Is happier music groovier?: The influence of emotional characteristics of musical chord progressions on groove

Abstract

Specific rhythmic patterns in music have been reported to induce an urge to move with feelings of pleasure or enjoyment, called “groove.” However, it is unclear how the emotional characteristics of music (e.g., happiness or sadness) affect groove. To address this issue, we investigated the effects of the emotional characteristics of music on groove by altering the chord progressions of a drum break composed by a professional composer while manipulating independent tempo and rhythmic patterns. An online listening experiment was conducted using pieces composed by a professional composer but comprising different types of chord progressions that lead to happiness or sadness. Participants evaluated the items on a 7-point scale, including subjective groove. Items included “urge to move,” among others. The experiment found that: 1) chord progressions that evoke happiness were more likely to induce groove, 2) emotional characteristics did not interact with tempi and syncopation in terms of groove ratings, and 3) the accompaniment of drum breaks enhanced groove in both happy and sad chord progressions. Musical pieces with chord progressions that induce happiness were more likely to evoke groove, namely, the urge to move. This implies that it is important to consider the emotional characteristics of musical pieces and rhythms when creating music for movement during rehabilitation, therapy, or dance.

Impact of the presence or absence of dancing in festivals on people’s sense of community

“…Further, the results add a new perspective to the findings of a series of studies that indicate how dance deepens social bonds (Dunbar, 2011;Savage et al, 2021;Trehab et al, 2015) by examining the presence or absence of dance. Furthermore, this result sheds light on the social meaning of the fact that the urge to move one's body to music is observed across cultures (Etani et al, 2023;Kawase, 2024;Kawase & Eguchi, 2010).…”

“…In recent years, the urge to move one's body in response to music has been termed "groove.' The urge to move to music is probably a universal sensation because words describing the relationship between music and physical movements exist in many cultures (Etani et al, 2023;Kawase, 2024;Kawase & Eguchi, 2010). Studies have examined the acoustic features that induce groove, manner in which such acoustic features are reflected as physical movements, and reasons for the occurrence of such sensations (as reviewed by Etani et al, 2023).…”