“THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC IN WRITING SKILLS OF

GRADE 11 STUDENTS IN CPF”

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS IN PRACTICAL RESEARCH I

IS PRESENTED TO:
LEOZALDY CABAYA HUBO, LP

PRESENTED BY:
AGUDES, JOHN MARK C.
DELA CRUZ, RALPH PONCE A.
GONZAGA, MA. ANGELA D.
LLORENTE, KIMBERLEE L.
PASAMON, DANILO JR. V.
PATIÑO, JODE G.
DEDICATION

We would like to dedicate this research to our fellow students who also love

music, to those people who finds comfort and peace of mind while hearing music and

for those people who appreciate music in every genre. To our research teacher who

helped us throughout this research and guided us. To our panelists who also helped us

conducting this study, who were patient enough to check our study. We’ve learned so

much from them. To our precious teachers in CPF who also taught us how to conduct

this study properly and gave us advices to make this study successful. And last, to our

respondents, thank you so much for the participation. Without you all, we can’t conduct

this study and solve the problems in this research.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We wish to express our sincerest thanks to Mr. Leozaldy Cabaya Hubo, for

helping us on our research, correcting us on our mistakes on our research and for the

teaching and providing us every necessary task that should be applied on our research.

We would like to thank our classmates for helping us to stand up, for cooperating

and giving us ideas.

We would like to thank the respondents in Center for Positive Future, Inc. for

cooperating and helping us to finish our task.

We would also like to thank our parents for supporting us and giving love while

we’re having a mental breakdown.

We also thank our adviser Ms. Riezel Joy Armada for trusting us that we’ll finish

this work.

We take this opportunity to record our sincere thanks to all the members of the

faculty for encouraging and understanding us to fulfill our research.

We would like to thank our Almighty God for being there when no one elses was, for

giving us love and support and for giving us hope.

 CHAPTER 1
The Problem and its Background

The research is all about the effects of music in Writing Skills of Grade 11 in CPF.

The effects of music is our topic because we want to know if listening to music can

improve the writing skills of a student, as well as its advantage or disadvantage in listening

to music while writing. We conducted a survey to grade 11 students in CPF, to know also

their feedback about hearing music while writing Several studies show that students who

listen to music while completing tasks such as reading and writing tend to be less efficient,

and don’t absorb much information compared to those who don’t listen to music. In

addition, loud or ‘angry’ music has negative effects on reading comprehension, as well as

mood. This makes them less efficient on the tasks.

Research does suggest that music helps with memorization. Theories indicate that

by being in a positive mood, memory formation works better.

However, students who use music to help them memorize often find it hard to recall

the information later as the test is taken in a silent environment. Information recall has

been proven to be more effective when it’s done in a similar environment as the one it

was memorized in. Therefore, students who prefer studying in a quiet environment benefit

more when it comes to recalling information later on a test.

Background of the study

The researchers study is all about the effects of music in writing skills of grade 11 students

in CPF. In this study, the readers will know how music affects the writing skills of a student,

either the readers can think more or they get distracted from it. It will help the readers to

know how human’s attitude or mind work, a human’s mind work differently, some get

distructed when music is playing, some can not write something when everything is so

quiet. Human’s mind work differently specially when it comes to getting emotions on

music.

A music can manipulate our emotions and mood, even if we’re happy it can make

us all sad when the music is emotional. Every time we wrote, the story or poems we wrote

depends on music because we are attached to music, things get emotional when the

music is gloomy

Some human get distracted easily while listening to music, because they can’t

concentrate on what they are writing. Their mind work differently or because they do not

like music or noise while working on their story and stuff. Based on psychology theory ,

the reason why some human doesn’t like music is because their brain can’t handle two

stuff, they can’t concentrate on their work, the imagination came out differently when the

music is on. For example, when a person is writing a story about love and the music

became emotional , he/she forgot the next story or line they will do next. The story

becomes differently .

Some person likes writing a story while the music is on because they believe that

listening to music will help them more become creative and imaginative on things. They
believe that when they are listening to music it can help them to write more story. They

can’t do their work without music because their mind become blank and empty, they can’t

think on the next line.

