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\nStarting with his band the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed wrote songs imbued with nonmoral depictions of people’s emotional experiences with drug use, sex work, marriage, poverty, friendships, and other aspects of life and survival in New York City. This paper presents an interpretation of Reed’s words and music from the twin perspective of geography and psychology. Drawing on materials in the Lou Reed Archive at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the author conducted a comprehensive analysis of song recordings released over three distinct periods of Reed’s music career. Each song was considered within the framework of a psychoevolutionary theory of human emotions and situated in New York’s diverse spaces and places. Reed’s grounded lyrics convey a deep empathy for people’s triumphs, setbacks, and conflicts as they search for love and act on a desire for transcendence and freedom. The paper recommends further research into songwriters who use their biography to tell geographic stories.Read the transcriptWatch the video on Vimeo© 2024 American Association of Geographers. Published by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigated how musicians use descriptive imagery to perform expressively. The study's procedure was carried out by university musicians alone in a naturalistic practice environment. They recorded their performance of two melodies both before and after receiving imagery-based instruction designed to make performance of the melodies very expressive. Participants read and considered a teacher's expressive instructions for each melody, practiced in light of it, and recorded a final expressive performance, transcribing their thoughts while practicing. Results showed that ratings of expressiveness increased significantly from pretest to posttest, indicating that the imagery-based instruction was effective at improving participants' expressive performance quality. Also, some musicians used a cognitive translation process, by which they explicitly generated plans for the musical sound properties in their performance, but others exclusively reflected on and personalised the provided imagery in their thoughts. Further analysis revealed that scoring high in the use of the cognitive translation process corresponded with greater improvement in expressive performance. We were also able to identify 'cases of mistaken expressivity', i.e. instances when participants believed their performance had effectively improved, but a change in expressive sound properties was not perceived by the listeners who made up our panel of judges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on the development and validation of the Instrumental Practice Goal Realization Inventory (IPGRI) designed to assess the process of self-directed study, beginning with setting the intention to practice and ending with the evaluation of one's performance. This new tool is based on the theoretical model of action phases. The IPGRI consists of 12 items and four scales delineating the phases of goal realization: Practice Intention, Planning, Acting, and Evaluating Practice. We describe the conceptualization and development of the measure. The evaluation of its psychometric properties is based on two samples: 171 piano students and 235 students learning various instruments. They participated in three measurements, each spaced two weeks apart. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses performed on the two samples indicate that the four-factor structure of the IPGRI is a good representation of the realization of instrumental practice goals. A high reliability (internal consistency and test-retest stability) of the scales was observed. We also provide evidence for convergent, discriminant, construct, and known-group validity. The IPGRI is a short and multidimensional measure with good psychometric properties. Therefore, it may be used both in research and practice in the psychology of music and music education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the experience of listening to classic songs with place titles, such as "San Francisco" and "New York, New York," and the emotions and nostalgia they evoke. The author describes how these songs provide a temporary escape from a fast-paced lifestyle and mundane reality, and how they create a sense of longing for an idealized past and an envisioned reality. The article also discusses the collective resonance and social connections that these songs can foster, particularly during times of social isolation. Overall, the article highlights the power of music to transport listeners and evoke deep emotions and connections. [Extracted from the article]

AbstractObjectivesMethodConclusionPeople living with dementia often experience behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), which severely affect their well-being during the course of the disease. Particularly for BPSD outcomes, there is a high demand for increasing the evidence-based knowledge of non-pharmacological approaches, such as music-based interventions. Although previous reviews emphasize the potential effects of music-based interventions in people with dementia, they cover a wide range of different interventions and outcomes.Therefore, this systematic review (SR) and network meta-analysis (NMA) aims to not only investigate the efficacy of music-based interventions on BPSD, but also to compare the impact of different types of music-based interventions on outcomes. Preferred reporting items for SR and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) and the PRISMA NMA extension were followed. Several databases will be searched from inception to the date the search will be performed, for relevant randomized or non-randomized controlled trials comparing a music-based intervention with treatment as usual, active controls, or another music-based intervention. Multivariate pairwise meta-analyses will be conducted for each outcome. NMA based on a frequentist random-effects model will be used to estimate the comparative effects of each type of music-based intervention and related components across outcomes. Heterogeneity will be investigated by meta-regression models.Based on our knowledge, this may be the first SR and NMA study to compare the efficacy of different types of music-based interventions. In addition, combined with our multivariate analysis approach, it will allow us to identify potential effect modifiers in music-based intervention for treating BPSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our contribution involves the development and validation of a standardised terminology for the description and comparison of music branding communication aims. We initially review relevant literature from marketing and music psychology research, and then carry out two empirical studies. In the first, an expert focus group develops an inventory of categories and adjectives representing all aspects of brand identities that can be conveyed through music, the multi-lingual Music Branding Expert Terminology (MBET). The second one is an online survey with 305 marketing experts that successfully confirms the