“Elevator Music”
Bronson, Po Muzak Inc.
http://www.pobronson.com/
By: Michelle Minke
Dec. 15, 2008
Summary:
This article is about the main man in elevator music, Alvin Collis. 85 million Americans a day are exposed to the one hundred mood settings of Alvin Collis’s music company, Muzak. Whether in Starbucks, department stores or dentist offices, it is his music they hear.
When brainstorming on a mixed album for a new retail store, the example being a cinnamon bun company, he has to think, what kind of music will sell cinnamon buns? The company of Musak goes through many different phases of suggested material, but in order to do this they need to get a sensory and visual experience before they can assess the proper music to be provided. When it comes down to it, it comes down to why people love cinnamon buns, and the kind of memories and emotional responses are activated when having these sensory and visual experiences.
Collis says “We create experiences with audio architecture” and actually refer to themselves as being audio architects. The correct "emotional experience" consists of conjured up memories that will relate to their music. This company believes that each person’s life has their own personal soundtrack, and if you trigger a song to make them feel as though they are walking around their own book or magazine layout, there are results due to that. For example, women who enter a department store with a Martha Stewart meets Africa theme, the music accompanying makes the women who are in that store to feel as though they have just walked into a Country Living Magazine. The employees of these stores confirm the days that they have Sara McLaughlin, or Beth Orton playing, the sales are much greater. We are used to sound in stores because they believe without it we would feel disconnected, and feel like the movie has run out, or the pages in the next chapter are blank.
Reflection:
It sounds like Music being used as propaganda to me. For thirty years or so elevator music has existed in order to create atmosphere, mood, and yes to inspire consumers. I heard once that grocery stores play mostly love music compared to the top ten, because women usually do the shopping , and if they are feeling “loving” they generally buy more. Love songs can emotionally alter your mood, causing you to react in a loving way, and could cause you to buy more things for your family such as special items or prepare a more extravagant dinner. I am just shocked by the research and marketing that actually works behind a big company name such as Musak. They manipulate every detail behind the music choices such as: major or minor keys, songs with or without words,instrumentation and tempos settings. Then according to their employers wishes, and their research they electronically adjust the songs to make the most successful outcome.
I have personally encountered this on many occasions, for example the current time of year. As soon as Christmas music started being played in November, our minds were triggered to the gift giving season. Even though I find it manipulative and am aware that there is propaganda like tendencies behind it, I can’t say I would particularly enjoy shopping without music and I would probably not stay a long time in a store that did not have music playing. There has also probably been a time when I was drawn to a small café playing European music, taking my imagination from the faculty of music onto a street in Paris…. and yes I might have bought a cookie to go along with my coffee to enjoy the “emotional experience” a little more.
Is elevator music such a bad thing then? Probably not, but perhaps consumers trying to watch their penny during difficult economic times would have to be a more conscious shopper and not be influenced by the subtle back ground music.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
“They’re playing my song. Time to work out”
Kurutz, Steve,New York Times (2008)
By: Michelle Minke
Dec. 12, 2008
Summary:
“They’re playing my song. Time to work out”, is an article in the New York Times, by Steven Kurutz. This article addresses the fact that music influences your mental state and performance ability for working out. Music is ultimately optimistic and energizing, the two things you need for a successful workout. Studies have proven that with the right music during exercise, it can act as a motivator, and lessen fatigue. Music with a higher B.P.M ( beat per minute) can more easily correspond with a persons heart beat during a routine workout.
Dr. Karageorghis created the Brunel Music Rating Inventory, a questionnaire that is used to rate the motivational qualities of music in the context of sport and exercise. This questionnaire represents different demographics of people who listen to 90 seconds of a song and rate its motivational qualities for various physical activities. The best songs according to Professor Gpeller, are the ones that have both a high B.P.M and a rhythm that you can easily coordinate your movements to. A stroll walker going at a pace of around 3 miles an hour, has a count of 115 to 118 B.P.M.; for a power walker going 4.5 m.p.h., the count is 137 to 139 B.P.M., while the B.P.M. for a runner elevates to 147 to 160.
Dance music tends to be the most efficient, and has the most consistent B.P.M, averaging between 120-140 beats per minute, where as jazz, hard core punk, or indie rock have changes in rhythm throughout and can have intensity changes altering the efficiency. Not only is music beneficial for cardio workout, but is also used as a motivator for strength training. The words and brashness of rock music or heavy metal are an inspiration to a fatiguing body builder.
