Regardless of the time and location, people listen to music. One may ask why people listen to music and what function it serves. This study clarifies the psychological functions of listening to music and the attributes associated with the individual differences found in these functions. A total of 916 participants between the ages of 15 and 88 were asked to rate various psychological functions of music listening and Big Five traits. A factor analysis identified the seven factors of psychological functions of music listening: "self-awareness", "emotion regulation", "communication", "tool", "embodiment", "social distance regulation", and "solace". The results revealed that the individual differences in the functions were the result of gender, age, and personality traits. The nature of these seven functions and future directions are discussed.

Swing is an expression technique used in the performance of popular music. Swing causes the feeling of wanting to move the body in accordance with the musical rhythm. Swing is expressed by dividing one beat into two temporally unequal parts (e.g., 2:1). This study examined the effects of a swing’s position in one measure on the feeling of musical rhythm. Every beat of the duple meter rhythm was divided into two parts. Four conditions of the swing’s position were prepared: the “every-beat swing,” the “odd-beat swing” (the swing’s position being the first beat), the “even-beat swing” (the swing’s position being the second beat), and the “no swing” conditions. This study had 114 participants listening to musical rhythms presented with Scheffé's paired-comparison method and rated the degree of “wanting to move the body” and “pleasantness.” The results showed that the “every-beat swing” condition got the highest rating scores for a feeling of “wanting to move the body.” We consider that the partial presence of swing, irrespective of the swing’s position, might hardly allow listeners to attune to the rhythm of duple meter music.

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Swing is a musical performance technique, whose magnitude is indicated by the swing ratio. This study examines the effects of swing on music-listening appreciation. In Experiment 1, 21 participants were presented with synthesized performances with three swing ratios, and were asked to rate their impressions using the semantic differential method. The results show that there exists a certain relationship between swing and the affective evaluation of music and tempo. Experiment 2 explored the relationship between swing and melody, another dimension of music, in perceived dynamism and preference for swing. Two musical instruments were used: piano and drums. Twenty-two participants were presented with synthesized performances and were asked to rate the degree of dynamism and their preference using Scheffé's paired comparison method. The evaluations for five swing conditions were similar for those performed by the piano and by the drums. The discussion looks at the swing ratio and its psychological attributes as well as the relationships of perceived impressions of swing to tempo and musical instruments.