Emotional expression in music performance: Between the performer's intention and the listener's experience

• Nine professional musicians were instructed to perform short melodies using various instruments - the violin, electric guitar, flute, and singing voice - so as to communicate specific emotional characters to listeners. The performances were first validated by having listeners rating the emotional expression and then analysed with regard to their physical characteristics, e.g. tempo, dynamics, timing, and spectrum. The main findings were that (a) the performer's expressive intention had a marked effect on all analysed variables, (b) the performers showed many similarities as well as differences in emotion encoding, (c) listeners were generally successful in decoding the intended expression, and (d) some emotional characters seemed easier to communicate than others. The reported results imply that we are unlikely to find performance rules independent of instrument, musical style, performer, or listener.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

music performance

music experience

expression

emotion

Psychology

Psykologi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)