Without music to them is like having an empty mind. In this study we will observe

grade 11 students if they prefer with music or without music.

Nowadays, students are bringing earphones with them to libraries and study halls.

But does it actually help to listen to music when studying? While the so-called 'Mozart

effect', a term coined from a study that suggested listening to music could actually

enhance intelligence, has been widely refuted, there are still many benefits of listening to

music while studying. Music that is soothing and relaxing can help students to beat stress

or anxiety while studying, Background music may improve focus on a task by providing

motivation and improving mood. During long study sessions, music can aid endurance

and in some cases, students have found that music helps them with memorization, likely

by creating a positive mood, which indirectly boosts memory formation.

Music is a common phenomenon that crosses all borders of nationality, race, and

culture. A tool for arousing emotions and feelings, music is far more powerful than

language. An increased interest in how the brain processes musical emotion can be

attributed to the way in which it is described as a “language of emotion” across cultures.

Be it within films, live orchestras, concerts or a simple home stereo, music can be so

evocative and overwhelming that it can only be described as standing halfway between

thought and phenomenon.

 Music can be thought of as a type of perceptual illusion, much the same way in

which a collage is perceived. The brain imposes structure and order on a sequence of

sounds that, in effect, creates an entirely new system of meaning. The appreciation of

music is tied to the ability to process its underlying structure the ability to predict what will

occur next in the song. But this structure has to involve some level of the unexpected, or

it becomes emotionally devoid.

Skilled composers manipulate the emotion within a song by knowing what their

audience’s expectations are, and controlling when those expectations will and will not be

met. This successful manipulation is what elicits the chills that are part of any moving

song.

Music unquestionably affects our emotions. We tend to listen to music that reflects

our mood. When we’re happy we may listen to upbeat music; when we’re sad we may

listen to slower, moving songs; when we’re angry we may listen to darker music with

heavy guitar, drums, and vocals that reflect our level of anger.

Music also can be an effective coping strategy. We can listen to music that elicits

emotions we want to feel in a given moment. If we feel lazy and unmotivated, maybe a

playlist of uptempo, energetic songs would be a helpful way to change our mood. It could

be interesting to create playlists based on various emotions so they’re within reach as

desired.

In summary, while music can move us in an acute emotional moment, it’s also

notable that it can be used to elicit underlying emotions and teach us about unconscious
elements of our emotional structure. If we notice a pattern of emotional music that raises

questions about current feelings or about who we are, it could be a worthwhile opportunity

for self-exploration.

Music listening is one of the most enigmatic of human behaviors. Most common

behaviors have a recognizable utility that can be plausibly traced to the practical motives

of survival and procreation. Moreover, in the array of seemingly odd behaviors, few

behaviors match music for commandeering so much time, energy, and money. Music

listening is one of the most popular leisure activities. Music is a ubiquitous companion to

people's everyday lives.

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 4723 - AN ACT GIVING IMPORTANCE TO THE TEACHING

OF MUSIC.

Section 1. Commencing with the school year nineteen hundred sixty-six — sixty-

seven, music shall be taught together with arts as a separate subject area, with music

allotted three days a week in all the grades in elementary schools, whether public or

private; and shall be taught together with arts, physical education and health as a

separate subject field, with music allotted at least one day a week in all the years in

general or vocational secondary schools, whether public or private.

Scope of limitations of the study.

This part of research discuss the what, where, when, who and how the research will be.

This study is about the effects of music in writing skills of grade 11 students in Center for

Positive Future, Inc.

This study will be done in Center for Positive Future, Inc. Montalban, Rizal .

This study will be conducted in month of July to September 2019

The purpose of this study is to know if more on grade 11 students prefer music or without

music while working and to know how music can manipulate a person’s mood and

emotions.

The subject of this study is the grade 11 students of Center for Positive Future Inc.

The researchers will use interviews with questionnaire, survey and take down notes.
Statement of the problem.

The researchers are required to answer the following questions below.

