The Musical TemperamentPsychology and Personality of Musicians

Kemp, Anthony

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198523628.001.0001

Cited by 207 publications

(60 citation statements)

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“…Neuroticism has been shown to have a robust association with preference for classical music (Dunn et al, 2012) and “openness to experience” to be related to both a liking for jazz and a wider range of musical styles (Rawlings and Ciancarelli, 1997; Dunn et al, 2012) and to more intense experiencing of music-inspired emotions (Liljeström et al, 2012). A relevant constraint here, however, is that these findings have been drawn from broad general populations, and are unlikely to be consistent with evidence from musically trained subjects; Kemp's (1996) extensive study indicates that musicians are untypical in terms of measured personality, and are not conformant to patterns reported from general populations; a view that is supported by the work of Cutietta and McAllister (1997). …”

Section: Sex Differences In Communication and Processingmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…The opposite was the case: MASCFEM scores were higher (i.e., more feminine) for extracts that were judged to be more “controlled-objective,” “calm-reflective” and “mild-submissive.” This effect may possibly be related to Kemp's (1996) observations that personality traits of musicians tend to run counter to trends observed for normal population samples.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

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Gender and the performance of music

Sergeant

Himonides

2014

Front. Psychol.

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This study evaluates propositions that have appeared in the literature that music phenomena are gendered. Were they present in the musical “message,” gendered qualities might be imparted at any of three stages of the music–communication interchange: the process of composition, its realization into sound by the performer, or imposed by the listener in the process of perception. The research was designed to obtain empirical evidence to enable evaluation of claims of the presence of gendering at these three stages. Three research hypotheses were identified and relevant literature of music behaviors and perception reviewed. New instruments of measurement were constructed to test the three hypotheses: (i) two listening sequences each containing 35 extracts from published recordings of compositions of the classical music repertoire, (ii) four “music characteristics” scales, with polarities defined by verbal descriptors designed to assess the dynamic and emotional valence of the musical extracts featured in the listening sequences. 69 musically-trained listeners listened to the two sequences and were asked to identify the sex of the performing artist of each musical extract; a second group of 23 listeners evaluated the extracts applying the four music characteristics scales. Results did not support claims that music structures are inherently gendered, nor proposals that performers impart their own-sex-specific qualities to the music. It is concluded that gendered properties are imposed subjectively by the listener, and these are primarily related to the tempo of the music.

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Section: Sex Differences In Communication and Processingmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Gender and the performance of music

Sergeant

Himonides

2014

Front. Psychol.

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“…Paralleling these results, extraversion (Dyce & O'Connor, 1994;Feist, 1998;Steele & Young, 2011;Per & Beyoğlu, 2011) and openness to new experiences (Dyce & O'Connor, 1994;Feist, 1998;Gillespie & Myors, 2000) have been reported as distinguishing characteristics of musicians and artists. However, some studies have found that features of introversion were higher in musicians (Kemp, 1996) and in artists in general (Dutta Roy, 1996). These contraversional results for extroversion and introversion for musicians argued in the related literature (Gillespie & Myors, 2000) and interfered that introversion might be a personality temperament for higher level of musicians such as professional classical musicians, who require regular solitude in order to practice and maintain mastery of their instruments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personality Traits and Psychological Symptoms of Music and Art Students

Yöndem

Per

2017

JETS

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The qualities of artists and musicians have attracted the attention of personality psychologists and researchers studying creativity. Artistic activities are considered by some to be therapeutic, and may offer a buffer effect on psychological health. On the other hand, research has occasionally revealed a positive relationship between creativity and psychological disorders when it comes to artistic activities. This study aims to investigate the personality traits and psychological symptoms of art and music students, and to make comparisons between different fields of art. The present research was planned as a descriptive and comparative study. The participants consisted of 245 university students (79 male, and 166 female), including 120 music and 125 art students. The Big Five Inventory, the Brief Symptom Inventory, and a Personal Information Form were administered to all participants. The Mann-Whitney U test, a descriptive analysis method, was used to test if students from the two fields of art differed according to their personality traits and psychological symptoms. The results showed that the students from both fields of art had a similar range of scores for the five domains of personality traits: extroversion, openness to new experiences, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. The study revealed that neuroticism in the music students and conscientiousness in art students were found to be significantly higher. As for psychological symptoms, the music students' scores on total symptom disorder, anxiety, and negative self-concept factors were found to be significantly higher than that of art students. The results of the study were discussed by drawing upon relevant literature.

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“…Although timbre has been shown to be a significant factor influencing the stereotyping of instruments as masculine or feminine (Spruce, 1996) and that these stereotypes extend to the attribution of traits to musicians playing them (Cramer et al, 2002;Kemp, 1996), no previous study directly investigated the effect of different timbres on trait attribution.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The connotations evoked by different in.struments' sound qualities lead to the endowing of personality traits to the instrument, or the person playing it (Kemp, 1996). The association between an instrument's sound and gender is one important aspect of this phenomenon.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Instrument timbre and trait attribution.

Ziv¹,

Ayash²,

Ornstein³

2013

Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain

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An instrument's timbre is one of the determining factors in the decision to play it. Previous studies have shown gender stereotypes of certain instruments, and personality differences among musicians playing specific instruments. The present study was conducted with 2 aims: first, to examine whether nonmusicians hold the same stereotypes of instrumentalists as musicians; second, to examine whether hearing a melody in different instrumental timbres influences trait attribution to the assumed performers. To examine the first question, 26 nonmusicians and 22 musicians (control groups) rated fiautists, trumpet players, and violinists on a list of 10 personality traits. Nonmusicians rated trumpet players as less introverted and sensitive than flautists and violinists. Musicians rated trumpet players as tougher than flautists and violinists, and violinists were rated as more egocentric than trumpet players or flautists. In the second phase, 80 participants (experimental groups) rated fictional musicians after hearing the same melody played in the 3 timbres, presented in different orders. Results show that trumpet timbre led to significantly different attributions from flute or violin. Trumpet players were generally rated more extraverted, friendly, tough, and assertive, and less introverted, anxious, sensitive, and shy. Einally, comparisons between control and experimental groups showed significant differences in ratings. Results demonstrate the strong effect of hearing instruments' timbre on trait attribution. However, these effects were different for the different instruments. Whereas nonmusicians do not hold the same stereotypes of instrumentalists as musicians, hearing a melody in the 3 different timbres led to ratings in the direction of gender stereotypes.

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The Musical TemperamentPsychology and Personality of Musicians

Cited by 207 publications

References 0 publications

Gender and the performance of music

Gender and the performance of music

Personality Traits and Psychological Symptoms of Music and Art Students

Instrument timbre and trait attribution.

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