Musical Emotions Explained

Abstract The emotional power of music has been much examined and discussed. Based on new research, this book takes a close look at how music expresses and arouses emotions, and how it becomes an object of aesthetic judgments. It asks: can music really arouse emotions? If so, which emotions? How, exactly, does music arouse such emotions? Why do listeners often respond with different emotions to the same piece of music? Are emotions to music different from other emotions? Why do we respond to fictive events in art as if they were real, even though we know they are not? What is it that makes a performance of music emotionally expressive? Music is often regarded as consisting of abstract sequences of notes, which are devoid of meanings. This book argues that this is not true. Adopting an evolutionary perspective, the book shows how psychological mechanisms from our ancient past engage with meanings in music at multiple levels of the brain to evoke a broad variety of affective states — from startle responses to profound aesthetic emotions. Finally, it asks: but why do these mechanisms respond to music?