1. What are the effects of music in student’s writing skill in terms of

1.1 Essay writing

1.2 Poem writing

1.3 Short story writing

2. What writing skill are develop in hearing music? In terms of

2.1 Ability to communicate

2.2 Power of observation

2.3 Reasoning and problem solving

2.4 Knowledge of grammar, spelling and punctuation

2.5 Fearlessness

3. What is the effect of different genre of music in the student’s writing skills?

4. What is the difference between writing with music and without music?

5. What are the feedback of the student’s about hearing music while writing?

This section shows the guide question of our research.

Theorotical framework

This study is supported by Social cognitive theory, Social learning theory and Social

hierarchy of needs theory. Those theories provide explanation to understand the study.

The theory that listening to music, particularly classical music, makes people

smarter, was developed in the early 1990s.It was dubbed the Mozart Effect by Dr

Gordon Shaw, who conducted research on the brain capacity for spatial reasoning.

Along with his graduate student Xiodan Leng, he developed a model of the brain and

used musical notes to represent brain activity, which resembled that of classical music

notes when analyzed. This led them to test the results of classical music on college

students’ brains. In 1993, he reported that a group of college students increased their IQ

levels as much as nine points as a result of listening to Mozart’s “Sonata for Two Pianos

in D Major.”When it was reported, the media ran with it, proclaiming that ‘classical music

helps kids become smarter. This led to the birth of development toys involving classical

music for children, and advice to pregnant women to place headphones on their bellies

for their babies to hear classical music so that they would, purportedly, be born smart.
Social Cognitive Theory.

Social cognitive theory used in psychology,education,and communication holds

that portions of an individual’s knowledge acquisition can be directly related to observing

others within the context of social interactions,experience, and outside media influences

that helps the students to improve their skills.

The theory states that when people observe a model performing a behavior and

the consequences of that behavior, they remember the sequence of events used this

information to guide subsequent behaviors. Observing a model can also prompt the

viewer to engage in behavior solely by trying them and either succeeding or failing, but

rather, the survival of humanity is dependent upon the replication of the actions of the

others. Dependending on wether people are rewarded or punished for their behavior and

outcome of the behavior, the observer may choose to replicate behavior modeled. Media

provides models for a vast array of people in many different environmental settings. (Holt

and Brown, 1931)

Social learning theory

Theory of learning and social behavior which proposes that new behaviors can be

acquired by observing and imitating others. It states that learning is a cognitive process

that takes place in social context can occur purely through observation or direct

instruction, even in the absence of motor reproduction or direct reinforcement. In addition

to the observation of reward and punishment, a process known as vicarious

reinforcement. When a particular behavior is rewarded regulary, it will most likely to

persist; conversely,if a particular behavior is rewarded regularly, it will most likely desist.

The theory expands on traditional behavior theories, in which behavior is governed solely

by reinforcements, by placing emphasis on the important roles of various internal

processes in the learning individual (Skinner,1940)

The Hierarchy of Needs theory

The most fundamental deficiency needs ,esteem,friendship and love,security, and

physical needs. In the educational assistance, however, focused on educational finance

the needs in school expences.

Psychology says that human brain is complex system and has parallel processes running

at the same time, thus many different motivations from various levels that can occur at

the same time these levels and their satisfaction in terms such as relative,general, and

primaly.
 CHAPTER II

Foreign literature

States that in social creatures like ourselves, whose ancestors lived in arboreal

environments where sound was one of the most effective ways to coordinate cohesive

group activities, reinforce social bonds, resolve animosities, and to establish stable

hierarchies of submission and dominance, there could have been a premium on being

able to communicate shades of emotional meaning by the melodic character (prosody) of

emitted sounds. Panksepp and Bernatzky (2007)

States that the fundamental function of music is its potential to produce pleasure in the

listener (and in the performer, as well). All other functions may be considered subordinate

to music's pleasure-producing capacity. Relatedly, music might have emerged as a safe

form of time-passing—analogous to the sleeping behaviors found among many predators.