Reflection:
The information in this article has always interested me. Not only does music actually inspire me to begin my workout but also encourages me to keep going. What is it about music that does this? I believe that it must be linked to our emotional response to music. The endorphins that music produces in our body only acts to strengthen our motivational responses when listening to an upbeat and fun song. I believe there is also an element of distraction that occurs when listening to music; distraction from boredom, physical fatigue and even the monotony of working out. Steven Kurutz is aware that his studies contradict Oliver Sack’s theory, that listening to music is just as effective when imagining it and that there is no neurological difference. But I do know that when I am on the treadmill around the 27th minute there is no way imagining an upbeat song is going to make it feel easier, or motivate me to continue. I also found it interesting in this article when it brought up the rule that bars runners from using portable music players and headsets. If music really made no difference in someone’s performance than what could be the possible harm in letting a runner use their personal inspirational music? All I know is that for me, there is a reason that I stick to the classics of earth, wind and fire, and other hits of the disco era in order for me to keep a regular work out schedule.
Kurutz, Steve,New York Times (2008)
By: Michelle Minke
Dec. 12, 2008
Summary:
“They’re playing my song. Time to work out”, is an article in the New York Times, by Steven Kurutz. This article addresses the fact that music influences your mental state and performance ability for working out. Music is ultimately optimistic and energizing, the two things you need for a successful workout. Studies have proven that with the right music during exercise, it can act as a motivator, and lessen fatigue. Music with a higher B.P.M ( beat per minute) can more easily correspond with a persons heart beat during a routine workout.
Dr. Karageorghis created the Brunel Music Rating Inventory, a questionnaire that is used to rate the motivational qualities of music in the context of sport and exercise. This questionnaire represents different demographics of people who listen to 90 seconds of a song and rate its motivational qualities for various physical activities. The best songs according to Professor Gpeller, are the ones that have both a high B.P.M and a rhythm that you can easily coordinate your movements to. A stroll walker going at a pace of around 3 miles an hour, has a count of 115 to 118 B.P.M.; for a power walker going 4.5 m.p.h., the count is 137 to 139 B.P.M., while the B.P.M. for a runner elevates to 147 to 160.
Dance music tends to be the most efficient, and has the most consistent B.P.M, averaging between 120-140 beats per minute, where as jazz, hard core punk, or indie rock have changes in rhythm throughout and can have intensity changes altering the efficiency. Not only is music beneficial for cardio workout, but is also used as a motivator for strength training. The words and brashness of rock music or heavy metal are an inspiration to a fatiguing body builder.
Reflection:
The information in this article has always interested me. Not only does music actually inspire me to begin my workout but also encourages me to keep going. What is it about music that does this? I believe that it must be linked to our emotional response to music. The endorphins that music produces in our body only acts to strengthen our motivational responses when listening to an upbeat and fun song. I believe there is also an element of distraction that occurs when listening to music; distraction from boredom, physical fatigue and even the monotony of working out. Steven Kurutz is aware that his studies contradict Oliver Sack’s theory, that listening to music is just as effective when imagining it and that there is no neurological difference. But I do know that when I am on the treadmill around the 27th minute there is no way imagining an upbeat song is going to make it feel easier, or motivate me to continue. I also found it interesting in this article when it brought up the rule that bars runners from using portable music players and headsets. If music really made no difference in someone’s performance than what could be the possible harm in letting a runner use their personal inspirational music? All I know is that for me, there is a reason that I stick to the classics of earth, wind and fire, and other hits of the disco era in order for me to keep a regular work out schedule.
The key of clear green: Synesthesia and Music
Sacks, Oliver W. “Musicophelia: Tales of Music and the Brain” (2007) : Chapter 14.