terminology's relevance across different product and service sectors. Finally, we describe how the practical application of the MBET can help to ease communication between all stakeholders in the music branding sector and how this will potentially increase the effectiveness of music branding campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insomnia in depression is common and difficult to resolve. Unresolved depression-related sleep disturbances increase risk of relapse at high costs for individuals and society. Trials have suggested music for insomnia in various populations, but there is little research on the effectiveness of music for depression-related insomnia. We examined the efficacy of a music intervention on insomnia, depression symptoms and quality of life in adults with depression-related insomnia. A two-armed randomized controlled trial was conducted, including depression outpatients with insomnia (n = 112) in a 1:1 ratio to music intervention and waitlist control group. The intervention group listened to music at bedtime for 4 weeks. Participants received treatment as usual during 8 weeks with assessments at baseline, at 4 and 8 weeks. The primary outcome measure was Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), secondary outcomes comprised Actigraphy, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) and World Health Organisation well-being questionnaires (WHO-5, WHOQOL-BREF). The music intervention group experienced significant improvements in sleep quality and well-being at 4 weeks according to global PSQI scores (effect size = −2.1, 95%CI −3.3; −0.9) and WHO-5 scores (effect size 8.4, 95%CI 2.7;14.0). At 8 weeks, i.e. 4 weeks after termination of the music intervention, the improvement in global PSQI scores had decreased (effect size = −0.1, 95%CI −1.3; 1.1). Actigraphy sleep assessments showed no changes and there was no detection of change in depression symptoms. Music intervention is suggested as a safe and moderately effective sleep aid in depression-related insomnia. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov. ID NCT03676491 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(Grassi p 6) There are various approaches to writing about music and psychoanalysis. It reminded me of the concept of "Remembering, Repeating and Working through" (Freud [1]) Overall I think Grassi is offering a wonderfully stimulating contribution to the literature on music and psychoanalysis but I must confess it is not an easy read. Ludovica Grassi's book The Voice of the Unconscious Psychoanalysis as Music 2021 is a welcome addition to a fairly limited but growing repertoire of books on psychoanalysis and music. In her book, Ludovica Grassi wishes to go 'beyond the application of psychoanalysis to music in order to achieve a musically informed psychoanalysis'. [Extracted from the article]

This paper examines how performer decisions regarding musical pacing and expressive timing can shape the communication of affective states in a musical work, through a case study of Angst (Ho, Alice Ping Yee. 2000. Angst. Canadian Music Centre), composed by Alice Ping Yee Ho and premiered by soprano Janice Jackson. Described by Ho as a 'reaction to the myth of the inferiority of women', this work for solo soprano 'express[es] the fear and anxiety that women encounter'. Angst includes fluctuating time signatures, long-held notes of varying durations, and recurring motives that enter at unpredictable times, which, when combined, can complicate a listener's ability to discern consistent metre and/or predict future musical events. Using a video recording of Angst, I examine how Jackson's performance conveys the anxiety expressed by the protagonist. I draw on Danuta Mirka's adaptation (Mirka, Danuta. 2009. Metric Manipulations in Haydn and Mozart: Chamber Music for Strings, 1787–1791. Oxford: Oxford University Press) of Ray Jackendoff's parallel multiple-analysis model for determining metre (Jackendoff, Ray. 1991. "Musical Parsing and Musical Affect." Music Perception 9 (2): 199-230), David Huron's theory of musical expectation (Huron, David. 2006. Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), and Austin Patty's pacing scenarios (Patty, Austin T. 2009. "Pacing Scenarios: How Harmonic Rhythm and Melodic Pacing Influence Our Experience of Musical Climax." Music Theory Spectrum 31 (2): 325-367), and I expand on this work by discussing the affective impact of pacing. I suggest that Jackson's performance of Ho's score creates a confounding listening experience that reflects the work's themes of anxiety, fear, and realisation of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: Mixed initiative interaction; labeling; agency; interaction timing; rhythm EN Mixed initiative interaction labeling agency interaction timing rhythm 25 48 24 12/06/22 20230101 NES 230101 1. Accumulated task load In many of the routine judgment tasks where mixed-initiative interaction techniques might be applied, task load can be measured in terms of the "backlog" of decisions that need to be taken by the human agent. When our novel implementation of labeling interaction using a conversational rhythm is compared to the currently established design practice in which the user determines the rhythm without any kind of conversational entrainment or other rhythmic response from the system, we found evidence that users may take more care in their judgments, while still finding the interaction comfortable. Entrainment results from two agents accommodating their rhythm to each other, so we expect to observe an entrainment effect in condition UC, where the computer follows the rhythm set by the user. A conversational rhythm, where the timing of the actions initiated by the system is modified to follow rhythmic cues from the user's own actions, results in greater accuracy than self-paced interaction design where the user sets their own rhythm. [Extracted from the article]

This study examined Finnish first-and second-year music education major students and primary education students who participate 25-credits minor subject studies in music, childhood and adolescent musical experiences and musical paths. The participants (N = 30) were asked to write an essay on the topic 'Music and Me'. Using holistic content analysis, five different composite stories were formed, each representing a different developmental path to a specific musical identity type: pop/jazz musician, ensemble musician, classical musician, leisure musician and music listener. Using self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan 2000) and a combined framework of personal and social identity development (Albarello, Crocetti, and Rubini 2018), it is proposed that versatility of instruction, consideration of basic psychological needs and fostering peer interaction are crucial to adolescent identity development, different musical identity types and pursuit of a musical career. Extended music programmes had a positive impact on participants' identity development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can single pairing of background music with an advertised product condition choice behavior? Gorn's (1982) demonstration of this effect remains controversial given his unconventional conditioning procedure, unusual data analyses, probably confounded stimuli, and possible demand artifacts. We review prior criticism and conduct three conceptual replications (N = 182, 224, 127) circumventing these problems. Study 1 finds (weak) significant musical conditioning effects for low-involvement products. Study 2 fails to find effects for higher-involvement products. Study 3 showed conditioning of general brand and product evaluations but not of specific brand-related evaluations. Demand artifacts play a minor role; contingency awareness (marginally) amplifies conditioning effects across studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illusions of immortality: a psychology of fame and celebrity. Celebrity culture, at its core, is a culture of surveillance: rarely does the star have a moment alone. However, evoking insights into "hybrid masculinities", Hansen demonstrates that Malik's rewriting of the gendered narrative of eating disorders is not as straightforward as it may appear. [Extracted from the article]

