Abstract
It is not unusual to experience a sense of total absorption, concentration, action-awareness, distortion of time and intrinsic enjoyment during an activity that involves music. Indeed, it is noted that there is a special relationship between these two aspects (i.e., music and flow experience). In order to deeply explore flow in the musical domain, it is crucial to consider the complexity of the flow experience—both as a “state” and as a “trait.” Secondly, since music is a multifaceted domain, it is necessary to concentrate on specific music settings, such as (i) musical composition; (ii) listening; and (iii) musical performance. To address these issues, the current review aims to outline flow experience as a “trait” and as a “state” in the three above-mentioned musical domains. Clear and useful guidelines to distinguish between flow as a “state” and as a “trait” are provided by literature concerning flow assessment. For this purpose, three aspects of the selected studies are discussed and analyzed: (i) the characteristics of the flow assessments used; (ii) the experimental design; (iii) the results; and (iv) the interrelations between the three domains. Results showed that the dispositional approach is predominant in the above-mentioned settings, mainly regarding music performance. Several aspects concerning musical contexts still need to be deeply analyzed. Future challenges could include the role of a group level of analysis, overcoming a frequency approach toward dispositional flow, and integrating both state and dispositional flow perspectives in order to deepen comprehension of how flow takes place in musical contexts. Finally, to explain the complex relationship between these two phenomena, we suggest that music and flow could be seen as an emergent embodied system.
Highlights
Take Il Volo, the popular trio of Italian pop-opera singers, who won the top prize at the Sanremo Music Festival in 2015
Despite the growing body of studies investigating flow in sports (Muzio et al, 2012; Swann et al, 2012) and work (e.g., Csikszentmihalyi and LeFevre, 1989; Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi, 2009; Engeser, 2012), to date few researches have been concentrated on the musical domain, even though music was demonstrated to elicit flow most often (Lowis, 2002)
We were interested mainly in findings reached by each study concerning both of the above-mentioned perspectives of flow in the three musical domains of musical composition, listening and musical performance, in order to provide an initial but solid background for future research in this field
Summary
Take Il Volo, the popular trio of Italian pop-opera singers, who won the top prize at the Sanremo Music Festival in 2015. They begin to sing, and each of them seems to know exactly what to do and when to do it. Everything flows even though the piece of music is clearly difficult to perform. Think of a time when you were involved in singing or playing an instrument, or in listening to music. You will probably remember that time seemed to stop or to accelerate; you were totally concentrated on the music; everything flowed and you felt a sense of joy and fulfillment.
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