The Connection between Music and Emotion - Essay Example

Music and emotion Introduction This research paper provides a brief overview of studies on connection between music and emotion. This relationship is widely discussed nowadays with regard to practical implementation of music as means of influence on humans. We’ll focus our attention on explanation of the mechanisms triggering emotion while listening to music. Human brain activity, psychological changes and changes in moods and many other factors in the paradigm of music-emotion relationship will be discussed further on. Moreover, absolute music is discussed as another perspective for discussion of music-emotion relationship. The outline of the research paper is the following: A) Introduction B) General discussion: 1) Emotion triggered by music; 2) Music and emotion: physical aspect; 3) The nature of musical emotion; 4) Absolute music. C) Conclusion. Emotion triggered by music Music is closely connected: with our inner worlds. What can be more pleasant than listening to a favorite song or a pleasant relaxing melody? A strong emotional explosion happens to us during rock concerts; classical music almost makes us weep…Thus our emotion are influenced by music. At the same time depending on our mood we listen to one or another kind of music. In order to trace connection between music and emotion we’ll focus on song chosen by an individual and his emotion evoked by the song. Once we hear our favorite song, we smile and feel relaxation. Which mechanism works at this moment? “There is something about music that evolves over time, as do emotion. When we hear the song we re-live the emotional sequence that happened when we first heard it,”– in accordance with the words of Professor John Sloboda of Keele University music is considered to be as powerful as painting or smell restoring our experiences of the past (Sloboda 2001, p. 35). Appeal to our heightened moments from the past can be explained in the following way: the most memorable moments are ‘recorded’ in our memories recognizing that moments and restoration of feelings are evoked simultaneously. Thus if a certain song is connected with a certain moment from the past then listening to that song restores in our memories the same emotion we felt while having listened to the song in the heightened moment. For example, the majority of couples have ‘their song’; the song they heard while having kissed at first or having met each other. In order to trace musical triggers it is relevant to refer to specificity of mental activity. Emotional reactions to music are caused by the necessity of music for brains as a special need. Therefore human mind needs music in order to produce emotional response. It is even possible to distinguish what kind of music requires your brain in particular. There is the following experiment: it is necessary not to listen to music as long as possible. When finally your mind asks you about listening to music, you’ll notice what kind of music it should be. Therefore your mind triggers off emotion which will be satisfied by listening to a certain kind of music. At this point ‘anchoring’ happens. A special discipline which studies this phenomenon is called Neuro-Linguistic Programming for Music. In accordance with this discipline anchoring is described in the following way: once human emotional states response to certain stimuli (so-called anchors), these anchors in the future helps restoring the same emotion and feelings. There are two stages in triggering mechanism of anchoring: at first anchor is set when the association is formed; secondly the anchor is fired and stimuli is recreated to produce emotional reaction to it (Radford 1989, p.71). It is possible to set the anchor triggered by the musical stimuli: it is necessary to think about emotion you would like to anchor; then think about the song you would like to anchor. When that emotion is felt in its heightened moment, anchor can be set by listening to the chosen song. For a proper anchoring it is better to repeat this action several times. It is possible to predict what kind of songs will trigger certain emotion. For example, Sting and his song Desert Rose will appeal to relaxation and pensiveness; Gloria Gaynor and her song I Will Survive will appeal to strength and self-assurance. Therefore it is possible to claim that connection of music and emotion is subjective for perception of every individual. Anchoring happens in human inner world and emotional responses to music are stipulated by anchors set by individuals themselves. Music and emotion: physical aspect As far as we can see, the connection between music and emotion is undisputable. It is only necessary to focus on the mechanism of how music influences our emotion. There is a lack of studies focusing on that particular issue. Neurological effects of music should be discussed in detail. This kind of research should concern spheres of biology and music, which are considered to be mutually exclusive. Nevertheless if emotion and music are connected, then there is a possibility to trace this relationship from a scientific point of view. A brief overview of the connection between music and emotion will be presented further on. The main focus is in the music ability to evoke emotional reactions in human brain. As it was mentioned above, emotional power of music is distinguished on the personal level. Not only inner states of an individual trigger connection between music and emotion, but also environment the song was being played in, individual attitude to a certain song, cultural background of that individual and many other factors. Subjective nature of emotional response to music is closely connected with cultural background of the individual and generally developed social stereotypes with regard to music. For example, minor keys evoke sadness; slow tempos makes an individual feel sorrow. As a matter of fact, rapid tempos and major keys intensify feeling of happiness among individuals. Dissonance causes negative emotional responses even among children (Davies 1997, p. 289). Scientific approach to music-emotion connection reveals emotional responses to music on the basis of PET scans. As far as dissonance is generally accepted as causing negative emotion, subjectivity of this kind of music may be questioned and experiments conducted on connection of dissonance and emotional response produce data in accordance with which individual is negatively influenced by this kind of music. Such conclusions were made on the basis of measured blood flow among individuals, who were listening to dissonance. An increased blood flow signified more intense activity of the brain (Gomez & Danuser 2007, p. 377). Paralimbic regions of the brain were influenced by dissonance. These regions signify intense emotional responses. Another experiment was directed on measuring positive emotion caused by listening to the well-known songs, chosen by individuals themselves. As a result it was noted that those songs were chosen by individuals beforehand but were not connected with previously felt emotion associated with listening to these musical pieces (Koelsch 