Music and Emotions
Music and emotions
Even if we haven’t asked ourselves the question clearly, we all know that there is a connection between music and our emotional states. We listen to music because it tells us something and this something stirs emotions within us, some pleasant, others less pleasant, but no matter the case music does not leave us indifferent. Otherwise, why would we listen to it?
Scientists have tried to determine what emotions music communicates; there have been studies, experiments, all kinds of hypotheses issued, but there is no definitive answer, and most likely won’t be one. Science strives to be objective, its truths to be the same for all, but music addresses precisely to our subjectivity. If we put two people listen to a piece of music, the experiences and interpretations they would give of what they felt would never be identical. The perception of music depends on age, education, the culture where we are born and, last but not least, on the temperament of each person.
However, studies have shown that there are some emotions that most people agree they can be expressed through music, and for each emotion there is a certain profile in terms of tempo, harmony, melody, pitch, timbre etc. These emotions are: joy, sadness, anger, fear and tenderness.
Joy
Joy is an emotion expressed in music through a relatively briskly tempo, major key and ascending melodic contour. Chords are consonant, sounds – in the high register and timbral instruments with bright harmonics are favored. A musical fragment that expresses joy is the following:
Sadness
Sadness in music can be expressed by a lower tempo, in a minor key. The melody usually has a descending outline, the minor chords predominate and the sounds are mostly in the low register. This is an example of a sad melody :
Anger
Anger is an emotion expressed through a briskly tempo, dissonant chords and, above all, with high dynamism. Anger is a “burning” emotional state and that’s why this specific type of music needs to pass on as much energy as possible. For this, percussion elements are always favoured.
Fear
Fear as emotion is created in music especially using dissonance and dynamic contrast – atonal music usually has such effect. Generally, music does not seek to bring fear to us, because fear is a deeply negative emotion with an impairing effect over the psyche. Exception is film music, where it finds its place in very tense scenes. The following example is not for the faint-hearted. 🙂
Tenderness
Tenderness holds a special place in my heart, and that’s exactly why I left it last. The other emotions (joy, sadness, anger, fear) presented so far fall into the category of basic emotions (they can be universally recognized through facial expressions), but tenderness is not considered a basic emotion because it cannot be easily recognized by its facial expression. For me, tenderness is an emotion that accompanies love, love lived steady and quietly. It is the emotion you experience when you look at the serene face of your child, when he has just fallen asleep.
Musically, tenderness can be characterized by a relatively low tempo, major and consonant chords, high-pitched sounds and ascending melody.
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