Melodic intonation is generally considered a central expressive means in musical performance. In Western classical music, relationships between intonation in perception and performance have shown to be less straightforward than one might expect. In this study, we investigated leading-tone intonation for solo violin, as perceived and performed by six accomplished violinists. We selected excerpts from

Experimental research on musical emotion has identified clear links between specific aspects of musical structure and emotional responses. However, growing recognition of changes in the affective meaning of specific cues over time raises intriguing questions about the degree to which these links hold across historical eras. In particular, the traditional focus on compositional principles from common-practice

The availability of effective and timely interventions targeting the core features of debilitating performance anxiety (PA) is necessary to support musicians across the lifespan. The aim of this review was to provide an updated search of the research on treatments for PA in musicians and conduct a meta-analysis for available randomised controlled trials (RCTs). A systematic search identified 57 published

Mode is a foundational concept of Western music, serving as the basis for chords and harmonies, detecting and assessing cadences and form, and conveying musical emotion. Traditionally treated categorically, here we build upon recent work exploring this crucial musical construct on a continuum, an approach we refer to as ‘relative mode’. Specifically, we formulate and evaluate a computational model

Despite a growing literature suggesting that the lyrics of music may have an emotional effect, there are as of yet no studies examining which elements of lyrics influence emotional experience. The present study explored the emotional effect of lyrics sung without a melodic accompaniment, examining whether the vocal expression or the semantic content of the lyrics had a greater influence on emotional

Earworms are a form of involuntary musical imagery which are in many ways similar to musical hallucinations and obsessions present in clinical disorders, such as schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Previous research has shown relationships between earworms and schizotypy as well as subclinical OCD. The aim of this study was to investigate these associations in a Hungarian sample

Musical improvisation is a widely used practice within many musical genres and cultures. But although there have been several studies on the experience and psychological benefits of music listening and music making, few have focused specifically on musical improvisation outside the practices of music therapy and jazz improvisation. In this study, we aim to explore the phenomenology of musical improvisation

Participation in electronic dance music events has a range of benefits for health and wellbeing and attracts a broad range of attendees, including those who no longer fit within the category of ‘youth’. Although a broadening demographic indicates growing diversification and inclusivity within club culture, experiences differ between groups and reveal socially constructed norms associated with age and

We investigate the prevalence, development, and impact of pre-performance rituals among music education students, uncovering their significant role in enhancing individual and group performance and in fostering community and belonging. Our study employed a mixed-methods approach, combining a survey of 97 undergraduate music students with an in-depth qualitative analysis of open-ended responses. We

Music education for individuals with hearing loss has a long history, yet it is not comprehensively understood how children with hearing loss progress in mainstream instrumental music settings. The present study addressed this by assessing the progress of eight flute students, four with hearing loss who wore hearing aids and four with normal hearing, over 9 months of group lessons. Results showed that

This study explored how professional conductors understand the role of individual (purposeful) practice and how they describe the contents of such practice. Twelve professional conductors were interviewed and content analysis was used to analyze the data. The results show that the participants understood conducting as a lifelong learning process. Through intensive individual practice, they had built

Several studies have reported an association between music training and enhanced visuo-spatial abilities—for example, musicians have been found to pay greater attention to local details of the visual scene. However, no studies have directly tested whether long-term music training impacts the global-to-local precedence commonly described in literature. We address this issue by comparing the performance

Healthcare is often dependent on evidence derived from quantitative measurement. Music-based psychometric inventories are thus necessary to quantify health-related constructs. Despite an increase in the number of inventories, there is no systematic overview of the existing inventories, which may hinder dialogue across music disciplines (e.g., music psychology, music therapy). Therefore, the purpose

Teacher identity is a complex and non-linear evolution involving knowledge, skill, formation, transformation, and scrutiny of what one is doing and who one can become. This phenomenological investigation studied the views of 12 early career instrumental music teachers working professionally in Melbourne, Australia. Utilising possible selves theory, interpretative phenomenological analysis revealed

Many people do not seek mental health support due to self-stigma; however, music can assist people in seeking support. Therefore, the present study explored how attending a focused music listening event might promote self-compassion and mindfulness and, in turn, how experiencing these might promote mental health help-seeking intentions. This case study focused on the Indigo Project’s Listen Up event