By: Michelle Minke
Dec. 10, 2008
Summary:
The chapter in Oliver Sacks book on Synethesia is about the relationship between music and colour. For most people we may see colour as a descriptive word such as “like” but for some people it is a complete sensory experience. Some people experience varies from a colour for each day of the week, or every colour having it’s own scent, own taste and every musical interval. This chapter refers to the scientist Francis Galston who became convinced that it was a physiological phenomenon, and that it was more than advanced mental imagery, but actually a part of some people’s nature. There is only one in two thousand who experience this that are known, but some people may not come forward not thinking of it as a condition. Musical synethesia is the most common, and one of the most dramatic. Musicians tend to be more aware of it, and the stories in this chapter are mostly of musicians. Musicians in this chapter such as Michael, see a different colour for every key of music. For example, D major was blue, G minor was even a more exact colour than just yellow, but ochre. The musicians in these examples have colours for different arpeggios, exercises, and scales as well. These colours are something very natural for someone like Michael, and have been there since a very young age, and are seen as very intense and real. Each person has a different colour palate that they see depending on the focus on the musical theme, idea, or pattern. Researchers in Zurich have come across a woman who has music-taste synethesia where each musical interval is linked to a taste on her tongue, for example a minor second is sour, a major third is sweet, and an octave has no taste. There is also a writer,Christine Leahy, who experiences colour through numbers and letters. When applied to music, if she looks at the note D on the music page, a colour will be associated with it. There are also other cases in this chapter of colour experienced through other sounds such as horns, alarms, and telephone rings. Scientists, Baron-Cohen and Harrison suggest that we all may be coloured-hearing synthesthetes in the first three months of life, and throughout time due to cortical maturation we are able then to separate the senses. The musicians who were studied in this chapter believe that their synethesia is the central process for their music making.
Reflection:
How fascinating it would be to see music as colour in your mind. As a singer, we are approached with modern techniques of teaching at times, and a clinician will suggest that we sing “Yellow” or feel “ Green” in order to express ourselves or achieve a certain technical task while using colour imagery as a tool. This concept was difficult for me, as I am not a visual learner, but I can acknowledge the influence that colour has on our emotion and perception. Yellow is generally a more optimistic colour than grey, and perhaps associating certain composers, or a piece with colour, it could offer a new palate for expression. Music often has descriptive words that are associated with shading of colour; such as bright, dark, muddy, brilliant, shiny, clear, rich, or tarnished but these could potentially all be translated into more specific colours if we really thought about it. I know that for artists, colour and emotion are very closely linked, the shading of colour is how they express the emotion behind that piece. In comparing that to a musician who hears music through colour, of course they would feel that colour is one of the main processes for them to experience and express music. If the use of colour imagery and association could be a tool for expressing emotion, and musicians usually act as a medium for emotion, perhaps we could use a little colour in our practice and performance.
Sacks, Oliver W. “Musicophelia: Tales of Music and the Brain” (2007) : Chapter 14.
By: Michelle Minke
Dec. 10, 2008
Summary:
The chapter in Oliver Sacks book on Synethesia is about the relationship between music and colour. For most people we may see colour as a descriptive word such as “like” but for some people it is a complete sensory experience. Some people experience varies from a colour for each day of the week, or every colour having it’s own scent, own taste and every musical interval. This chapter refers to the scientist Francis Galston who became convinced that it was a physiological phenomenon, and that it was more than advanced mental imagery, but actually a part of some people’s nature. There is only one in two thousand who experience this that are known, but some people may not come forward not thinking of it as a condition. Musical synethesia is the most common, and one of the most dramatic. Musicians tend to be more aware of it, and the stories in this chapter are mostly of musicians. Musicians in this chapter such as Michael, see a different colour for every key of music. For example, D major was blue, G minor was even a more exact colour than just yellow, but ochre. The musicians in these examples have colours for different arpeggios, exercises, and scales as well. These colours are something very natural for someone like Michael, and have been there since a very young age, and are seen as very intense and real. Each person has a different colour palate that they see depending on the focus on the musical theme, idea, or pattern. Researchers in Zurich have come across a woman who has music-taste synethesia where each musical interval is linked to a taste on her tongue, for example a minor second is sour, a major third is sweet, and an octave has no taste. There is also a writer,Christine Leahy, who experiences colour through numbers and letters. When applied to music, if she looks at the note D on the music page, a colour will be associated with it. There are also other cases in this chapter of colour experienced through other sounds such as horns, alarms, and telephone rings. Scientists, Baron-Cohen and Harrison suggest that we all may be coloured-hearing synthesthetes in the first three months of life, and throughout time due to cortical maturation we are able then to separate the senses. The musicians who were studied in this chapter believe that their synethesia is the central process for their music making.