Rooted in the rich soil of positive psychology, scholarship on the uses and effects of self-transcendent media content that elicits other-oriented emotions has flourished in the past few years, covering a full range of media content such as movies, online videos, social media posts, and news stories. The current research aimed to gain a better understanding of the positive consequences of consuming self-transcendent media with a particular focus on music – a medium that is frequently identified as inspiring. Specifically, two studies were conducted to examine the degree to which self-transcendent music (manifested as awe-eliciting music) can boost listeners' activated positive affect and prosociality relative both to the natural baseline condition (Study 1) and to amusing/hedonic condition (Study 2). Results show that while awe-eliciting music did not directly contribute to increases of well-being variables compared to amusing music, inspiration was a crucial mediator through which awe-eliciting music exerted influences on participants' perceptions of meaning in life and universality. Results are reflected in the broader context of positive media psychology, and implications for music's potential to inspire are discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was in the 1990s that the metaphor commonly employed to explain and understand improvisation in jazz, "improvisation as conversation" came into prominence. In 2015 however, Wilson and MacDonald, from the perspective of music psychology, argued that this widespread model for understanding improvisation via language metaphors was inadequate to explain improvisation in music, broadly construed. While I agree with Wilson and MacDonald that there are flaws in the "improvisation as conversation" model, I also believe this model offers benefits and insights worth preserving. Thus, rather do away with the model, in this paper I defend a conversational understanding of improvisation by rethinking the idea of language and conversation that underpins the model. Instead of deploying a "rule-based" understanding of language, in this article I explore how understanding language as "conversation," such as explicated in the philosophies of Gadamer and Davidson, might effectively address some of the challenges presented by Wilson and MacDonald. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

And this year's Babbitt-themed book I Thinking In and About Music i by Zachary Bernstein (also a contributor and guest co-editor here) has set Babbitt studies on a new level of nuance and breadth, bringing Babbitt's music and ideas into contact with a stimulating variety of relevant but previously neglected interpretive perspectives. I If you have a very very high level of experience with a certain stream of new music and jazz (and maybe a particular disposition as well) Babbitt's music can just roll into your ears like a monologue by an interesting and humorous old friend- you're laughing i , I you're crying i , I you're nodding along to the truths. i Patrick Zimmerli (quoted in Iverson [21]) The man, the myth, the music: Who was Milton Babbitt? Whatever music-aesthetically curious mindset the young Babbitt was developing (as compared to the greater exposure had by his peers in major cultural centres or through their classical keyboard-centred music education) Babbitt could not have had the benefit of as much conditioning in terms of directly hearing a symphony orchestra perform (or oneself playing on the piano) the dramatic sweeping suspense and climax of, say, a sonata-form retransition, which could easily become an unproclaimed touchstone for many sensitive budding musicians. Although this flexibility is more pronounced later on with Babbitt's I time-point system i , it is even true as early as in Babbitt's I Three Compositions i , as Mead ([34]) shows that in the third movement Babbitt deranges and disrupts would have been a merely mechanical unfolding of his rhythmic series in order to forge audible connections back to the first movement. [Extracted from the article]

This article discusses aspects of Milton Babbitt's music read from the point of view of a listener's emotional engagement with the music, frequently understood in terms of playfulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental health is a crucial aspect of overall wellbeing, and anxiety and depression among graduate students have become grave concerns. This study aimed to determine whether listening to music can help graduate students to reduce their depression levels. For the experiment, 1,007 participants were selected from several universities in Guangxi, of which 56 completed the experiment. The participants were divided into a music group (n = 28) that listened to music of their choice for 30 min per week for 13 weeks and a non-music group (n = 28) that did not. After music intervention, the depression levels of the music group participants were significantly lower than that of the non-music group participants. This indicates that music has a significant effect on the depression levels of graduate students and that music could serve as an effective intervention to alleviate their depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Women undergoing cesarean delivery may have significant anxiety prior to surgery. Nonpharmacological approaches to anxiety reduction are favored in this patient population. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of patient-selected or preselected music on anxiety in parturients undergoing scheduled cesarean delivery. Materials and methods: This is a prospective, randomized controlled trial (IRB protocol #2015P002043; ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02732964), of 150 parturients undergoing elective cesarean delivery. Parturients were randomized to patient-selected music (Pandora®), preselected music (Mozart), or no music (control). The primary outcome was anxiety after music exposure (versus no music) in the preoperative holding room. Secondary outcomes included postoperative anxiety, postoperative pain, and patient satisfaction. Results: Baseline anxiety and anxiety following preoperative exposure did not differ in the Pandora versus control group (3.8 ± 2.4 versus 4.6 ± 2.6, mean difference −0.8 [95% CI −1.8 to 0.2], p =.12), but was lower in the Mozart group versus control group (3.5 ± 2.5 versus 4.6 ± 2.5, mean difference −1.1 [95% CI −2.2 to −0.1], p =.03). Postoperative anxiety did not differ in the Pandora versus control group (1.0 ± 1.4 versus 1.3 ± 2.0, mean difference −0.3 [95% CI −1.0 to 0.4], p =.43), or in the Mozart versus control group (0.8 ± 1.3 versus 1.3 ± 2.0, mean difference −0.5 [95% CI −1.2 to 0.2], p =.15). Postoperative pain was not different in the Pandora group versus control group (0.8 ± 1.5 versus 1.4 ± 1.9, mean difference −0.6 [95% CI −1.3 to 0.1], p =.10), but was lower in the Mozart versus control group (0.6 ± 1.3 versus 1.4 ± 1.9, mean difference −0.8 [95% CI −1.4 to −0.1], p =.03). Total patient satisfaction scores were not different among the control, Pandora, and Mozart groups. Conclusion: While preselected Mozart music results in lower anxiety prior to cesarean delivery, patient-selected Pandora music does not. Further investigation to determine how music affects patients, clinicians, and the operating room environment during cesarean delivery is warranted. Clinical trial registration: NCT02732964. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I review some of the claims about electronic sound synthesis and human subjectivity that were made in the name of RCA's first electroacoustic sound synthesiser, as it was understood by its various sponsors in the American military-industrial-academic-cultural complex. As described by Harry Olson, head of the corporation's acoustics research division, RCA's Mark I synthesiser was intended to be 'a musical instrument with no limitations whatsoever.' I argue that the promise of RCA's limitless musical instrument began at the University of Iowa, with an embryonic effort to define and quantify musical talent. When it emerged fully-formed from RCA's Princeton-based acoustics laboratory, the synthesiser represented Cold War cultural and economic supremacy by channelling wartime innovations in signal processing, information theory, and cybernetics into the service of a booming American entertainment industry. As centrepiece of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Studio, the synthesiser was conscripted by the composer Milton Babbitt to realise an ongoing experiment in art and psychoacoustics, linking twelve-tone composition, information theory, positivist epistemology, and psychoacoustics. Babbitt's ideas about composition as experimentation, I will suggest, supported a vision of human rather than mechanical potential—and of the autonomous artist as a Cold War liberal, a heroic figure more enduring than RCA's celebrated machine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common age-related neurodegenerative disorder, presenting not only with motor symptoms (resting tremor, bradykinesia, and muscular rigidity), but also with cognitive and behavioral problems that need to be addressed in a rehabilitation setting. Aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of a combined rehabilitative approach, using gait training coupled to music-based therapy, on cognitive and behavioral function in a sample of patients with PD. Materials and Methods: Forty patients, meeting the inclusion criteria, were enrolled in this study and were randomly divided into two groups. The control group (CG) underwent traditional over ground gait training, whilst the experimental group (EG) underwent gait training with the Biodex Gait Trainer 3 (a treadmill integrated with music therapy). Each subject was evaluated at baseline (T0) and after the training (T1), using specific neuropsychological and motor function tests. Results: The EG presented higher outcomes scores concerning mood and quality of life in all subscales of Psychological General Well-Being Index (i.e. anxiety, depression, health, vitality and positivity) and subscales of Brief-COPE, with regard to behavioral disengagement, positive reframing, planning, acceptance and use of emotional support, as compared to the CG. Moreover, a significant improvement in motor functioning, with regard to static and dynamic balance, was found in the EG. Conclusion: Music-based gait training rehabilitation may be considered an effective strategy to improve behavioral performances, coping strategies and rehabilitation outcomes in patients with PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The satellite city of Elizabeth, located 30 km north of South Australia's capital Adelaide, was established in the 1950s as an experiment in urban sociological planning, populated with new arrivals and hailed as the 'City of Tomorrow'. By the 1970s, it had declined into one of the most disadvantaged communities in South Australia, with intergenerational unemployment, poverty and social dysfunction leading to disengagement and disenfranchisement of the current generation of young people living there. In 2007 the local council developed a community facility to attract young people into creative learning and expression through music and the performing arts. This was the council's response to its shared responsibility for caring for the young people in its community and their personal, social and educational wellbeing. 'Northern Sound System' offers programs and resources for contemporary music composing, recording and performance. This article reports on the affordances of applying a youth participatory inquiry approach in a study in Elizabeth, to establish young people's views on music and the creative arts in relation to their lifeworlds, in particular their interests, personal wellbeing and social interactions. Most young people reported music played a large part in maintaining a positive outlook. However, there were differences in how young men and women talked about the creative arts in their lives, which may have implications for the provision of programs and safe spaces for young people to 'hang out' and engage in creative pursuits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research on the development of emotion recognition in music has focused on classical, rather than popular music. Such research does not consider the impact of lyrics on judgements of emotion in music, impact that may differ throughout development. We had 172 children, adolescents, and adults (7- to 20-year-olds) judge emotions in popular music. In song excerpts, the melody of the music and the lyrics had either congruent valence (e.g. happy lyrics and melody), or incongruent valence (e.g. scared lyrics, happy melody). We also examined participants' judgements of vocal bursts, and whether emotion identification was linked to emotion lexicon. Recognition of emotions in congruent music increased with age. For incongruent music, age was positively associated with judging the emotion in music by the melody. For incongruent music with happy or sad lyrics, younger participants were more likely to answer with the emotion of the lyrics. For scared incongruent music, older adolescents were more likely to answer with the lyrics than older and younger participants. Age groups did not differ on their emotion