Breaking the Code

2019 ◽  
pp. 122-138
Author(s):  
Patrik N. Juslin

Having established that expression and perception of emotions are important phenomena in music, this chapter takes a closer look at how psychological processes actually work. A first step is to consider the musical features. Which are the relevant features? How do they co-vary with specific emotion categories and dimensions? How are they modulated by musical style, culture, and historical context? It is a recurring notion from Ancient Greece that there are systematic relationships between musical structure and expression of emotions. Modern studies, however, differ from previous treatises by using psychological experiments to uncover ‘causal relationships’ between musical features and perceived emotions. The chapter focuses on the five emotions most frequently studied thus far (sadness, happiness, anger, tenderness, and fear). It also considers how musical features correlate with broader emotion dimensions, such as tension, arousal, and valence.

Author(s):  
Alf Gabrielsson

This article discusses the relationship between musical structure and perceived expression. Musical structure is an umbrella term for a host of factors, such as tempo, loudness, pitch, intervals, mode, melody, rhythm, harmony, and various formal aspects (e.g. repetition, variation, transposition). The discussion focuses on perceived expression rather than expression somehow inherent in the music. The listener may apprehend music as ‘pure’ music (absolutism) or as expression of emotions, characters, events, or whatever, and may very well alternate, consciously or unconsciously, between different approaches during the course of a piece. The focus will be on referential meaning.


Popular Music ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Brackett

In the intense disciplinary upheavals of the last fifteen years or so within music scholarship, music analysis has been one of the most contentious areas of debate The sense of conflict arises from a confluence of factors: all music scholars who wish to describe the details of musical style must employ some form of music analysis, yet the very strengths of music-analytical practice Ð its ability to describe musical events with precision, its ability to explain details of musical style and demonstrate structural interrelationships Ð are couched in a technical meta-language that seems resistant to socio-cultural analysis, an area of particular interest for those involved in the self-critique of the field. Concurrent with the apearance of what are probably the best-known denouncements of analysis as formalist and tautological by Joseph Kerman in the early to mid-1980s, musicologists who were sympathetic to aspects of KermanÕs critique explored ways to harmonise the description and analysis of musical details with methods of analysis derived from different aspects of cultural theory. Many of the scholars seeking new applications for music analysis also pursued the related project of understanding the socio-historical context for music analysis itself and of unpacking the aesthetic values couched within the apparently neutral practice of analysis.


2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Baur ◽  
M. Ronald Buckley ◽  
Zhanna Bagdasarov ◽  
Ajantha S. Dharmasiri

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to provide some historical understanding of a popular recruitment procedure called a Realistic Job Preview (RJP). As long as individuals have worked for others there has been a need to exchange information about a focal job. Information can be exchanged through myriad channels. The aim here is to trace the origins of RJPs and discuss the initial studies that generated attention and interest in what has become known as “realistic recruitment”. Design/methodology/approach – Along with a historical account, this paper provides a summary of the limitations associated with this method, proposed psychological processes mediating effectiveness of RJPs, and issues with development, mode of presentation, implementation of RJPs, and an important alternative/accompanying technique (ELP). Findings – While this technique has been used for many years, it will continue to be a quality addition to any worker socialization program. Originality/value – The value of this paper is that it places this technique in an historical context.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-84
Author(s):  
Rita Seixas ◽  
Anne Pignault ◽  
Claude Houssemand

Emotion regulation is a human adaptation process with important implications for daily life. Two specific emotion regulation strategies were the principle areas of study: reappraisal (cognitive change in which individuals adapt their state of mind about a given situation) and expressive suppression (response modulation in which individuals change their emotional response after its initiation). The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), that captures individual tendencies to reappraise and to suppress the expression of emotions, was also developed. Response modulation strategy was analyzed by considering two distinct processes: expressive suppression (down-regulation) and expressive enhancement (up-regulation). This latter modulation process has been less frequently studied by researchers. The present study investigates the psychometrical properties, individual differences and correlates of a French adapted version of the ERQ, which comprises reappraisal and the two response modulation tendencies – expressive suppression and expressive enhancement. Based on the initial ERQ, new items were created and added to the scale. The three-factor structure of the ERQ adapted was confirmed. As expected, emotion regulation is linked to individual differences: the tendency to reappraise has a positive low correlation with age; and men are significantly more disposed to suppress and to enhance than women. Finally, the tendency to suppress the expression of emotions is negatively correlated with extraversion, and the disposition to enhance the expression of emotions is negatively correlated with conscientiousness.