Homeless young adults with problematic psychoactive substance (PS) use face multiple challenges that compromise their well-being. Despite these challenges, few of them access psychosocial services and rather rely on personal resources to promote their own well-being. However, literature has been largely centered on their difficulties, leaving their strengths and capacities unknown. Despite this lack

Absolute pitch (AP) enables its possessors to identify musical notes and keys by qualities of tone height and tone chroma. With advancing age, an unknown proportion of AP possessors perceives changes in these qualities, usually described as in the sharp direction and to the extent of a semitone or tone. The phenomenon is identified here as absolute pitch shift (APS). Using a cellphone-based tone generator

Given the rise in awareness of the mental health crisis, we set out to determine a baseline for mental wellness among current music educators. In a nationwide survey, music educators ( N = 695) responded to a series of questions focused on mental wellness, stress, and personality. Music educators shared that they struggle with mental wellness at a higher rate than the general population while data

To date, there has been relatively little research on the relationship between anxiety and music. Trait anxiety (TA) is known to modulate responses to threat-related stimuli, but it is unclear whether this is driven by differences or biases related to attention, vigilance avoidance, or information processing. We evaluated competing predictions based on Attentional Control Theory (ACT), Vigilance Avoidance

Expert performers understand the impact of sight and sound on the concert stage and project performativity to captivate their audiences. Early-career performers embarking on a professional performance career can benefit from experts’ strategies to develop their performance skills and enhance stagecraft. The aim of this study was to develop and trial a mock concert as experiential learning for professional

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationships among self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and self-worth of adolescent singers, and how each construct functions in high school choir. The second purpose was to understand the degree to which these constructs predicted singing participation after high school graduation. Participants consisted of 215 high school students enrolled in choir

To examine the impact of music as a cross-modal prime on facial emotion recognition ability in autistic children, this study compares the priming effect of music with that of faces as an intramodal prime and nonverbal sounds as the same cross-modal prime. The response time and accuracy of facial emotion recognition (happy and sad) were compared among 21 neurotypical children and 17 autistic children

Engaging in music practice is often assumed to increase empathy and prosociality. However, data in support of this relationship are limited, leaving unclear which components of empathy (cognitive empathy, emotional contagion, and emotional disconnection) and prosocial behaviors, if any, would be affected. Here, we recruited musicians with more than 2 years of musical experience ( n = 80) and nonmusicians

No two people perceive the same music alike. This may apply especially to polyrhythms, which consist of two or more rhythms with indivisible regular pulses, such as three over four (3:4). Either of these pulses can be perceived as the underlying beat. Previously, we showed that people naturally tap along to pulses that can be subdivided into groups of two or four equally spaced units (i.e., binarized

Music tempo affects listeners’ mental state, especially arousal levels. However, several studies have demonstrated that the effect of music tempo on arousal while listening to music can be modulated by individual differences, such as the pace of mental activity, that is, spontaneous motor tempo (SMT). Thus, SMT is a candidate factor that affects the relationship between music tempo and arousal. Here

Social need fulfillment is imperative to well-being, leading to a strong motivation to ensure that social needs are met. The social surrogacy hypothesis proposes that individuals may use non-human social targets, including television characters, books, or comfort foods, to address social needs. The current work sought to examine the social surrogacy hypothesis in the domain of music. Utilizing both

Despite many decades of academic interest in music and autism, we know little about what music means to autistic adults and how they experience it. The few existing studies lack a common theoretical basis and are therefore difficult to compare and integrate. To address this gap, we investigated whether Self-Determination Theory can be used as a common framework for understanding the functions of music

Professional musicians are often confronted with multiple profession-related stressors, which may be associated with an increased risk of mental strain, but empirical evidence focusing on clinical samples of musicians is limited. The aim of this study was to examine clinically confirmed mental disorders and personality accentuations in musicians attending a musician-specific outpatient service, to

The purpose of this study was to conduct a random-effects meta-analysis to measure the overall mean effect of music participation on social and emotional measures in participants across the lifespan. Results showed small to medium overall effects ( N = 18,564, k = 56, g = .23, p < .0001, 95% confident interval = [.16, .29]), indicating subjects who participated in music had better scores on social