lexicons, nor recognition of emotion in vocal bursts. Whether children use lyrics or melody to determine the emotion of popular music may depend on the emotion conveyed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the use of musical parameters for emotional expression has been extensively studied, little is known about which specific musical parameters children at different ages are able to use for expressing specific emotions. We used a novel interface called Music Box that allows modification of musical parameters while music is being played in real time. Children (N = 37, 18 girls) at the age of 3 and 5 were asked to modify three parameters – tempo, loudness, and pitch – in expressing three emotions – happiness, sadness, and anger. We hypothesised that both 5-year-olds and 3-year-olds could use each of the parameters in differentiating between the emotions. Results showed that 3-year-olds were equally competent than 5-year-olds in using the parameters. Differences based on gender and music background were additionally measured. The study provides knowledge on normative development of children's ability for musical expression of emotion, which can be used to inform music education and music therapy practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between music, the self/identity, and consumption is significant and widely acknowledged, yet it remains under-researched. To further our understanding of the symbolic consumption of music, this study evaluates the usefulness of Larsen, Lawson, and Todd's (2009) conceptual framework of the consumption of music as self-representation, and presents a revised framework. Twenty-two individuals provided data, including in-depth interviews and participant diaries. The resulting framework details the cognitive and communicative processes involved in the symbolic consumption of music. It is based on an evaluation of the level and acceptability of congruency between the image of the music and the self-concept, both of which are socially situated. Identity is expressed through a variety of consumption rituals, which allow the individual to 'own' or 'possess' the associated meanings. The framework demonstrates that music is a rich and important site of symbolic consumption, and could also be used in contexts other than music to describe symbolic consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the context of an undergraduate registration queue, this study confirmed perceived wait duration to be a significant, positive function of the tempo of background music, and a significant, negative function of musical liking. In addition, it identified how the presence of music significantly reduced mean perceived duration estimates. Slow-tempo music produced significantly more positive affective responses than fast-tempo music in terms of satisfaction, relaxation, and positive disconfirmation of expectations of wait duration. The presence of music enhanced positive affective response with low crowd density, but diminished it with high crowd density. Musical liking significantly enhanced positive affective responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research suggests that music comprises a sign system that could add meanings to advertising. However, research in this area is scant and there is practically no research that has examined the process by which consumers use music to create meanings. This study extends previous research on print advertising to delineate effects of music in congruent/incongruent TV advertising. A mixed design integrating features of qualitative and quantitative methods was used. Results indicated that the viewers' knowledge of cultural texts form a reference point for reading the commercials. Specifically, music in congruent ads reduces 'noise' by reinforcing the connecting cultural context to communicate meanings. However, music in incongruent ads helps enact an alternative context that is meaningful to the viewer to communicate the ad message. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aesthetic elements such as soundtrack music have been neglected in game entertainment research. Based on previous work in games research and the psychology of film soundtracks (Cohen, 2001), we test the hypotheses that soundtrack music contributes to players' enjoyment via intensification of emotions (affective route) and via amplification of the sense of spatial presence and identification with the game character (cognitive routes). Study 1 tested these assumptions with N = 68 young male players of an episode of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag®, either with the original soundtrack music present or absent, and reported game enjoyment, as well as scores of the assumed mediator variables afterward. In Study 2, N = 59 young males played an episode of Alien: Isolation® with soundtrack music present or absent and reported their horror experience, as well as the experiential facets as in study 1. Findings clearly show an indirect effect of soundtrack music on enjoyment through positive emotions (study 1) and an impact of (shocking) music on players' horror experience (study 2). However, a mediation of the effect of soundtrack music on game enjoyment via spatial presence or identification was not established. We discuss implications for future research in game entertainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional scientific writing depends upon a highly proscribed complement of models and formulae with clearly defined methodological constraints. The earliest use of affordance I have seen in the music literature comes from Clarke's contemporary, the sociologist Tia DeNora, in her book I Music in Everyday Life i . Responding to an analysis of the opera I Carmen i by musicologist Susan McClary, DeNora seeks an empirical solution to the question of whether the music's gendered connotations are "immanent" or "arbitrary" (DeNora [3], 24). For all the problems with his theory, Moles at least has a similar account of the iterative shaping of musical objects and subjects, and is keen to place an authentic phenomenology of musical experience above purely acoustic representations (Moles [9], 68). [Extracted from the article]

