Temporal
Dynamics of Musical Emotion
Although music is a
time-oriented structure that occasionally flows from emotion to emotion, the
psychological effects of contrasting emotions in music remain poorly
understood. In light of recent studies on the progression of
reward-anticipation to reward-gain in music (Salimpoor et al., 2011), I suggest
that the temporal dynamics of musical tension affect listeners in a manner
similar to biological processes such as reward learning.
Figure 1 shows the average
physiological-emotional signals during listening to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5
(‘Fate’) in C minor, Movement I. The arrival
of the home key in a soft dynamic was followed by an agitating
phrase on the dominant of the dominant V7/V (t=-14 to -12) (MM. 228-232), which was associated with
a peak of
SCR (skin conductance response)
amplitude. This chord moved to the diminished seventh chord vii07 (t=-10 to
-5) (MM. 233-239) with
a lower dynamics.
The second part of
retransition was dominated by the aggressive gesture of
‘fate-knocks-at-the-door’. From
the
soft beginning of the chord V7/V
(t=-18) (M. 221) to the end of the retransition (t=-2.5 to -1) (M.M. 245-247), the heart rate significantly increased, whereas the
finger temperature significantly decreased.
Figure 1. The average physiological-emotional
signals during listening to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 (‘Fate’) in C minor,
Movement I. Nineteen volunteers (two males, 20-26 years old) participated in
this experiment. All participants had a habit of listening to western classical
music, but were not professional musicians (Tsai & Chen, 2015).
Immediately before the
recapitulation, the goal-directing loud passage may give an impression to
listeners that the fate was inescapable, and listeners’ respiration depth
decreased to a level below the median value in this trial. An explanation of the changes in listeners’ physiological responses may be
the experienced fear in the face of a musical threat. Prior work has indicated
the physiological profiles of fear, such as increased heart rate and SCR amplitude,
as well as decreased respiration depth. Listeners’ decreased respiration depth in
the preparing passage of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 may reflect a ‘freezing behaviour’
in the face of a musical threat
(Spitzer, 2011).
[to be continued]
REFERENCES
Spitzer, M. (2011). Mapping
the human heart: A holistic analysis of fear in Schubert. Music Analysis, 29, 149-213.
Tsai, C. G., & Chen, C. P. (2015). Musical tension over time: listeners’
physiological responses to the ‘retransition’ in classical sonata form. Journal of New Music Research, 44,
251-269.
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