Music and Emotion: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives

Abstract

One of the key reasons people engage with music, whether as listener or performer, therapist or researcher, is because of its emotional impact. Music comforts us when we’re sad, lifts us up in happier times, bonds us together. We use music to modify our mood, augment current feelings, release tension. Given the ever-growing presence of music in our everyday lives, the investigation of issues related to and subsequent dissemination of knowledge concerning music and emotion is becoming increasingly relevant. This special issue is based on work presented at the 3rd International Conference on Music & Emotion (ICME3) organised by the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Music Research at the Department of Music of the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, 11-15 June 2013. This five-day meeting, which followed previous ICME meetings in Durham, UK (2009) and Perth, Australia (2011), featured over 200 invited keynote addresses, papers, posters, and symposia presented by leading scientists, pedagogues, practitioners, and performers from 35 countries. Work presented at the conference explored many different facets of music and emotion, and when soliciting contributions for this special issue a major aim was to offer breadth of content while remaining inside the confines of the limited number of papers that could realistically be included in such a volume. Consequently, the papers presented herein cover a wide range of topics related to music and emotion, include both empirical and theoretical contributions, and are written by authors ranging from early stage scholars to established figures within the music and emotion community. The volume begins with a consideration of a fundamental yet understudied factor that might affect perception of emotion in music – time of day (Brabant et al.). This is followed by an examination of emotional outcomes derived from regulation strategies used during music listening (Randall et al.), and an exploration of spatial and bodily metaphors in descriptions of listening to sad music (Peltola et al.). A slightly different approach is taken by the guest editor and colleagues in an investigation of emotion-driven effects of music preferences and personality on musicrelated movement characteristics (Luck et al.). Emotional connotations of major-minor tonality are subsequently explored in the context of Schenkerin prolongation (Parncutt), and the volume is (rather fittingly) wrapped up with a paper that questions the suitability of the term ‘emotion’ to describe the wide range of music-related phenomena to which it is applied (Clarke). It gives me great pleasure to submit this special issue to the music and emotion community. For those whose appetite is sufficiently whetted, the 4th International Conference on Music & Emotion (ICME4), will be organised by the University of Geneva and the Geneva University of Music in 2015. 543751 MSX0010.1177/1029864914543751Musicae ScientiaeEditorial editorial2014