Listening modes are often ignored in music perception research, especially when it comes to the supposedly attentive listening situation of a classical concert. The audience members’ various ways of listening, understood as the directedness of activity toward different dimensions of sound, is hypothesized to play a key role in the experience of live music. We assessed listening activity of participants

Music can play a significant role in mitigating cognitive deficits in aging adults. When music is long known and has an emotional significance (i.e., autobiographical music), it can trigger memories of past experiences (i.e., Music-Evoked Autobiographical Memories, MEAMs). In this study, we examined the cognitive and emotional content of MEAMs when older adults listened to autobiographical music. To

Musicians have normalized performance anxiety (PA) to be part of their musical career. Perfectionism has been proposed as a possible personality risk factor for PA. Although perfectionistic concerns have been consistently positively correlated to PA, results have been inconsistent for perfectionistic standards. This inconsistency is potentially attributable to the fact that past studies did not differentiate

This study aimed to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool measuring secondary school students’ resistance to school music. Construct and content validity studies based on expert reviews, principal component analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, convergent validity, divergent validity, and Horn’s parallel analysis were conducted to provide additional evidence within the scope of the study

In the last decade, the construct of ‘culture’ was featured very prominently in music cognition research. However, researchers have adopted a narrow conceptualisation and a limited repertoire of methodologies when investigating ‘culture’. The purpose of this article is to expand on recommendations of Jacoby et al. and propose a novel approach to cross-cultural investigations of affective experiences

The growing prevalence of depression, a major global health problem, has led to the exploration of complementary treatments such as singing, which can provide emotional healing and psychological support. Singing interventions are known for their universal appeal and potential neurobiological and psychosocial benefits. This review analyzes 11 studies from 2013 to 2023, revealing singing’s efficacy in

Having a song ‘stuck’ in the head – an earworm – is a curious cognitive phenomenon frequently experienced among the general population. The intrusive and involuntary nature of earworms has led to recent survey studies investigating their potential link with obsessive–compulsive (OC) traits. However, those higher in OC traits may tend to self-report more earworms and evaluate their episodes less positively

Seemingly paradoxically, sad music has exhibited potential in improving mood in individuals, as well as being detrimental to mood and indicative of maladaptive behaviours concerning emotion regulation. Research suggests that different adaptive and maladaptive behaviours underlie sad music listening. Therefore, we explored if cognitive reappraisal (CR) was an effective tool for promoting mood enhancement

Several researchers have hypothesized that a musical rhythm can influence a listener’s heart rate through a process of entrainment and that this mechanism can influence the emotional feelings of the listener also. However, previous research has yielded mixed results, perhaps due to methodological problems. In this study, we independently manipulated the tempo of pieces of ambient instrumental music

Music performance anxiety (MPA) is an age-old phenomenon well known to musicians. It is a feeling of unease and apprehension that can manifest itself in various forms – from mild discomfort to intense anxiety – when musicians are preparing to perform or are actively performing. MPA can arise from many different sources, including perfectionism and fear of negative evaluation (FNE). Drawing upon a sample

In this article, the impact of three experimental parameters in a harmonic expectancy study are evaluated: stimulus duration (specifically the lead-in time prior to an unexpected event), ecological validity of the stimulus (original recording vs. piano only), and familiarity. This article also presents a novel experimental paradigm for detecting expectancy violations in a real-time listening context

Context is one of the key parameters influencing music emotion perception in listeners. The current study systematically investigates the influence of immediate intrinsic musical context on the perception of music-evoked emotions. Four dominantly happy and four dominantly sad Hindustani classical music excerpts were chosen and rated for perceived emotions in two types of listening experiments. In the

Practice may be the single most important activity that musicians can use to improve their performance. Yet practice requires significant effort and can sometimes feel difficult or unenjoyable. For this reason, substantial motivational resources are required to sustain consistent, high-quality practice over long periods. In this study, we used self-determination theory to study the kinds of motivation

Folk psychology posits that music artists’ first albums are considered their best, whereas later albums draw fewer accolades, and that artists’ second albums are considered worse than their first—a phenomenon called the “sophomore slump.” This work is the first large-scale multi-study attempt to test changes in album quality over time and whether a sophomore slump bias exists. Study 1 examined music