2006, p. 240). Consequently, experiment showed that great motivation and pleasure was experienced by listeners and brain areas responsible for gustatory pleasure, sex, drugs were activated. Both of these two experiments show us that power of music really exists and it may cause emotional responses among individuals. It is hard to answer to the questions about how and why music evoked emotional responses of that kind during the abovementioned experiments, but it is quite clear that music caused brain activity in certain areas and this influence can be compared with the influence caused by other aspects of human life (Davies 2006, p. 179). Music and emotion connection can be also traced on hormonal levels in the body. For example, it is experimentally proven that music may lower levels of cortisol in the body (chemical substance which signifies stress and depression) or music may increase levels of melatonin (responsible for a desire to sleep) (Scherer 2004, p.242). Music and relaxation is well-known and widely used in the hospitals to calm patients down. Release of endorphins is also intensified by listening to certain kinds of music thus helping pain to relieve. Therefore music can not only release emotion either positive or negative one, but can also intensify medical treatment or positively influence on physical condition of an individual (Levinson 1997, p. 217). As far as emotion is produced in human brains and thus can be considered in the paradigm of physical activity, the aspect we are interested in is connection of emotion and music. Let us divert our attention from physical aspect of music-emotion connection and turn our attention to so-called ‘appearance emotionalism’ (Radford 1989, 73). This term invented by Stephen Davies and Jerrold Levinson refers to music’s ability to express sadness or happiness in the same way as humans may express it. For example, music can’t be sad by itself, it can express sad emotion (Levinson 1997, p. 216). These scientists draw parallels between music expressing certain emotion in the same way a person may express certain emotion. In accordance with these claims expressiveness of music is evident, because expressiveness of humans is evident as well. As a result of this approach, another witness of subjective nature of music was provided. The nature of musical emotion What is the nature of emotion triggered by music? This question is multi-faceted, but it is possible to give a brief answer to it. In accordance with Juslin and Västfjäll (2008, p. 18), cognitive evaluation of emotion triggered by music differs from ‘real’ emotion. For example, once an individual loses his beloved person he feels sadness and regret; while listening to musical concert expressing sad motifs, an individual doesn’t feel sad about the music or feels no regret: an individual’s sadness is “not about the music, but to the music” (Davies 2006, p. 180). Absolute music Absolute music is a detached perspective for clarifying connection of music and emotion. Absolute music is ‘music for music’s sake’ and nothing more. Perception of music is possible by appreciation of its ‘formal’ structure (Juslin, Laukka 2003, p. 771). In other words, the concept ‘absolute’ equals to the concept ‘purity’ of art. ‘Purity of art’ refers to instrumental music only. From the perspective of absolute music theory, music is nothing more than sounds. We like music for its techniques and combination of notes; we like it and nothing more. Consequently, music has no purpose to influence on listeners or express/evoke emotion. Nowadays this aspect is full of debate. It is still disputed whether music has inner significance. Theoretical basis for this discussion is works on Cognitive Linguistics and works on cultural biases. Absolutist approach to music in 21st century can be also explained because of rise of spiritual theory or holistic approach. In one way or music is considered to be a formalized structure. On the other hand, there are modern researchers who consider music as a form of cultural communication. In such a way absolute approach to music is criticized. Thus some scientists claim that music has in-built human tastes, cultural background etc. In accordance with this claim, classical music reflects tastes and cultural background of those times. As far as we can see, absolute music doesn’t explain connection between music and emotion. Music is focused on itself; music is for music’s sake and not for production of emotion. Music is means of expressing not emotion, but cultural tastes and traditions of certain periods of time. Moreover, in accordance with absolute music, humans’ feelings don’t depend on listening to music. Music is a detached phenomenon of reality with its own formalized structure, mechanisms and techniques. Conclusion In the result of this research, it was found that music and emotion are closely connected. This kind of connection may be explained on physical or psychological level; on the basis of theoretical works on Cognitive Psychology or from the perspective of absolute music–music is considered to be connected to emotion or not. Different points of view presented by scholars have one thing in common: connection of music and emotion is explained by subjective attitude of an individual to music. A combination of different approaches to the connection of music and emotion witnesses a vivid discussion of this phenomenon in the modern science. Further discussion of music-emotion connection will contribute into scientific areas of Cognitive Linguistics, neurology and other spheres of scientific activity of modernity. Works cited 1. Davies, S., 2006. Artistic Expression and the Hard Case of Pure Music. In: M. Kieran, ed. 2006. Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art: 179-91. 2. Davies, S., 1997. Why listen to sad music if it makes one feel sad? In: J. Robinson, ed., 1997. Music and Meaning. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, pp. 242-253. 3. Gomez, P., & Danuser, B., 2007. Relationships Between Musical Structure and Psycho physiological Measures of Emotion. American Psychological Association, 7, pp. 377-387. 4. Juslin, P., Västfjäll, D., 2008. Emotional responses to music: The need to consider underlying mechanisms. Behavioral and Brain Sciences: in press. 5. Juslin, P.N., Laukka, P., 2003. Communication of emotion in vocal expression and music performance: different channels, same code? Psychol Bull , 129 (5), pp. 770-814. 6. Koelsch, S. et al., 2006. Investigating emotion with music: an fMRI study. Human Brain Mapping, 27 (3), pp. 239-250. 7. Levinson, J., 1997. Music and negative emotion. In: J. Robinson , ed. 1997. Music and Meaning. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, pp. 215-241. 8. Radford, C., 1989. Emotion and music: A reply to the cognitivists. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 47 (1), pp. 69-76. 9. Scherer, K.R., 2004. Which Emotion Can be Induced by Music? What Are the Underlying Mechanisms? And How Can We Measure Them? Journal of New Music Research, 33 (3), pp. 239-251. 10. Sloboda, J., 2001. Music and Emotion: Theory and Research. Oxford University Press. Read More