Schubert (2009)

States that collected 17 functions of music from the literature and found functions related

to the management of mood and arousal as well as self-related functions to be the ones

that people highly ascribe to their favorite music. Schäfer and Sedlmeier (2009)
Foreign study

Studied One of the reasons the link between music and memory is so powerful is

that it activates such large areas of the brain.A recent brain imaging study found that

music activated the auditory, motor and limbic (emotional) regions The study found that

whether their participants were listening to the Beatles or Vivaldi, largely the same areas

of the brain were active.The motor areas process the rhythm, the auditory areas process

the sound, while the limbic regions are associated with the emotions. Alluri et al.,(2013)

Studied that this interest extends to the music therapy profession as well. For

example, a professional music therapist in the United States is required to be able to

develop and implement music therapy experiences designed to focus on emotion-related

treatment goals, such as the ability to empathize, and the client’s overall affect, mood,

and emotions. Juslin & Sloboda (2010)

Studied Understanding the influence of music on emotions However, these perspectives

all emerged from musicology. Outside musicology, the scientific study of emotions was

intermittent and, until recently, references to music’s effect on emotions were rare.

(Meyer, 2010).
 Local Literature

This work is part of a larger research project titled “Local Music Collections” led by

Music Librarian Carolyn Doi and funded by the university of Saskatchewan President’s

SSHRC research fund. A post from Carolyn’s perspective on managing this project will

be published in 2017 on the C-EBLIP Blog. Veronica Kmiech (2017)

Traditions in the construction of cultural Identity. National History and Identity.

Approaches to the Writing of National History in the North-East Baltic Region Nineteen

and Twentieth Centuries (ed.Branch,M.) Studia Fennica Ethnologica 6. (pp 19-33)

Helsinki: Finnish literature Society. Honko (2010)

The effect of selected musical experiences on receptive and expressive language

in young developmentally delayed children. Treatment included activities that

emphasized auditory discrimination, rhythm and movement. Positive results were also

achieved in personal-social, Fine motor-adaptive and gross motor development. Price

(2009)

Local study
 studied as the musical scene of southeast asia evolves and transforms with time

greater attention and resources should be directed to keeping alive the region’s music

traditions in its myriad formds. Nicholas (2019)

Study was written for and published in connection with the art exhibit golden

inheritance of bing Leonardo Rey S. Carino shows at the museo dabawenyo in davao

city. Hans Brandeis (2018)

studied Talasalitaan a glossary music terms from culed from the articles in Musika

jornal 2 , the second issue of the music journal in Pilipino music published by the

Department of music Research, College of music, University of the Philippines. Nicolas

(2018)

CHAPTER III

Research method and design

This chapter presents the procedures followed in conducting the study. It specifies

the research design, the respondent of our study, data gathering instruments.

This is a qualitive survey study. It obtains information from the respondent. The

respondent os the study will be the beneficiaries of the effecst of music in writing skills of

the center for positive future The instrument that will be used to gather the data is a check-

list questionnaire The unclear answer will provide the researcher will contact the

respondent and conduct an interview

Setting of the study

CPF was established on January 2001 in Loyola Heights, Quezon City and started

when a group of parents desired a holistic and relevant education for their children. It was

first built as a research extension to St. Joseph’s College of Quezon City and was

partnered with the college for two years. SJC served as an institutional character to the

school. In 2003, the SJC located in Esteban Abada was closed which ended the role of

CPF as its research extension. The parents decided to continue its operations as a

separate institution, this time, to serve the children living in the periphery of Metro Manila

providing an access to private, Catholic and non-traditional education. The very first

schools established by CPF were located in San Mateo and Montalban, Rizal. During this

time, CPF served children of professionals, employees, industrial and service workers

and entrepreneurs. With this, the institution started to instill in its students the

entrepreneurial culture which encouraged the children to be responsible and resourceful.

In 2012, the school has found out a new way to introduce the lessons. It has used

interactive learning through the use of the Smart TV. The teachers have created and

researched on media materials to teach the lessons. This has motivated the children to

learn in school. In 2013, another method of teaching was introduced and it is with the use

of personal tablets and smartphones. Instructional materials from Department of

Education and other materials researched by the CPF faculty were developed. These

were supplemented with web links to other sites related to the topics. These materials

were then transferred to the students’ tablets and phones for easier access and use.
Within this year, the students are not just the ones learning but also the parents. CPF

also conducted an enhancement program for the basic computer skills to enable the

parents to monitor their children’s progress in school. Today, CPF does not stop with the

materials and methods they have. The institution is still striving for other ways to

incorporate knowledge in technology and providing ways to promote a holistic

development not just for its students but also for the parents and faculty members.
 LOCATION MAP

Figure 2. The vicinity map of Center for Positive Future Inc. Montalban Rodriguez Rizal.