This study investigates how a first-time Cypriot mother used music in caring for her infant during the COVID-19 pandemic. Limited research has been done about musical parenting during this time, highlighting the importance of this single case study. For 5 months, the mother-participant engaged in an online musical parenting program, which aimed to increase knowledge regarding the use of music and movement

This study investigates the impact of positive or negative performance evaluations on general self-efficacy and subsequent choice of a solo or group performance among professional musicians ( N = 53; women 58.2%, men 36.4%, non-binary 5.5%). Participants completed personality questionnaires, sight-read an unfamiliar musical piece, received computer-generated feedback, and reported post-manipulation

Many musicians live with music performance anxiety (MPA), which may affect their psychological and physiological functioning. Mindfulness, being aware in the present moment without judgment, has been found to help ease anxiety. Mindfulness may also help alleviate the negative effects of MPA, but what is the neurophysiological basis for this effect? Core components of mindfulness, including emotional

We present a novel framework for music and emotion research that addresses emotional experiences with music as functional episodes. This framework, called the Episode Model, places the situation and the function of the music for the individual at the centre of the experience and integrates acts of affective self-regulation to our understanding of music as emotional experiences. The model consists of

The purpose of this exploratory instrumental qualitative case study with nested mixed methods was to examine undergraduate music majors’ perceptions of their sense of belonging within one public university music program. We surveyed undergraduate music majors within a single music program and completed purposeful and targeted follow-up interviews of selected respondents who represented a diverse cross-section

The Music Self-Perception Inventory-Short (MUSPI-S) is a theoretically based instrument consisting of 28 items with subscales that assess music self-concept globally and in six specific areas. The present study sought to validate a German translation of the MUSPI-S using a sample of 444 secondary school students. In addition to participants’ scores from the German translation of the MUSPI-S, associated

Sixteen piano students learned four piano pieces under two different conditions that involved the deprivation of auditory and motor feedback. One condition required study away from the piano, thus implying the removal of auditory and kinaesthetic feedback (mental practice, MP). The other condition involved study on a digital piano that was turned off (motor practice, MoP), hence depriving the participant

Music has been actively studied from the perspectives of emotional expression and body movement, but not during adolescence. The current study addressed music as a forum for adolescent embodied emotion expression. Based on prior research, we hypothesised that adolescents would be able to differentiate between emotions in their music-related expressive body movements based on valence and arousal characteristics

The study investigates the multifaceted role of music during homesickness among first-year college students in India. As compared to other mental health outcomes, homesickness is a relatively understudied phenomenon, yet noteworthy due to its direct association with depression and anxiety. Although empirical evidence about music highlights its therapeutic potential for managing stress and anxiety,

Separate voice part perception has been shown in polyphonic music. However, it remains unclear whether this segregation of voice parts is specific to polyphony or also occurs in homophonic music. This study compared voice part perceptions in polyphony and homophony using a redundant signals effect (RSE) paradigm. The RSE means that reaction times are shorter for two simultaneously presented signals

This study uses identity process theory to understand the social–psychological processes that motivate individuals to construct an identity in which music, singing, and singing teaching feature prominently. We conducted reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 10 Australian singing teachers (with an average age 60) to understand how they enacted identity principles that motivate

Children’s verbatim memory for song lyrics has been broadly investigated in the psychological literature, but little is known about the developmental course of children’s ability to construct meaning from familiar multimedia songs containing both concrete and metaphorical language. The present study examined age-related change in children’s understanding of the hit song “Let It Go” using a brief comprehension

The act of performing without a musical score is common and expected in many contexts. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of performing with and without a musical score on listeners’ evaluations of solo pianists. We also investigated whether the effects of score use differed according to the perceived expertise of the performer. Participants ( N = 69) were collegiate music students

The study of gestures in music performance provides valuable insights for instrumental learning. However, gestural vocabularies vary depending on the instrument being played, according to its postural and technical specificities. The goals of this study were twofold: first, to create a gesture categorization system for saxophone players, and second, to analyse their gestural behaviour across contrasting

Adverse experiences toward making music can be found in both musicians (music performance anxiety) and non-musicians (avoidance of participating in musical experiences). Both anxiety and avoidance are driven by perceptions and attributions about particular stimuli, based on schemas developed via direct and indirect experiences. Most research within music psychology focuses on the views of professional