiences of music listening, identifying a number of individual components from physiological through to psychological (Gabrielsson & Lindstrom...
119 citations
TL;DR: For instance, the authors found that listeners value music primarily for its ability to arouse emotions, yet little is known about which emotions listeners normally experience when listening to music, except that they tend to be positive or negative.
Abstract: Empirical studies have indicated that listeners value music primarily for its ability to arouse emotions. Yet little is known about which emotions listeners normally experience when listening to mu...
95 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report the findings of a survey that used a holistic approach to examine music-listening practices and experiences in office settings in the UK and identify additional significant functions: inspiration, concentration, positive distraction, stress relief and managing personal space.
Abstract: Increasing access to listening technologies (MP3 players and digital file formats) and the internet has contributed to a new era of listening to music in offices, where many employees listen to music through computers and personal listening devices. While many studies in the past have examined the effects of researcher-selected music on work performance, no studies to date have explored office workers’ music-listening patterns, what they listen to and why. This article reports the findings of a survey that used a holistic approach to examine music-listening practices and experiences in office settings in the UK. Nearly three hundred (295) office employees provided quantitative and qualitative data on listening patterns and experience. Previous research has focused on positive mood and negative effects of distraction on task performance, but this study identified additional significant functions: inspiration, concentration, positive distraction, stress relief and managing personal space. Employees listened...
75 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated whether listening to music in a group setting alters the emotion felt by listeners and found that music has often been shown to induce emotion in listeners and is also often heard in social contexts (e.g., concerts, parties, etc.).
Abstract: Music has often been shown to induce emotion in listeners and is also often heard in social contexts (e.g., concerts, parties, etc.), yet until now, the influences of social settings on the emotions experienced by listeners was not known. This exploratory study investigated whether listening to music in a group setting alters the emotion felt by listeners. The emotional reactions to 10 musical excerpts were measured both psychologically (rating on retrospective questionnaires and button presses indicated the experience of a chill, defined as the experience of a shiver down the spine or goose pimples) and physiologically (skin conductance response) using a new, innovative multi-channel measuring device. In a repeated measures design, 14 members of an amateur orchestra (7 male, 7 female; mean age 29) came in for two testing sessions: once alone, and once as a group. Chills were validated in the data analysis: each chill was counted only if the button press was accompanied by a corresponding skin conductance...
72 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the results of a 6-week singing program targeted for older individuals with dementia and their caregivers and found that participants were from: a) a residential care unit within a...
Abstract: The current study investigated the results of a 6-week singing program targeted for older individuals with dementia and their caregivers. Participants were from: a) a residential care unit within a...
45 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a pianist was video-recorded performing compositions by Brahms and Chopin, and further pianists acted as doubles and pretended to perform the music to the soundtrack of the first pianist.
Abstract: The visual impact of musicians’ body movements has increasingly attracted research interest over the past twenty years. This article gives an overview of the main findings of this research and introduces and replicates one of the first experiments on visual information in music performance evaluations. In Behne’s study (originally published in German in 1990), a pianist was video-recorded performing compositions by Brahms and Chopin. Using an audiovisual manipulation paradigm, further pianists acted as doubles and pretended to perform the music to the soundtrack of the first pianist. Different groups of ninety-three musicians and non-musicians rated audiovisual presentations of the videos. Only one participant in the whole series of experiments supposed that the musical soundtrack was similar across different performers. Even musically trained participants strongly believed that they perceived differences between performances. Further findings suggest gender effects, such that male interpretations were pe...
TL;DR: The human auditory system can rapidly process musical information such as, for example, the recognition and identification of sound sources, the deciphering of meter, tempo, mode, and texture, the processing of lyrics and dynamics, the identification of musical style and genre, the perception of performance nuance, and the apprehension of emotional character as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The human auditory system can rapidly process musical information such as, for example: the recognition and identification of sound sources, the deciphering of meter, tempo, mode, and texture, the processing of lyrics and dynamics, the identification of musical style and genre, the perception of performance nuance, and the apprehension of emotional character. Two empirical studies are reported that attempt to chronicle when such information is processed. In the first exploratory study, a diverse set of musical excerpts was selected and trimmed to various durations, ranging from 50 ms to 3000 ms. These samples, beginning with the shortest and ending with the longest, were presented to participants, who were then asked to free associate and talk about any observations that came to mind. Based on these results, a second main study was carried out using a betting paradigm to determine the amount of exposure needed for listeners to feel confident about acquired musical information. The results suggest a rapid ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the effects of musical style, amount of stage behavior, audience expertise, and modality of presentation on structural, emotional, and summary ratings of piano performances.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of musical style, amount of stage behavior, audience expertise, and modality of presentation on structural, emotional, and summary ratings of piano performances. Twenty-four musically trained and 24 untrained participants rated two-minute excerpts of pieces by Bach, Chopin, and Copland, each performed by the same pianist, who was asked to vary his stage behavior from minimal to natural to exaggerated. Participants rated the performances under either audio-only or audiovisual conditions. The composer’s style had a consistently strong effect on the performance evaluations, highlighting the importance of careful repertoire selection. Moreover, the preferred degree of stage behavior depended on the style. The interaction between expertise, modality, and stage behavior revealed that non-musicians perceived differences across the three degrees of stage behavior only audiovisually and not in the audio-only condition. In contrast, musicians perceived these diff...
TL;DR: A selection of papers presented at the inaugural International Conference on Music and Emotion in Durham in 2009, focusing on the scientific approach to understanding music and emotion, is presented in this paper.