Reflection:
How fascinating it would be to see music as colour in your mind. As a singer, we are approached with modern techniques of teaching at times, and a clinician will suggest that we sing “Yellow” or feel “ Green” in order to express ourselves or achieve a certain technical task while using colour imagery as a tool. This concept was difficult for me, as I am not a visual learner, but I can acknowledge the influence that colour has on our emotion and perception. Yellow is generally a more optimistic colour than grey, and perhaps associating certain composers, or a piece with colour, it could offer a new palate for expression. Music often has descriptive words that are associated with shading of colour; such as bright, dark, muddy, brilliant, shiny, clear, rich, or tarnished but these could potentially all be translated into more specific colours if we really thought about it. I know that for artists, colour and emotion are very closely linked, the shading of colour is how they express the emotion behind that piece. In comparing that to a musician who hears music through colour, of course they would feel that colour is one of the main processes for them to experience and express music. If the use of colour imagery and association could be a tool for expressing emotion, and musicians usually act as a medium for emotion, perhaps we could use a little colour in our practice and performance.
Michelle Minke
Reading Response #1
Music and the Brain, Lee Bartel
Dec. 7, 2008
The Coloring of Life: Music and MoodCopyright © 1996 Norman M. Weinbergerand the Regents of the University of California
Summary:
The article by Norman Weinberger states the possibility that everything we experience and observe is objective to the music that we listen to. He believes that “we see objectively, remember accurately, think rationally and act appropriately” but throughout the day, our perceptions and memories are strongly influenced by outside factors that change our mood, music being the topic of discussion. If you listen to happy music, you are more likely to feel happy, and if it is a sad song, your mood can be altered into feeling sad or depressed.
The Optimism/Pessimism Questionnaire (OPQ), the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List, and the Wessman-Ricks Elation and Depression Scale have shown that the mood of a piece invokes the same mood in the listener. He applied this to a language study where happy and sad music was played to a group and then tested for word memory, positive words were remembered from the happy songs, and negative words from the sad songs. In a study of art and music, neutral paintings were shown while different music was played for the observer. When asked what “mood” the painting created, the people who heard happy music, said that it was a happy painting, the people who heard sad music, saw a sad painting. The same test was also done not only for language, and for objects, but also on our first impressions of faces. When shown a picture of someone with a neutral face and happy music was played, they saw a pleasant easy going person, when the neutral face was seen with sad music, people generally saw a rejected and sad individual. He believes this research should give us a reason to pause and think about what “real life” is . Music is inevitably complex and has powerful influences therefore it is important to acknowledge the affect that music has on our daily transactions. To reflect on how music alters our memory, attention, perception, and how we judge situations and other people.
Reflection;
This article brought up an interesting point besides the basic idea that happy music makes us happy and vise versa. I have personally experienced each of these “transactions” where I am sure the musical influence at that time altered my perspective. There have been songs on the radio that I don’t necessarily like but because they put me in a certain mood, I could be caught singing the cheesy chorus with uplifting words at the top of my lungs in my car. I have been to art openings where the artists choice of music made me feel a greater connection to their work. I have been in a positive mood and gone to a class where someone brought tears to my eyes while singing Mahler, giving me a feeling of reflection and sadness that stayed with me the rest of the day. The music that light shines on our perception of people probably plays more of a role than we think it does. When I am listening to music on my Ipod on the subway, depending on my choice of music, the people that rush through the doors can either look weary and tired or look like they are living the big city life in the energized hustle and bustle of Young and Bloor station. When I listen to the classic music of Frank Sinatra in a Starbucks and look over at a young couple, they could be talking about grocery shopping but the sentimental music has influenced me to think they are having an intimate conversation. What would life be like if we observed it without musical influence? Would that make life more real? How much of an influence does the radio station we choose in the morning as our alarm have over us and our mood for that day?
According to Norman Weinberger’s theory of music’s influence on our mood , perhaps music offers us some control over our lives, by affecting our mood, motivation, positivity, productivity, social awareness, and overall stress of life.
Reading Response #1
Music and the Brain, Lee Bartel
Dec. 7, 2008
The Coloring of Life: Music and MoodCopyright © 1996 Norman M. Weinbergerand the Regents of the University of California
Summary:
The article by Norman Weinberger states the possibility that everything we experience and observe is objective to the music that we listen to. He believes that “we see objectively, remember accurately, think rationally and act appropriately” but throughout the day, our perceptions and memories are strongly influenced by outside factors that change our mood, music being the topic of discussion. If you listen to happy music, you are more likely to feel happy, and if it is a sad song, your mood can be altered into feeling sad or depressed.