The golden section has become a well-known concept in the study and practice of music. However, no study has examined why the golden section may have become so popular in both music practice and analysis. The meta-analysis reported here reveals that the golden section has been related to one or more pieces of music in 113 items of published scholarly literature. The role of the golden section has changed over the last century; compositional intention has become less of a consideration, and recently, scholars often presume familiarity with the golden section in their readership, frequently giving a single mention of the concept, with no definition of this. Reasons for the prominence of the golden section in music scholarship may include it being a useful pedagogical tool. Another reason may be linked to aesthetic value; there are examples in wider scholarly and non-scholarly literature of the link between the golden section and beauty in music being assumed. Some studies also claim that the golden section may be perceived aurally. However, this seems questionable given results of empirical work regarding the perception of musical form. Research in the field of psychology has shown a new skepticism toward the golden section as an artifice of preference and a naturally occurring proportion. Perhaps music scholarship could benefit from similar reflection when considering the role of the golden section, particularly when assuming any perceptual salience. Scholars from different fields (for example, music and psychology) may benefit from an awareness of each other's work, which may in turn advance scholarship in both fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Music therapy, a nontraditional approach to patient care, has long been used to achieve a wide variety of positive results. To deepen our understanding of the connection and therapeutic potential of music, the effect of music therapy and music medicine (music administered to individuals without an interactive therapeutic relationship) on the brain remains a topic of active research. Objective: This study is aimed at investigating the effect of different music genres and individualized music selection on brain functional connectivity (FC) measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods: Twelve healthy subjects listened to five excerpts: Bach with and without visual guide (unfamiliar), self-selected familiar music, Gagaku (unfamiliar music) and Chaplin (spoken word) while undergoing a block design fMRI study. fMRI datasets were imported into CONN (Matlab toolbox) and graph networks were created for 132 anatomical regions in MNI space. Group connectivity for each soundtrack was quantified and statistically analyzed using the R package. Results: Complex interactions between brain regions, cerebellar regions (713), superior frontal gyrus (178) and parahippocampus (223), were highest for self-selected music. Brain regions involving sound processing, memory retrieval, semantic processing and motor areas were continuously activated for all five excerpts; however, most connections were formed in language processing regions for the Bach excerpt. Conclusion: Functional brain connectivity varied by soundtrack with the largest degree of connectivity found consistently for self-selected and unfamiliar (Bach, Gagaku) music. Incorporating individualized music listening into existing therapy paradigms may positively contribute to standard protocol for stroke rehabilitation and prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of deewaanapan or madness (as in being crazy about something) is deployed in this essay to make sense of musicophiliac behaviour in twentieth century Mumbai. I argue that new insights into the formation of 'publics' in the non-western metropolis can be gained through a focus on phenomena that embody 'social subjectivity'. A major phenomenon of this kind is the devotion to Hindustani or North Indian classical music which spread through Mumbai starting from the late nineteenth century. The affective response of musicophiliacs is forged not in solitude but in a space of sociality. This idea also encompasses the actual performance of the khayal genre which became prominent in the twentieth century. The khayal represented a sense of intimacy and interiority which also needs to be understood as 'social' and 'public'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music streaming, structured by an expanding network of social interdependencies (e.g. musicians, sound engineers, computer scientists and distributors) has made it easier to consume music in a wider number of social and private spaces and to a greater degree. This paper examines the emotional experience of contemporary music consumption by drawing from an Eliasian perspective, specifically Elias and Dunning's sociology of leisure. We explore the relationship between work, spare time and leisure spaces, rather than examining specific spaces in isolation. We argue that music is used to demarcate, transition between, and blur space. Music plays an important role in facilitating the rhythm of routine, helping individuals to adjust to the demands of different spaces (based on varying intensities and immediacies of social pressures) and manage mood. The key characteristics of leisure that Elias and Dunning identify (motility, sociability and mimetic tension) are explored across the spectrum of time and space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the intensive psychotherapy of a late-adopted boy who had been severely traumatised in his first five years of life. In describing the progress and then deterioration of his mental state and his psychotherapy, I examine the development of his compassion for the vulnerable side of himself, as part of a battle between identification with the vulnerable and sadistic aspects of his internal world. I trace how this compassion was reflected in his concern for others in his external world and fantasised others in his play. I also describe the use of sound and rhythm in enabling him to experience sufficient containment in his psychotherapy for his deepest preoccupations to begin to emerge. In so doing, I examine literature on music and musicality, and seek to demonstrate the relevance of Suzanne Maiello's advocacy of listening with a 'musical ear' to psychotherapy with looked-after and traumatised children, whose life 'rhythms' have been so catastrophically disrupted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loving-kindness meditation (LKM), a meditative practice directing caring feelings toward self and others, is a popular, evidence-base approach to increasing well-being. Music listening is also a popular form of emotion regulation used to enhance well-being. This interdisciplinary study evaluated a novel intervention called Convergence—combining LKM with accompanying classical guitar music—and its effects on adults' well-being, mindfulness, compassion and self-compassion outcomes. Convergence was compared to active control groups LKM-only and Music-only regarding their relative effectiveness in improving these outcomes. Participants (N = 78; aged 18 to 69 years; 90% females; recruited from the general public) were assigned to either the Convergence, LKM-only, or Music-only condition. Each condition received a 2-hour workshop, involving psychoeducation, three prerecorded meditations, and group enquiry and discussion. Participants were assessed at pre-program, post-program, and 4-week follow-up. Findings revealed that Convergence, LKM-only and Music-only were equally effective interventions, producing improvements in dependent variables with small effect sizes. There was no additive effect of the components when delivered together as Convergence. Significant correlations were found between the amount of home practice, and mindfulness and self-compassion at follow-up. LKM, music listening and Convergence all provide brief, evidence-based alternatives for improving well-being. Practical and theoretical implications are provided, as well as recommendations for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive participation in casual leisure activities often leads to satiation, which leaves people no pleasure. Prior