2018 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Langlotz

Research on the facial expression of emotions has become a bone of contention in psychological research. On the one hand, Ekman and his colleagues have argued for a universal set of six basic emotions that are recognized with a considerable degree of accuracy across cultures and automatically displayed in highly similar ways by people. On the other hand, more recent research in cognitive science has provided results that are supportive of a cultural-relativist position. In this paper this controversy is approached from a contrastive perspective on phraseological constructions. It focuses on how emotional displays are codified in somatic idioms in some European (English, German, French, Spanish) and East Asian (Japanese, Korean, Chinese [Cantonese]) languages. Using somatic idioms such as make big eyes or die Nase rümpfen as a pool of evidence to shed linguistic light on the psychological controversy, the paper engages with the following general research question: Is there a significant difference between European and East Asian somatic idioms or do these constructions rather speak for a universal apprehension of facial emotion displays? To answer this question, the paper compares somatic expressions that are selected from (idiom) dictionaries of the languages listed above. Moreover, native speakers of the East Asian languages were consulted to support the analysis of the respective data. All corresponding entries were analysed categorically, i. e. with regard to whether or not they encode a given facial area to denote a specific emotion. The results show arguments both for and against the universalist and the cultural-relativist positions. In general, they speak for an opportunistic encoding of facial emotion displays.


Author(s):  
Mariko Anno

This chapter investigates flute performance as a space for exploring the relationship between tradition and innovation and traces the characteristics of the nohkan and its music. It examines the musical structure and nohkan melodic patterns of five traditional Noh plays. It also assesses the degree to which Issō School nohkan players maintain the continuity of their musical tradition in three contemporary Noh plays inspired by the twentieth-century Irish poet William Butler Yeats. The chapter reviews three contemporary works draw upon Yeats's At the Hawk's Well, which was influenced by Noh drama. The chapter argues that traditions of musical style and usage remain vastly influential in shaping contemporary Noh composition and performance practice, and that the freedom within fixed patterns can be understood through a firm foundation in Noh tradition.


2001 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Sloboda ◽  
Andreas C. Lehmann

This study demonstrates a comprehensive method for linking expert musicians' interpretive choices and associated performances to listeners' perceptions of emotionality. In Phase 1 of the study, 10 expert pianists recorded their prepared interpretations of a highly emotional piece of music (F. Chopin's Prelude op. 28, no. 4). They were also interviewed about their deliberate interpretive choices. In Phase 2, 28 musicians listened to the interpretations and provided postperformance ratings of expressivity and other performance aspects. During listening, subjects moved a mouse pointer on a continuous response computer interface, rating the moment-to-moment (concurrent) level of perceived emotionality. The correlation between postperformance ratings of expressivity and mean concurrent ratings was moderate (.50). In general, musical structure and the trajectory (trace) of concurrent emotionality ratings corresponded strongly. Statistically reliable trace divergences between individual performances and the grand mean performance demonstrated systematic relationships between emotionality ratings and performance data (loudness, timing). Increases in emotionality appear to be caused by specific local deviations from the performance characteristics of an average performance. Interpretive choices clustered at musical phrase boundaries. Many of the analyzed divergences were reflected in performers' interpretive intentions as revealed in interview data.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 63-73
Author(s):  
K.A. Maksimenko