The Optimism/Pessimism Questionnaire (OPQ), the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List, and the Wessman-Ricks Elation and Depression Scale have shown that the mood of a piece invokes the same mood in the listener. He applied this to a language study where happy and sad music was played to a group and then tested for word memory, positive words were remembered from the happy songs, and negative words from the sad songs. In a study of art and music, neutral paintings were shown while different music was played for the observer. When asked what “mood” the painting created, the people who heard happy music, said that it was a happy painting, the people who heard sad music, saw a sad painting. The same test was also done not only for language, and for objects, but also on our first impressions of faces. When shown a picture of someone with a neutral face and happy music was played, they saw a pleasant easy going person, when the neutral face was seen with sad music, people generally saw a rejected and sad individual. He believes this research should give us a reason to pause and think about what “real life” is . Music is inevitably complex and has powerful influences therefore it is important to acknowledge the affect that music has on our daily transactions. To reflect on how music alters our memory, attention, perception, and how we judge situations and other people.
Reflection;
This article brought up an interesting point besides the basic idea that happy music makes us happy and vise versa. I have personally experienced each of these “transactions” where I am sure the musical influence at that time altered my perspective. There have been songs on the radio that I don’t necessarily like but because they put me in a certain mood, I could be caught singing the cheesy chorus with uplifting words at the top of my lungs in my car. I have been to art openings where the artists choice of music made me feel a greater connection to their work. I have been in a positive mood and gone to a class where someone brought tears to my eyes while singing Mahler, giving me a feeling of reflection and sadness that stayed with me the rest of the day. The music that light shines on our perception of people probably plays more of a role than we think it does. When I am listening to music on my Ipod on the subway, depending on my choice of music, the people that rush through the doors can either look weary and tired or look like they are living the big city life in the energized hustle and bustle of Young and Bloor station. When I listen to the classic music of Frank Sinatra in a Starbucks and look over at a young couple, they could be talking about grocery shopping but the sentimental music has influenced me to think they are having an intimate conversation. What would life be like if we observed it without musical influence? Would that make life more real? How much of an influence does the radio station we choose in the morning as our alarm have over us and our mood for that day?
According to Norman Weinberger’s theory of music’s influence on our mood , perhaps music offers us some control over our lives, by affecting our mood, motivation, positivity, productivity, social awareness, and overall stress of life.
"Silent Illumination: a Study on Chan (Zen) Meditation, Anxiety, and Musical Performance Quality."
Chang, Joanne, Peter Lin, Elizabeth Midlarsky, and Vance Zemon. "Silent Illumination: a Study on Chan (Zen) Meditation, Anxiety, and Musical Performance Quality." Psychology of Music 36.2 (April 2008): 139-155.
By Megumi Okamoto
Summary:
This article is regarding the study that investigated the effects of Zen meditation on performance anxiety and on performance quality. The study was done as follows: nineteen participants were assigned to either the control group or the meditation group for the period of eight weeks, and they were asked to perform in a concert after this period. Their anxiety levels and the performance qualities were measured. The results indicated that the effects of Zen might help the performers channel the anxiety to improve their performances.
As performance anxiety is serious problem that affects a great number of musicians, there has been numerous studies on the types of approaches that may help the issue, including systematic desensitization, music analysis, and cognitive restructuring, to name a few. Some researchers recommend that we combine different treatment techniques. Among these approaches is meditation, which became popular in the past two decades. Meditation teaches one to experience life fully as it unfolds from moment to moment. Its effects have been widely investigated in the recent past, although its relevance in the field of musical performance is still largely unexplored.
There are two components to the Zen meditation, which is concentration and mindfulness. This has been referred to as "silent illumination" since the 11th century. This is the mindfulness of both inner mental states and the outer state, with a calm and non-judgmental attitude. The goal is not to change or challenge undesired thoughts, but to observe them with an open attitude. It is considered to be a meta-cognitive skill, which can be described as "cognition about one's cognition." By becoming a detached observer of one's own mental activity, one is able to create a conceptual flexibility. According to research, during meditation, the brain is calm, thereby producing more delta and theta waves, but is also alert, thus producing alpha and beta activity. Also, brain regions that are associated with attention and sensory processing were thicker in meditation participants.