Source:https//www.google.com/maps/@14.7548783,121.1375492,948m/data=!3m1!1e3
Conceptial Framework

The focus of this study was undertaken by the following conceptual

framework shown in three parts: the input, process and output.

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

1. What are the effects of -Identifying the effects music in -Determined the
music in student’s writing skill
in terms of effects of music in
1.1 Essay writing grade 11 students of center for
1.2 Poem writing Writing skills of grade
1.3 Short story writing positive future.
11 students in CPF
2. What writing skill are
develop in hearing music? In -Validation and administering
terms of -Identified how
2.1 Ability to communicate the questionnaire to the
2.2 Power of observation
hearing music while
2.3 Reasoning and problem respondents. writing affects the
solving
2.4 Knowledge of grammar, students writing skills
spelling and punctuation -Make survey and followed by
2.5 Fearlessness
interview for the beneficiaries - Determined how
3. What is the effect of different
genre of music in the student’s different genre affects
writing skills? -Collecting data
4. What is the difference the students writing
between writing with music and
without music? skills
-Interpreting the data gathered
5. What are the feedback of the
student’s about hearing music and formulating the conclusion
while writing?
of the study.

FEEDBACK

Figure 2. Conceptual Framework

This figure the input, process, and output of our research about the effects of music in
writing skills center for positive future montalban.
Sources of data

This section indicates information on how the researchers gather the data or

information.

The data has been gathered here in the researchers study categorized by

primary,secondary and tertiary. The primary resources of the researchers are the

respondents and research through internet, the secondary resources are the used of

book and any kind of articles, newspaper, magazines and printed materials. The tertiary

resources of the researchers are the parents,friends,relatives and the DSWD staffs that

give information and data about educational assistance program of Department of Social

Welfare and Development.

The researchers also ask the teacher of center for positive futures INC. about the

strategies that the researches used.

Sampling Design and sample

This part means the choosing a subset of units from a target population for the

purpose of gathering information.

The researchers will interview a specific beneficiary in Center for positive future

montalban. The respondents of this study will be purposely selected it is either

heterogeneous or homogeneous. The age bracket of the respondent will be fifteen to

nineteen years old. This researcher will come up the typical simple where in it should be

the specific kind of interview of the researchers. This study is focus on The effects of

Music in writing skills. The typical simple where in it should be the specific kind of interview

of the researchers. This study is focused on the Effects of Music in Writing skills.

Data gathering procedure

This part includes on how the study being conducted.

The researcher gather the information by the used of interview with questionnaire,

survey and take down notes to identify the effects of Music in writing skills.

The validation of the data and administering and questionnaire to the respondents and

make survey and followed by interview for the data interpreting the data gathered and

formulation of conclusion of the study recommendation for the Center for positive future

montalban.
Definition of Terms

1.) Effect – a change that is a result or consequence of an action or other cause

2.) Program – a planned series of future events, item, or performances.

3.) Priority – a thing that is regarded as more important than another.

4.) Study – a detailed investigation and analysis of a subject or situation

5.) Priority – a thing that is regarded as more important than another.

6.) Needs – help doing something .

7.) Respondent – a person who relies to something, especially one supplying information

for a survey.

8.) Helpful – ready to give help.

9.) Benefits – profit gained from something

10.) Financial – the finances or financial situation of an organization or individual

Local literature

Doctorina Christina (1593)

Tomas Pinpin wrote and printed in 1610 "Librong Pagaaralan nang mga Tagalog nang

Wikang Kastila", 119 pages designed to help fellow Filipinos to learn the Spanish

language in a simple way. He is also credited with the first news publication made in the

Philippines: "Successos Felices".

On December 1, 1846, La Esperanza, the first daily newspaper, was available in the

country. Other early newspapers were La Estrella (1847), Diario de Manila (1848) and

Boletin Oficial de Filipinas (1852).