Background. One of the typical trends of modern musicology is the increasing interest in the problem of components dialogue in the synthetic forms of art. In the context of this global topic, the issue of music and choreography interaction in the stage dances of musical theater productions of the 17th – the first half of the 18th century is of particular interest. The connection of music and choreography in the art of stage dance of the 17th – the first half of the 18th century appears as a kind of continuation of the syncretic unity of ancient art seen through the prism of the professional experience of the creators of court musical and stage productions in the French classicism style. In the court operas, ballets and other types of performances such of the composers, as A. Kampra, J.-B. Lully, J. F. Rameau, the spirit of the antique art was reviving in its own special way representing the “ensemble of arts” in a miniature. The research objective is to identify the features of the combination and interaction of musical and choreographic arts in the stage dances of French musical and theatre productions of the 17th – the first half of the 18th century. The article uses the method of comparative analysis. This method allows to analyze the features and the ways of interaction between the elements of dance and musical syntax. Results. The art of choreography is a rhythm and plastic form of thinking and self-expression, which can reflect reality not only in its eventual plot related manifestations, but also to rise to the broad abstract generalizations. In view of its rather conditional nature, dance requires, to one degree or another, the interpretation of its content. In the 17th and early 18th centuries, the need for such an explanation increases significantly because of the great role of emblems and encoded content in various aesthetic and artistic phenomena. In the dance, the close relation to the court ceremonial, which did not allow the expression of emotions, initiated this feature additionally. For example, at that time one was believed that stepping a minuet means “drawing up secret signs of love”, which were recognized in movements, poses, facial expressions and gestures. In the Baroque Epoch the audience easily was recognizing the content of such dances, whereas for the modern observer and researcher it remains unknown. The dance moves and their combinations in stage dances of the 17th and early 18th century receive a specific meaning in the context of poetic, musical and dance phrases. However, first, the moves of dancers-performers were consistent with the music. As a rule, the result of making a choreographic production depended on the composer’s choice of the musical form. Most of the dances within the researched period were set to music in a two-part form. Less often we can find the samples in the form of a couplet rondo and ostinato variations. When making the dance productions, French choreographers took into account the features of other popular musical forms of the 17th –18th centuries. In some cases they emphasized or combined with their own author’s decision the symmetric basis laid down in the musical structure (the form of rondo), in others – they disclosed the effect of the continuity principle. An example of the embodiment of a choreographic idea set to music in the form of a rondo is the passepied production (fr. passé-pied) “La Gouastalla” realized by R. A. Feye to the music of the unknown composer. The choreographic composition consists of five dance periods corresponding to five sections of the musical form. A slightly different choreography scheme – ABCBC is combined with the symmetric scheme in the musical variation– ABACA. In this production the combination of the musical form and the choreographic composition is somewhat changed, however, this does not mean the complete neglect of the musical form regularities in the construction of the dance general plan. One of the aspects of the musical and choreographic arts combination in French stage dances of the 17th and 18th centuries is the connection with of the choreographic component of the latter with the tonal plan of the musical work. The tonal coloring of the music was reflecting in the formation of a choreographic drawing of dance, in the process of expressing in the movements of various emotions and feelings. Changes of tonalities, the most used of which, as a rule, a certain circle of images and affects, their own “character” carried along at that time, were associated with a variety of transitions in the emotional coloring of the dance. It is from such, emotional, the perception of tonality, the versions of the tonal plans of French dances follows, which are unusual for later canons of Viennese Classicism, in particular, with the violation of the harmonic sequence of T-D-S-T. Conclusions. Thus, the stage dance of the 17th and early 18th century is a peculiar form of embodiment of the “miniature ensemble of arts”, where dance moves and their combinations receive a specific coloring in the context of poetic, musical and dance phrases and certain allegorical meanings. Nevertheless, first and foremost, the moves of dancers-performers were consistent with the music. Obvious is the great dependence of the choreographic production on the musical form and its components – the rhythm as well as the tonal and harmonic plan, which combined with the choreographic elements, prompt the feelings transmitted in the dance, which give to it the life and inspiration.


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Graham Holderness

In Britain, from the nineteenth century onwards, the default ‘setting’ for Shakespeare’s plays (by which I mean costume, mise-en-scène, and assumed historical and cultural context) has been medieval and early modern: the time of the plays’ composition (late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries) or the time of their historical location (medieval Britain or Europe, ancient Greece or Rome, etc.). In this visual and physical context, Twelfth Night would normally be performed or imagined in Elizabethan or Jacobean, Macbeth and Hamlet in medieval, Julius Caesar in ancient Roman dress and settings. In the historical context of their original production, the plays were performed in contemporary dress with minimal mise-en-scène; through the Restoration and eighteenth century in fashionable modern dress and increasingly naturalistic settings. Today in Britain, Shakespeare can be performed in any style of costume, setting and cultural context, from the time of the plays’ reference to the immediate contemporary present, and often in an eclectic blend of some or all. But strong forces of tradition and cultural memory tie the plays, in their visual and physical realisation as well as their language, to the medieval and early modern past. We see this attachment in film versions of the plays and of Shakespeare’s life. We dress Shakespeare in the costumes of all the ages, but we know that he truly belongs, as in the various portraits, in doublet and ruff.


Author(s):  
Mariko Anno

What does freedom sound like in the context of traditional Japanese theater? Where is the space for innovation, and where can this kind of innovation be located in the rigid instrumentation of the Noh drama? This book investigates flute performance as a space to explore the relationship between tradition and innovation. This first English-language monograph traces the characteristics of the Noh flute (nohkan), its music, and transmission methods and considers the instrument's potential for development in the modern world. The book examines the musical structure and nohkan melodic patterns of five traditional Noh plays and assesses the degree to which Issō School nohkan players maintain to this day the continuity of their musical traditions in three contemporary Noh plays influenced by William Butler Yeats. The book's ethnographic approach draws on interviews with performers and case studies, as well as the author's personal reflection as a nohkan performer and disciple under the tutelage of Noh masters. The book argues that traditions of musical style and usage remain influential in shaping contemporary Noh composition and performance practice, and the existing freedom within fixed patterns can be understood through a firm foundation in Noh tradition.


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