After describing the concept of meditation and its effects, the article progresses to part two, which consists of detailed depiction of the procedure of their study, including methods, measures of anxiety and of performance quality, contents of the meditation classes, analysis, and the results. An important point to note is that although their hypothesis stated that participants in the meditation group would have less anxiety and better musical performance, the data did not support this. Instead, a positive correlation is found for performance anxiety and for performance in the meditation group. This may indicate that the high anxiety scores of the meditation group reflect the higher awareness of the internal states that are typically associated with feelings of anxiety.
Reflection:
This article reminds me that the utmost importance in playing is that the musicians themselves learn to appreciate their own performances on stage, because that would lead to self-satisfying performances. I think that audiences not only enjoy the music itself, but the way in which the performer seems to feel about it.
Although I am from Japan, I am not at all familiar with the concept of Zen (although I came across it in books by reputable authors such as Eckhart Tolle). I feel that the majority of the people in Japan are as ignorant as I am. And it is the same case in the West. It seems to me that it is the exotic flavor of the Zen concept that sold itself to the Western culture. I hear more about Zen in U.S. and Canada than I did in Japan, but it seems to be a rather superficial trend. I am not surprised that the researchers found that eight weeks did not make a drastic difference in the performance quality- this approach is definitely not meant to be a short-term commitment.
As performers, we each have our individual needs, and thus differ in the approaches that can click with our personalities when it comes to dealing with performance anxiety. And I agree that we must keep our eyes open to discover the approaches that are the most effective and suitable. Our responsibility is not only to practice music, but to keep on rediscovering ourselves so that we can keep on learning how to maintain ourselves at the desired mental state. Zen and meditation might work well on some, and not as well on others. But it is worth the attempt.
Now that the Western music tradition became more worldwide, the Eastern philosophies are making its way to become popular. I think that we can take the advantage of living in this unique era where we have access to countless sources, and enrich ourselves and the humanity.
ボーナスが出たら、同僚が次々転職！転職活動ってやったほうがいいの？ 気になったらプロに相談してみよう。
Saturday, December 27, 2008
The Neural Basis of Dance: Lecture by Dr. Steven Brown
4th Annual Music and the Mind Workshop, McMaster University
November 29, 2008
The conference entitled “Musical Connections in the Brain: Language, Dance and the Visual Arts” was fascinating and stimulating. It was once again a treat to hear musicians, dancers, psychologists, and neuroscientists in one room discussing key musical issues, including neural correlates of artistic processes and their biological evolution.
Dr. Steven Brown, professor in the department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour at McMaster University gave a lecture entitled The Neural Basis of Dance. In his lecture, he described how he conducted the first neuroimaging study of dance. Dr. Brown chose a small sample of 10 people (I believe they were recruited from his salsa class) and he examined activity in their brains with an fMRI as they traced dance patterns with their feet.
Dance is a kinaesthetic art form. Dance steps are movements that involve complex sequencing, somewhat like language. Accordingly, it was shown that leg movement can activate Broca’s area, the brain center for language processing. In addition, meter, defined as regular equal-time pattern of movement, corresponds with activity in the basal ganglia. However, synchronized movement with a timekeeper, what Dr. Brown referred to as entrainment, is correlated with activity in the cerebellum (specifically the spinocerebellum). Entrainment to a beat is quite rare among species; it is limited to birds and humans. Dr. Brown proposes a “low road hypothesis” that dance movement is controlled primarily by the thalamus and cerebellum, possibly bypassing the cortex.
Dr. Brown also hypothesized the origins of dance. The first hypothesis maintains that it evolved at first from a form of body percussion or movement that created sound. In this method, dance and music co-evolved. The second hypothesis was that dance was used as a gesture language, a narrative device.
Reflection:
I found the talk very interesting, particularly the hypothesis that dance originated as a form of body percussion. After hearing about the intimate evolutionary relationship between movement and music, I can see why methods of musical education that involve movement and gesture are so effective. Dancing and gesturing to music help to internalize the tempo, rhythm, and motion, all the elements that make up the expressive character of the music. Not only do musical features mimic these expressive gestures, widely understood across cultures, but they seem to coincide with evolutionary roots in all of us.
November 29, 2008
The conference entitled “Musical Connections in the Brain: Language, Dance and the Visual Arts” was fascinating and stimulating. It was once again a treat to hear musicians, dancers, psychologists, and neuroscientists in one room discussing key musical issues, including neural correlates of artistic processes and their biological evolution.