(Furnham & Bradley, 1997)

However, with the plethora of music genres available to music listeners, it is

important to understand how different types of music impact performance. Additionally,

very few studies address the interaction between the intensity or volume of the music

played and its effect on cognitive processing. The present study aims to understand the

effect of listening to different genres of music played at different volume levels on

cognitive task performance.

Smith and Morris (1977)

Addressed this question by studying the effects of sedative and stimulative music.

The study focused on the influence these two distinct genres of music have on

performance, anxiety, and concentration. Participants had to indicate their preferred

genre and were requested to repeat a set of numbers backwards while listening to either

the stimulative, sedative, or no music. The results indicated that participants performed

worse while listening to their preferred type of music. Additionally, in the no music

condition, participants performed best. These results indicate that a preferred type of

music can serve as a distracting factor when one is engaged in a cognitively demanding

task perhaps due to the fact that less cognitive resources are available when the attention

is drawn to the lyrics, emotions, and memories that such music can evoke. Participants

who listened to sedative music performed better than participants who listened to

simulative music and worse than those who listened to no music at all. These results

indicated that stimulative music is a stronger distractor and obstructs cognitive processing

more than sedative music does.

Local studies

(Packer and Ballantyne, 2011)

Empirical studies of musical functions have been very heterogeneous. Some

studies were motivated by questions related to development. Many related to social

identity. Others were motivated by cognitive psychology, aesthetics, cultural psychology,

or personality psychology. In addition, studies differed according to the target population.

While some studies attempted to assemble representative samples of listeners, others

explicitly focused on specific populations such as adolescents. Most studies rely on

convenient samples of students. Consequently, the existing literature is something of a

hodgepodge.

Miller (2000)

Studied that music making is a reasonable index of biological fitness, and so a

manifestation of sexual selection—analogous to the peacock's tail. Anyone who can

afford the biological luxury of making music must be strong and healthy. Thus, music

would offer an honest social signal of physiological fitness.

Schubert (2009)

Studied that the fundamental function of music is its potential to produce pleasure

in the listener (and in the performer, as well). All other functions may be considered

subordinate to music's pleasure-producing capacity. Relatedly, music might have

emerged as a safe form of time-passing—analogous to the sleeping behaviors found

among many predators. As humans became more effective hunters, music might have

emerged merely as an entertaining and innocuous way to pass time during waking hours.
Setting of the study

CPF was established on January 2001 in Loyola Heights, Quezon City and started

when a group of parents desired a holistic and relevant education for their children. It was

first built as a research extension to St. Joseph’s College of Quezon City and was

partnered with the college for two years. SJC served as an institutional character to the

school. In 2003, the SJC located in Esteban Abada was closed which ended the role of

CPF as its research extension. The parents decided to continue its operations as a

separate institution, this time, to serve the children living in the periphery of Metro Manila

providing an access to private, Catholic and non-traditional education. The very first

schools established by CPF were located in San Mateo and Montalban, Rizal. During this

time, CPF served children of professionals, employees, industrial and service workers

and entrepreneurs. With this, the institution started to instill in its students the

entrepreneurial culture which encouraged the children to be responsible and resourceful.

In 2012, the school has found out a new way to introduce the lessons. It has used

interactive learning through the use of the Smart TV. The teachers have created and

researched on media materials to teach the lessons. This has motivated the children to

learn in school. In 2013, another method of teaching was introduced and it is with the use

of personal tablets and smartphones. Instructional materials from Department of

Education and other materials researched by the CPF faculty were developed. These

were supplemented with web links to other sites related to the topics. These materials

were then transferred to the students’ tablets and phones for easier access and use.

Within this year, the students are not just the ones learning but also the parents. CPF

also conducted an enhancement program for the basic computer skills to enable the
parents to monitor their children’s progress in school. Today, CPF does not stop with the

materials and methods they have. The institution is still striving for other ways to

incorporate knowledge in technology and providing ways to promote a holistic

development not just for its students but also for the parents and faculty members.