research did not consider the gradation effects on the accumulation of satiation. This study proposed a theoretical model to illuminate the changing process of satiation. With repeated stimulation, people undergo three stages: implicit satiation (S1), explicit satiation (S2), and dull satiation (S3). This study conceived the idea of satiation stages. The changing process of enjoyment was studied as the participants listened to repeated music during the experiments. Results show that when total utility is used as a criterion, the marginal utility of stage S1 yields higher affective experience than that of stage S2 and S3. Negative emotions cause individuals to adopt the avoidant coping strategy, S3, which involves more repetition, thereby resulting in a better experience memory and taking less recovery time than S2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades there has been a proliferation of neuromyths based on oversimplifications and over-generalisations of research findings. As part of a larger project that examines the societal impacts of the arts and arts education practices, this interdisciplinary collaborative study examines the translation of recent neuromusical research into the public domain, one of the main generators of neuromyths. We review the claimed benefits of musical engagement to other domains, and the ways that researchers discuss these claims. To accomplish this, we first provide a thematic analysis of the kinds of claims that are made in research texts. We analysed 76 review articles published between 2006 and 2016 that both concern brain imaging studies in humans and involve music. The analysis highlights the ways that researchers qualify the potential benefits of music. Second, we explore the ways that neuroscientists report their results to the public and the ways that these results are taken into public discourse. In order to do this we analysed the homepages of the researchers who published at least 2 review articles in our dataset, focussing on the media linked to their homepages. We also explored over 100 websites that mention the benefits of music and also refer to brain imaging research. These overviews allow us to show that the same criteria commonly applied in research are almost never applied in public discourse. We conclude that there is an ethical imperative for researchers to take care in presenting the research results of brain imaging studies to the larger public, and furthermore argue that there is an ethical obligation for researchers to speak out against misuse of research findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Journal of Advertising is published to contribute to the development of advertising theory and its relationship to advertising practices and processes. Poetry is not necessarily theoretical, but it is certainly metaphysical (i.e., Alexander Pope's word for philosophical). Poets create a kind of knowledge. Poetry is a close relative to music and to graphical design and is most compatible with these arts. Skilled copywriters are poets who create 20th century myths and heroes. There is no question that the knowledge of the poet is different from the knowledge produced by a quantitative advertising researcher. For 23 years, JA has reviewed and published quantitative research; and this approach has advanced advertising knowledge Gust as it has advanced our knowledge of the social sciences). But, after 23 years, we cannot help but wonder, "Is that all there is? Is there something else, beyond?" [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age-related differences in episodic memory have been explained by a decrement in strategic encoding implementation. It has been shown in clinical populations that music can be used during the encoding stage as a mnemonic strategy to learn verbal information. The effectiveness of this strategy remains equivocal in older adults (OA). Furthermore, the impact of the emotional valence of the music used has never been investigated in this context. Thirty OA and 24 young adults (YA) learned texts that were either set to music that was positively or negatively valenced, or spoken only. Immediate and delayed recalls were measured. Results showed that: (i) OA perform worse than YA in immediate and delayed recall; (ii) sung lyrics are better remembered than spoken ones in OA, but only when the associated music is positively-valenced; (iii) this pattern is observed regardless the retention delay. These findings support the benefit of a musical encoding on verbal learning in healthy OA and are consistent with the positivity effect classically reported in normal aging. Added to the potential applications in daily life, the results are discussed with respect to the theoretical hypotheses of the mechanisms underlying the advantage of musical encoding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music performance anxiety (MPA) is not unusual among musicians. It is argued that singer-teachers who teach at tertiary institutions experience MPA because of the nature of their work and working environment, and this is exacerbated by striving for perfection which is often associated with this group of performing pedagogues. The purpose of the current study is to understand the manifestation of MPA and perfectionism in the lived experiences of a group of singer-teachers. The author deployed transcendental phenomenology in order to understand this phenomenon. The research of Frost et al. (1990), Sandgren (2002) and Kenny (2011) serves as a structural framework for this article. Singer-teachers place severe pressure on themselves because of their profession. The self-induced pressure because of the pursuit of tenure and concerns over their voices and success are the main triggers of MPA. Perfectionism manifests as a result of personal standards that they apply in their teaching, as well as expectations and criticism from colleagues and concern about making mistakes in front of their students and colleagues. MPA is also exacerbated by self-doubt and singer-teachers’ desire for approval, reassurance, and acceptance from colleagues and students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the following article, I will try to describe and, thus, share with my readers those moments and those segments in my life that have allowed me to be involved in the experience of musical improvisation, which is comprised of the gestures, ideas, and emotions that, together, encompass the musical objects of improvisation, and the desire, the pleasure of sharing these objects in their shaping and creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research literature supports that music programmes in prisons can have a therapeutic effect in prisoners' lives that could promote personal development and assist the process toward desistance. The authors use a meta-synthetic approach to examine 12 qualitative articles published worldwide to explore the therapeutic potential of such programmes. The findings suggest that music programmes in prison are perceived by participating prisoners as a liberating process, which encourages participation and allows for noncoercive personal development. The therapeutic potential of music programmes