Dr. Steven Brown, professor in the department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour at McMaster University gave a lecture entitled The Neural Basis of Dance. In his lecture, he described how he conducted the first neuroimaging study of dance. Dr. Brown chose a small sample of 10 people (I believe they were recruited from his salsa class) and he examined activity in their brains with an fMRI as they traced dance patterns with their feet.
Dance is a kinaesthetic art form. Dance steps are movements that involve complex sequencing, somewhat like language. Accordingly, it was shown that leg movement can activate Broca’s area, the brain center for language processing. In addition, meter, defined as regular equal-time pattern of movement, corresponds with activity in the basal ganglia. However, synchronized movement with a timekeeper, what Dr. Brown referred to as entrainment, is correlated with activity in the cerebellum (specifically the spinocerebellum). Entrainment to a beat is quite rare among species; it is limited to birds and humans. Dr. Brown proposes a “low road hypothesis” that dance movement is controlled primarily by the thalamus and cerebellum, possibly bypassing the cortex.
Dr. Brown also hypothesized the origins of dance. The first hypothesis maintains that it evolved at first from a form of body percussion or movement that created sound. In this method, dance and music co-evolved. The second hypothesis was that dance was used as a gesture language, a narrative device.
Reflection:
I found the talk very interesting, particularly the hypothesis that dance originated as a form of body percussion. After hearing about the intimate evolutionary relationship between movement and music, I can see why methods of musical education that involve movement and gesture are so effective. Dancing and gesturing to music help to internalize the tempo, rhythm, and motion, all the elements that make up the expressive character of the music. Not only do musical features mimic these expressive gestures, widely understood across cultures, but they seem to coincide with evolutionary roots in all of us.
Musical Structure and Physiological Measures of Emotion
Gomez, P. & Danuser, B. (2007). Relationships Between Musical Structure and Psychophysiological Measures of Emotion. Emotion, 7, 377-387.
By: Andrea Botticelli
In music research, emotional reactions to music are usually divided into a distinction between perceived emotions that reside in the music itself and felt emotions that are induced in the listeners (377). These two cases may involve different psychological mechanisms and be associated with different physiological correlates. This study is one of very few experiments that explores the relationship between musical structure and experienced emotions, as opposed to perceived emotions (377).
The study of emotion is usually measured in terms of valence and arousal. These can also be used as fundamental dimensions to study musical emotions. The current emotion/music literature shows that increased tempo is accompanied by increased breathing rate and heart rate; however, there have not been any studies that attempt to study the affects of specific musical elements on physiological arousal. This study examined emotional responses to music using 11 musical features. These features included sound intensity, tempo, rhythm, accentuation, rhythmic articulation, melodic direction, pitch level, pitch range, mode, complexity, and consonance. They were all found to be significant to the subjective emotional experience (381).
The results showed that melodic direction and pitch level are least associated with specific emotional responses. Valence was most strongly associated with mode, rhythmic articulation, and harmonic complexity. Finally, arousal was most strongly associated with accentuation, tempo, and rhythmic articulation.
Significantly, there were a large number of similarities between musical structure and experienced emotions and musical structure and perceived emotions (381). For instance, the major mode was associated with positive valence. Also, sound intensity was correlated with high arousal. Staccato articulation also induced high arousal while legato articulation led to low arousal (382).
In short, “the internal structure of the music played a primary role in the induction of the emotions in comparison with extramusical factors” (382-383). This may be more pronounced for the feeling of arousal than valence. Also, musical features such as fast tempo and high loudness correspond with events of high energy. Stern named these features “vitality affects” (383). Music that induced faster breathing and higher minute ventilation, skin conductance, and heart rate was fast, accentuated, and staccato. Finally, rhythmic aspects seem to be the major determinants of physiological responses to music.
Reflection:
One of the most fundamental questions in music theory is to try to discover where emotions reside. Eduard Hanslick and a century of post-Hanslickian theorists argued that emotion cannot reside in absolute music. Their purist stance declares that music cannot arouse or represent emotion. More contemporary music theory contends that intrinsic musical features can be meaningful. This theoretical standpoint is termed absolutism, whereby emotion and meaning can be extracted from the musical features themselves as opposed to their extramusical associations. Finally, Peter Kivy’s “enhanced formalism” marries the two stances of formalism and expressionism by arguing that emotional elements reside in the structural elements of music as perceptual properties, such as the redness of an apple or the sad facial expression of a St. Bernard’s face.