Subject of the study

The selected grade 11 (30) student of senior high student in center for positive

future were chosen as the subjects of the study. The primary data were obtained from the

answers of the participants of the study which compromised twenty nine respondents

(students).

Procedure of the study

In this study the researcher observed and think of the best three titles for the

research so that the researcher can finally decide which title the researcher should use

as the research title, After the panelist helped the researchers on the researchers title

and choosing a respondents, the researchers then started working on their topic called

The effects of music in writing skills of grade 11 students in cpf.

The researchers chose the effects of music in writing skills of grade 11 students in

cpf because it can help the readers understand that the music can affect a human

person’s mood and emotion, it can also help the future psychologist readers understand

more about this. The purpose of this is the readers can gain some knowledge from this,
this study is a part of psychology and science so it can help those future psychologist

student or psychology student to understand more about this topic.

Some Theories of Emotion in Music and Their Implications for Research in Music

Psychology

Work in musical aesthetics on musical meaning is relevant to psychological

research on musical expressions of emotion. Distinctions between simple emotions,

higher emotions, and moods are given, and arguments as to what kinds of emotions or

moods music might be able to express (given music's semantic capacities and limitations)

are summarized. Next, the question as to how music might express these emotions and
moods is considered. The paper concludes with a number of cautionary points for

researchers in the psychology of musical emotion: (1) musical expression always involves

sonic properties, which must be taken into account. (2) If one uses “real world” musical

stimuli, one may be faced with associative interference. (3) Context will often individuate

emotional expression, transforming a simple emotion to a higher emotion by providing an

intentional object. (4) There is not a simple linear relationship between intensity of a

musical parameter and the intensity of an emotional expression. (5) Some perfectly good

musical expressions of emotion may not arouse those emotions in the listener, yet it would

be incorrect to call such passages “inexpressive.” (6) Any emotions aroused by listening

to music, while similar to emotions that occur in non-musical contexts, will nonetheless

have a number of important differences.

The psychological functions of music listening

Part one of the paper reviews the research contributions that have explicitly

referred to musical functions. It is concluded that a comprehensive investigation

addressing the basic dimensions underlying the plethora of functions of music listening is

warranted. Part two of the paper presents an empirical investigation of hundreds of

functions that could be extracted from the reviewed contributions. These functions were
distilled to 129 non-redundant functions that were then rated by 834 respondents.

Principal component analysis suggested three distinct underlying dimensions: People

listen to music to regulate arousal and mood, to achieve self-awareness, and as an

expression of social relatedness. The first and second dimensions were judged to be

much more important than the third—a result that contrasts with the idea that music has

evolved primarily as a means for social cohesion and communication. The implications of

these results are discussed in light of theories on the origin and the functionality of music

listening and also for the application of musical stimuli in all areas of psychology and for

research in music cognition.

In this essay we argue that musical expressiveness is not confined to “emotion

characteristics in appearances,” i.e., musical gestures which are experienced as

resembling gestures or behaviors characteristic of a person in a particular emotional

state, such as vocal expressions of sadness or anger (sighing, wailing, shouting, etc.)

and behaviors expressive of joy (skipping lightly), or sadness (moving heavily and slowly

as in a funeral procession). We claim that sometimes music can appropriately be heard

as containing a “persona,” a fictional or virtual

Emotions in music

Agent whose emotions are expressed in the music, and that this persona can be

experienced as expressing more complex emotions, such as hopefulness or resignation,

as well as blends of emotion, and emotions that develop and change over time. A complex

piece of music may have a composed expressive trajectory or musical “plot,” which

dramatizes a psychological journey by a persona. Moreover, listeners may be invited not

only to recognize the emotions expressed in such music but also to experience those

emotions themselves, either actually or in imagination, by empathizing with the musical

persona as he or she travels on a psychological journey through the music. Such

experiences are typically reinforced by the arousal of actual physiological states and

action tendencies in listeners. We illustrate our argument by means of analyses of the

Prelude in E♭ Minor from Book I of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier and the third

movement of Brahms's Piano Quartet in C Minor, Opus 60. Finally, we admit that not all

listeners will approach music in the way we suggest, but we argue that listening in the

way we recommend can significantly enrich our musical experiences. Nicolas (1978)