The contributions of compositional structure and performance expression to the communication of emotion in music

Quinto, Lena; Thompson, William Forde; Taylor, Alan

doi:10.1177/0305735613482023

Cited by 29 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Thus, whereas previous studies have found that pitch-based cues such as pitch height, pitch range, pitch variability, and modality contribute to emotional communication (Ilie and Thompson, 2006; Gabrielsson and Lindström, 2010; Quinto et al, in press), MIV does not appear to be involved in the communication of emotion in music. Nonetheless, recent investigations suggest that features considered to be music-specific, including interval size and mode, may actually play a role in emotional speech (Bowling et al, 2010; Curtis and Bharucha, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

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Emotional Communication in Speech and Music: The Role of Melodic and Rhythmic Contrasts

Quinto¹,

Thompson²,

Keating³

2013

Front. Psychol.

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Many acoustic features convey emotion similarly in speech and music. Researchers have established that acoustic features such as pitch height, tempo, and intensity carry important emotional information in both domains. In this investigation, we examined the emotional significance of melodic and rhythmic contrasts between successive syllables or tones in speech and music, referred to as Melodic Interval Variability (MIV) and the normalized Pairwise Variability Index (nPVI). The spoken stimuli were 96 tokens expressing the emotions of irritation, fear, happiness, sadness, tenderness, or no emotion. The music stimuli were 96 phrases, played with or without performance expression and composed with the intention of communicating the same emotions. Results showed that nPVI, but not MIV, operates similarly in music and speech. Spoken stimuli, but not musical stimuli, were characterized by changes in MIV as a function of intended emotion. The results suggest that these measures may signal emotional intentions differently in speech and music.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…There was also a trend whereby the average interval size was larger for pieces expressing happiness than for pieces expressing sadness. Additional details can be found in Thompson et al (2012) and Quinto et al (in press). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional Communication in Speech and Music: The Role of Melodic and Rhythmic Contrasts

Quinto¹,

Thompson²,

Keating³

2013

Front. Psychol.

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“…Quinto et al (2013) found that there were no differences in overall emotional decoding between instruments, but other results suggest that certain instruments constrain the range of emotions that can be conveyed (Schutz et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…In the perfonnance condition, emotionally ambiguous melodic fragments were composed by one of the authors and supplied to musicians, who performed them with the intention of expressing the six target emotions. Quinto et al (2013) used a forced-choice paradigm that focused on decoding accuracy for the same stimuli. They found that some emotions were well decoded through composition (e.g., fear), whereas other emotions were well decoded through performance (e.g., anger, sadness).…”

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confidence: 99%

Composers and performers have different capacities to manipulate arousal and valence.

Quinto

Thompson

2013

Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain

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In two studies, we investigated the capacity of compositional structure and performance expression to communicate the affective dimensions of valence and arousal. We expected that performance and composition would differ in their expressive capacities, with composition better suited to expressing changes in valence and performance better suited to expressing changes in arousal. Eight highly trained musicians attempted to communicate distinct emotions in three ways: composition alone (pitches and durations composed by musicians and recorded as MIDI files), performed versions of those melodic fragments, and performance alone (e.g., changes in intensity, tempo, timing) applied to neutral or ambiguous melodic fragments. In Experiment 1, we compared valence and arousal scores for the composition and combined conditions. In Experiment 2, we compared valence and arousal scores for the performance condition. Mean scores for both dimensions varied significantly as a function of the intended emotion. Regression analyses indicated that both composition and performance contributed to valence and arousal scores. However, compositional cues had a greater influence on valence scores and performance cues had a greater influence on arousal scores. The findings underscore the collaborative and complementary nature of emotional communication by composers and performers.

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“…There is debate over whether meanings are universal or specific to individuals or contexts (Erkkilä et al 2012;Pavlicevic 1997) and research on emotional expression in musical performance continues to find that emotions other than basic categories are less clearly communicable (Gabrielsson and Juslin 1996;Quinto et al 2014), even between music therapists (Gilboa et al 2006). In the fixed-choice paradigm of such experimental work the listener recognises or rates predetermined monolithic emotional categories, whereas a therapist seeks to apprehend and respond non-verbally to a client's emotional state at a more holistic level through improvising.…”

Section: D) Emotional Expressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Musical improvisation and health: a review

MacDonald

Wilson

2014

Psych Well-Being

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There is an expanding field of research into how making or listening to music can improve wellbeing. As a spontaneous, social, creative nonverbal process unfolding in real time, musical improvisation between individuals is a unique psychological phenomenon distinct from other areas of musical activity. It may therefore have an influence on health or wellbeing distinct from other musical behaviours, and from other components of a musical intervention. Given the psychological complexity of this behaviour it is important to establish the parameters of improvisation, the effects on health or wellbeing that are perceived or claimed for it, and any mechanisms understood to bring about these effects. To establish this, literature was reviewed that explicitly investigates or theorises about the capacity of musical improvisation to influence health or wellbeing. Only work examining its application within music therapy was identified. The behaviours and interactions that constitute improvisation during music therapy are clearly defined. Improvisation in music therapy is seen to have specific benefits for particular populations including the amelioration of neurological damage, improvements in mental health conditions, reductions in stress and anxiety, and improved communication and joint attention behaviours in children with autistic spectrum disorders. Four unique characteristics of musical improvisation are identified as underlying these effects: its potential to link conscious with unconscious processes, the demands on attention of absorption in a creative process, the non-verbal social and creative interaction experienced, and the capacity for expressing difficult or repressed emotions without having to articulate these verbally. Although improvisation is undertaken in music therapy for a purpose distinct from that of improvisation in other contexts, its processes can be seen as substantively similar, suggesting that improvising in itself may offer intrinsic benefits to health or wellbeing to broader populations and outwith the therapeutic context. Based on this review, a model is proposed for how improvisation in music can influence the health or wellbeing of those involved.

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The contributions of compositional structure and performance expression to the communication of emotion in music

Cited by 29 publications

References 51 publications

Emotional Communication in Speech and Music: The Role of Melodic and Rhythmic Contrasts

Emotional Communication in Speech and Music: The Role of Melodic and Rhythmic Contrasts

Composers and performers have different capacities to manipulate arousal and valence.

Musical improvisation and health: a review

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