I have always adhered to the absolutist viewopoint and tried to find meaning within the interplay of musical elements as opposed to their programmatic associations. For music that includes a program, musicians must still understand how the musical elements convey the story to achieve an expressive performance. Ultimately, it is possible to be moved by the same music without knowing what it should be “about” and that is music’s intrinsic, immediate and fundamental expressive power.
I believe that musical elements can evoke and induce emotional experience, but what are these elements? It is very intriguing to read about how scientists are trying to dissect and study physiological responses to each musical element. One wrinkle in that method that I wonder about is the impossibility of separating the affects of specific musical elements. For instance, the physiological affect brought about by rhythm would be further enhanced by its accentuation and tempo, so which is the most dominant feature correlated with physiological arousal? Nevertheless, I applaud the topic and the effort to study musical emotions in a systematic and scientifically reliable way.
By: Andrea Botticelli
In music research, emotional reactions to music are usually divided into a distinction between perceived emotions that reside in the music itself and felt emotions that are induced in the listeners (377). These two cases may involve different psychological mechanisms and be associated with different physiological correlates. This study is one of very few experiments that explores the relationship between musical structure and experienced emotions, as opposed to perceived emotions (377).
The study of emotion is usually measured in terms of valence and arousal. These can also be used as fundamental dimensions to study musical emotions. The current emotion/music literature shows that increased tempo is accompanied by increased breathing rate and heart rate; however, there have not been any studies that attempt to study the affects of specific musical elements on physiological arousal. This study examined emotional responses to music using 11 musical features. These features included sound intensity, tempo, rhythm, accentuation, rhythmic articulation, melodic direction, pitch level, pitch range, mode, complexity, and consonance. They were all found to be significant to the subjective emotional experience (381).
The results showed that melodic direction and pitch level are least associated with specific emotional responses. Valence was most strongly associated with mode, rhythmic articulation, and harmonic complexity. Finally, arousal was most strongly associated with accentuation, tempo, and rhythmic articulation.
Significantly, there were a large number of similarities between musical structure and experienced emotions and musical structure and perceived emotions (381). For instance, the major mode was associated with positive valence. Also, sound intensity was correlated with high arousal. Staccato articulation also induced high arousal while legato articulation led to low arousal (382).
In short, “the internal structure of the music played a primary role in the induction of the emotions in comparison with extramusical factors” (382-383). This may be more pronounced for the feeling of arousal than valence. Also, musical features such as fast tempo and high loudness correspond with events of high energy. Stern named these features “vitality affects” (383). Music that induced faster breathing and higher minute ventilation, skin conductance, and heart rate was fast, accentuated, and staccato. Finally, rhythmic aspects seem to be the major determinants of physiological responses to music.
Reflection:
One of the most fundamental questions in music theory is to try to discover where emotions reside. Eduard Hanslick and a century of post-Hanslickian theorists argued that emotion cannot reside in absolute music. Their purist stance declares that music cannot arouse or represent emotion. More contemporary music theory contends that intrinsic musical features can be meaningful. This theoretical standpoint is termed absolutism, whereby emotion and meaning can be extracted from the musical features themselves as opposed to their extramusical associations. Finally, Peter Kivy’s “enhanced formalism” marries the two stances of formalism and expressionism by arguing that emotional elements reside in the structural elements of music as perceptual properties, such as the redness of an apple or the sad facial expression of a St. Bernard’s face.
I have always adhered to the absolutist viewopoint and tried to find meaning within the interplay of musical elements as opposed to their programmatic associations. For music that includes a program, musicians must still understand how the musical elements convey the story to achieve an expressive performance. Ultimately, it is possible to be moved by the same music without knowing what it should be “about” and that is music’s intrinsic, immediate and fundamental expressive power.
I believe that musical elements can evoke and induce emotional experience, but what are these elements? It is very intriguing to read about how scientists are trying to dissect and study physiological responses to each musical element. One wrinkle in that method that I wonder about is the impossibility of separating the affects of specific musical elements. For instance, the physiological affect brought about by rhythm would be further enhanced by its accentuation and tempo, so which is the most dominant feature correlated with physiological arousal? Nevertheless, I applaud the topic and the effort to study musical emotions in a systematic and scientifically reliable way.
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