Emotional Expression in Music

Abstract

Abstract Pieces of music are dynamic events in time—not static, visible, or tangible as are pieces of pictorial and sculptural art. In the latter, perceived color, light, surface structure, and other properties cannot be separated from the objects themselves. Sounds, tones, and music may likewise be perceived as belonging to objects (e.g., instruments, performers), but they may also be attended to as such—as “pure events”—without any consideration of their origin or belonging (Scruton, 1997; Zuckerkandl, 1956). Music often seems abstract and ineffable, inaccessible to description by ordinary language, or only hinted at by means of similes or metaphors. While most pictorial art depicts phenomena visible in nature, music rarely depicts in that sense, except in a few examples of program music (Davies, 1994, chap. 2). Nor can music be regarded as a language because its elements (e.g., tones, chords) do not have fixed dictionary meaning, as elements in language usually have (Davies, 1994, chap. 1; Hermere´n, 1986; Langer, 1957, p. 228; Scruton, 1997, chap. 7). On the contrary, musical elements are ambiguous; they mean different things in different contexts. So what, then, can music do? Richard Wagner, who wrote both libretto and music for his operas, declared that music begins where language comes to an end, and that music is the language of passion (Benestad, 1978). Langer (1957) claimed that music “can reveal the nature of feelings with a detail and truth that language cannot approach” (p. 235), and Cooke (1959) maintained that music is not apt to expression of ideas or abstract concepts but is the expression of emotion. Sounds, it seems, may express and arouse emotions more readily than visual stimuli. People who have become deaf as adults experience “a consequent draining of feeling from the world about them” (Brown, 1981, p. 240). Before the advent of sound film, a pianist was hired to strengthen the expression of what happened on the screen, and nowadays music is routinely used to generate or amplify emotional expression in plays, films, videos, television programs, and so forth (Cohen, 2001). Before proceeding further, it is necessary to refer to a distinction between, on the one hand, a listener’s perception of expression in the music—to perceive an expression of, say, sadness without being affected oneself—and, on the other hand, a listener’s response to the music—to feel sad. This distinction is not always observed, neither in theoretical treatises nor in empirical investigations (and in reality the border between the two alternatives is somewhat blurred). In the following, however, we focus mainly on perceived emotional expression. (For discussions of emotional reactions to music, see Gabrielsson, 2001; Scherer & Zentner, 2001; Sloboda & Juslin, 2001.) Expressive qualities of Western music have been discussed by philosophers, music theorists, and others ever since antiquity, and many opinions have been issued concerning what can be expressed in music. We first take a look at some of these ideas as they relate to emotion. Then, we review empirical investigations on emotional expression in music. Finally, we discuss methodological and theoretical issues and consider implications for future research.