Repetition and Emotive Communication in Music Versus Speech

Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00167

Abstract

Music and speech are often placed alongside one another as comparative cases. Their relative overlaps and disassociations have been well explored (e.g., Patel, 2008). But one key attribute distinguishing these two domains has often been overlooked: the greater preponderance of repetition in music in comparison to speech. Recent fMRI studies have shown that familiarity – achieved through repetition – is a critical component of emotional engagement with music (Pereira et al., 2011). If repetition is fundamental to emotional responses to music, and repetition is a key distinguisher between the domains of music and speech, then close examination of the phenomenon of repetition might help clarify the ways that music elicits emotion differently than speech.

Highlights

Music and speech are often placed alongside one another as comparative cases
MUSIC’S REPETITIVENESS IS SPECIAL Ethnomusicologist Nettl (1983) identifies musical repetition as a rare cultural universal – a characteristic exhibited by the music of every known human culture
Music features a litany of symbols instructing the player to repeat, from repeat signs to da capo indications (Kivy, 1993), whereas written language possesses no such lexicon for repetition

Summary

Introduction

Music and speech are often placed alongside one another as comparative cases. Their relative overlaps and disassociations have been well explored (e.g., Patel, 2008). Repetition in speech, in other words, encourages a listener to orient differently to the repeated element, to shift attention down to its constituent sounds on the one hand, or up to its contextual role on the other.

Results

Conclusion