Who is listening? A psychoanalytic view on listening phenomena

Abstract

A consideration of scientific research in the fields of infant observation and psychoanalysis opens new ways of appreciating human reactions to music. The process of evaluation and the very nature of listening are addressed. The research describes how deeply unconscious complex reactions to music shed new light on the question of the 'objective' evaluation. Who is listening intrapsychically? Which intrapsychic content evoked by the exposure to music lends the ear in the process of listening and renders immediate evaluation? Exploration of the interplay between developmental and archetypal dynamics in connection with music flow invite new perspectives.