Composers convey emotion through music by co-varying structural cues. Although the complex interplay provides a rich listening experience, this creates challenges for understanding the contributions of individual cues. Here we investigate how three specific cues (attack rate, mode, and pitch height) work together to convey emotion in Bach's Well Tempered-Clavier (WTC). In three experiments, we explore responses to (1) eight-measure excerpts and (2) musically “resolved” excerpts, and (3) investigate the role of different standard dimensional scales of emotion. In each experiment, thirty nonmusician participants rated perceived emotion along scales of valence and intensity (Experiments 1 & 2) or valence and arousal (Experiment 3) for 48 pieces in the WTC. Responses indicate listeners used attack rate, Mode, and pitch height to make judgements of valence, but only attack rate for intensity/arousal. Commonality analyses revealed mode predicted the most variance for valence ratings, followed by attack rate, with pitch height contributing minimally. In Experiment 2 mode increased in predictive power compared to Experiment 1. For Experiment 3, using “arousal” instead of “intensity” showed similar results to Experiment 1. We discuss how these results complement and extend previous findings of studies with tightly controlled stimuli, providing additional perspective on complex issues of interpersonal communication.
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September 2019
Research Article|
September 01 2019
Acoustically Expressing Affect
Aimee Battcock,
1McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
Aimee Battcock, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, Psychology Building (PC), Room 102, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada. E-mail: battcoae@mcmaster.ca
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Michael Schutz
Michael Schutz
1McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
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This research is supported in part by grants from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
Aimee Battcock, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, Psychology Building (PC), Room 102, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada. E-mail: battcoae@mcmaster.ca
Music Perception (2019) 37 (1): 66–91.
Article history
Received:
August 10 2018
Accepted:
June 28 2019
Citation
Aimee Battcock, Michael Schutz; Acoustically Expressing Affect. Music Perception 1 September 2019; 37 (1): 66–91. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2019.37.1.66
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