is located in the combination of the benefits emanating from the effect and practice of music and the creation of mental, spatial and temporal zones of free expression and those that derive from the egalitarian and nonauthoritative approach employed by the facilitators. These findings are discussed along with aspects involved in the provision of offender treatment as well as factors that affect treatment response and engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CSS Tloskov is a social pediatric care center and a leading institution in the Czech Republic. Sixty-five percent of its clients are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and receive usually music therapy as a main constituent of individually designed pedagogical and therapeutic programs. In contrast to numerous music therapeutic concepts that are based on musical improvisation, the Tloskov model advocates a complex approach involving favorite songs, instrumental improvisation, and body-oriented modalities such as muscle relaxation and breathing techniques. Clinical analyses allow us to distinguish typical psychiatric exacerbations in our ASD-clients. These “autistic crises” comprise an “onset phase,” a “gradation phase,” a “culmination phase,” and a “subsiding phase,” which can be partly controlled by music therapeutic interventions. On the basis of Grounded Theory we used qualitative methods to examine system compatibility between clinical data and the 4-phase autism crisis theory and to generate hypotheses about mechanisms of successful music therapy. Outcomes involve five main principles: identification and avoidance of specific stimuli and cues that trigger autism crises; direct musical “sedation”; acquisition of music-behavioral skills to “auto-regulate” pathological developments; and a sort of music therapeutic emotional re-balancing and consolidation of an inner equilibrium. The “right moment” of intervention and adjustment of musical experiences within a narrow range of the client’s aesthetic-emotional intensity tolerance are critical to therapeutic outcomes. Possible music therapeutic contra-indications have to be taken into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the mechanisms of musical experience and how they are revealed in the practice of plastic improvisation in response to music. Musical movement creates conditions that activate and organize the processes of the emotional perception and experiencing of music in an outwardly expressed motoric form. Musical motor activity not only reflects but also transforms a person’s life experience and, thereby, initiates the complex work of becoming aware of, and reinterpreting, one’s values and motives and relating them to one’s capabilities and to the restructuring of one’s self-image on a mental and corporal level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In transposing the discussion of L.S. Vygotsky’s ideas to the cross-cultural area of science, the authors summarize the contexts and positions regarding the contribution of the Russian psychological school to the substantiation of musical therapeutic theory and practice. The analysis by Dr. Mastnak of European and American academic periodicals in psychology and music therapy showed that Western science does not have access to all of the content and achievements of Russian and Russian-language psychology. Reading Vygotsky’s works from a musical therapeutic perspective and, in addition, in a cross-cultural interpretation, the authors discuss the abundance of the psychological scientist’s methodological ideas that could provide a theoretical substantiation of effective music therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relationship between music preferences (MP), listening styles (LS), functions of music (FoM), perceivedrasa(music) and personality traits (PT – Big Five Factors). A sample of 77 young adults (M = 39;F = 38;M = 22.7 years) completed measures of the above constructs and data were analysed via correlations, one-way ANOVA,post hoctests, andT-tests. Significant correlations were found between LS and PT; MP and PT; FoM and PT; FoM and emotion; and LS and FoM. Findings indicated stronger preferences for genres namely Romantic songs, Soft songs and Filmy (Sad) songs. Gender difference existed in terms of MP, perceived emotions and LS. Music listening mainly served as a ‘source of pleasure and enjoyment’ and which ‘calms, motivates, or reminds of past events’. Musical genres inducingsantoṣa rasawere perceived significantly higher in female participants. Based on the findings, a ‘music engagement model for Young Adults’ describing their music behaviour, have been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Discussions of extended cognition have increasingly engaged with the empirical and methodological practices of cognitive science and psychology. One topic that has received increased attention from those interested in the extended mind is music cognition. A number of authors have argued that music not only shapes emotional and cognitive processes, but also that it extends those processes beyond the bodily envelope. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the case for extended music cognition. Two accounts are examined in detail: Joel Krueger’s “musically extended emotional mind” and Tom Cochrane’s “expression and extended cognition.” Each account is evaluated using three “anti-extension” arguments. I argue that Krueger and Cochrane’s accounts offer important steps toward extended music cognition, but that each account remains underdeveloped in various ways. To supplement existing approaches, I propose a complementaryextended computational approach to music cognition(ECMC). The claim is that music cognition forms part of an extended system in virtue of involving computational processes that range across environmental and in-the-head elements. The paper concludes by showing how the ECMC deals with each of the three anti-extension challenges and responds to objections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rap and hip-hop are often characterised as musical genres replete with foul language, hyper-masculinity, misogyny, violence and egocentrism. The music of two Zimbabwean rappers Outspoken Tha Humble Neophyte (Tongai Leslie Makawa) and Synik (Gerald Mugwenhi) differs considerably from this stereotypical perception of rap and hip-hop. This article argues that the music of these two rappers is transcendental in its depiction and critique of life in contemporary urban Zimbabwe. Concentrating on two albums by these artists, the article examines how the music goes beyond entertainment as it offers a socio-political and cultural critique and self-reflexive space of thinking through diverse issues afflicting modern-day Zimbabwe. In a country where the public sphere is heavily censored by the state, making open and sincere discussions impossible, the music of these two artists proposes an alternative space to think through various matters. The article contends that music has the “illocutionary force” to unsettle ways of thinking, knowing and understanding the diverse and complicated realities we so often experience. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]