Abstract: This special issue draws on a selection of papers presented at the inaugural International Conference on Music and Emotion in Durham in 2009, focusing on the scientific approach to understanding mu...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the role of producers and sound engineers, as perceived by young professionals actively involved in recording sessions, by collecting verbal data from 16 musicians and 6 sound engineers from different countries and backgrounds.
Abstract: As a result of recent technological advances, musicians tend to produce their music themselves in home studios, without necessarily collaborating with a professional producer or a sound engineer. To understand how this new paradigm affects musical recordings, we need to study the context of recording sessions involving a producer and a sound engineer. In this article we investigate the role of producers and sound engineers, as perceived by young professionals actively involved in recording sessions. We collected verbal data from 16 musicians and 6 sound engineers, from different countries and backgrounds. Participants were asked to freely define in their own words the role of an ideal producer and an ideal sound engineer. Then, we invited them to describe positive or negative experiences they had previously encountered in the studio. We classified their spontaneous descriptions into emerging themes using the constant comparison method. The three main categories referred to mission, skills, and interaction...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors re-examined the assumption that listeners are not sensitive to the overall tonal structure of musical pieces in an active musical puzzle and found that listeners were sensitive to individual tonal structures.
Abstract: Previous studies have suggested that listeners are not sensitive to the overall tonal structure of musical pieces. This assumption is reexamined in the current study in an active musical puzzle tas...
TL;DR: A call for music science to embrace a new arena of empirical study – positive aging among symphony orchestra musicians.
Abstract: Musicianship is seen as a life-long process, requiring specific adjustments to changes in age and environment, based on developmental stages each unique in structure of musical activity, motivations, and achievements. Nonetheless, studies relating to music development have focused exclusively on precocious musical beginnings and early childhood, prodigious adolescents, or academy trainees. As yet, there has been no great interest in musicians above age 50, and needless to say while very little is known about older musicians, a small number of studies published highlight underperformance and loss in support of age-linked deficits to music performance. Without a doubt, there is a serious need for attention to be placed on those who still can perform music – not only on those who can no longer perform music. Collective efforts should begin to focus on performing musicians who have maintained a professional career well into the fifth decade of their lifespan, especially as performing musicians live to an olde...
TL;DR: In this paper, a main experiment was conducted in which subjects were asked to invent short, "catchy" pop melodies to a given backing track over a very common chord sequence (I VI IV V).
Abstract: In this study we try to address the question, if independent (re-)creations are likely to happen in pop music. The interest in this topic stems from the fact that the claim of an “independent creation” is a common defense strategy in copyright infringement law suits. We conducted a main experiment in which subjects were asked to invent short, “catchy” pop melodies to a given backing track over a very common chord sequence (I VI IV V). Additionally, we incorporated 5 melodies from hit songs over the same chords in a comparable tempo. The collected melodies were examined for similarities, between participants’ melodies and hit songs on the one hand and in between participants’ songs on the other. In each case at least two melody pairs with high similarity were found. A deeper analysis of these cases revealed that indeed independent (re-)creations might have taken place.
TL;DR: In this paper, an integrative dual-route model of rhythm perception and production is proposed and an empirical study illustrated in the second part of this paper provides evidence of the existence of two different cognitive pathways.
Abstract: An integrative dual-route model of rhythm perception and production is proposed here. Furthermore, an empirical study illustrated in the second part of this paper provides evidence of the existence of two different cognitive pathways. The development of the model is based on fundamental psychological principles of perception, action control, and on relevant neurobiological findings in rhythm processing and sensorimotor synchronization. Experiments with a dual-task paradigm were used during synchronization tapping to verify the fundamental assumptions of the model. The aim was to examine whether professional drummers show a change in tapping performance when their attention is drawn to another task. In contrast to other experiments on sensorimotor synchronization with nonmusicians, the results show a considerable effect on the tapping performance of timing experts for the concurrent condition with tempi between 100 and 120 bpm. Overall, these results provide further evidence of the existence of both an automatic and a cognitively-controlled timing procedure, which is also in line with the integrative dual- route model of rhythm perception and production mentioned above.
TL;DR: This article investigated the impact of music on the perception of emotions in point-light displays of human dyadic interactions and found that emotions can be recognized in point light displays of dyadic interaction.
Abstract: Research showing that emotions can be recognized in point-light displays of human dyadic interactions was extended in the current study by investigating the impact of music on the perception of nor...
TL;DR: In this article, 24 respondents continuously rated the loudness of the first 65 seconds of a Dvořak Slavonic dance, which was known to vary considerably in loudness.
Abstract: Twenty-four respondents continuously rated the loudness of the first 65 seconds of a Dvořak Slavonic Dance, which was known to vary considerably in loudness. They also rated the same excerpt when the sound file was digitally treated so that (1) the sound pressure level (SPL) was inverted or (2) it was temporally reversed or (3) both 1 and 2. Specifically we wanted to see if acoustic intensity was processed into the percept of loudness primarily using a bottom-up (indifferent to timbral environment and thematic cues) or top-down style (where musical context, such as instrument identity and musical expectation affects the loudness rating). Comparing the different versions (conditions) allowed us to ascertain which style they were likely to be using. A single, six-second region was located as being differentiated across two conditions, where loudness seemed to be increased due to expectation of the instrument and orchestral texture, despite the lower SPL. We named this effect an auditory loudness stroop. A s...