Music and Emotion Film Music and Affect - Essay Example

Music Psychology – MU6006 Music and Emotion – Film Music and Affect Music and Emotion Theories: There are instrumental factors and proposed theoriesregarding the relationship between music and emotion. However, most theories are still disputed since none of them has been accepted that fully represents the relationship between music and emotion. Historically, great names such as Charles Darwin, Aristotle, Suzanne Langer, Peter Kivy and Leonard Meyer, proposed their views of what they deemed was the real relationship between music and emotion (Juslin, 2003, p.234). One theory supports that music has a large number of inherent “cues” that creates massive referential properties, thus creating the possibility of identifying the main and diversified features that various composers can apply in communication of specific or optional connotations. The proposer of the theory, Deryck Cooke, says that, it is often implied that composers derive these melodic features and subsequent patterns in order to capture nuances and dynamics that will create emotions to the audience. Therefore, the theory states a view that music is mainly a tool or an instrument that can be used as a language of emotion by applying the inherent melodic features, which are creating distinct emotions. The theory supports that the melodic intervals, or otherwise the established pitch distance between every two consecutive notes avails a predominantly important cue. It is outlined that usually an ascending chief third interval, for instance, successive notes divided by segmented four semitones, acts to bring joy and entailed triumph, but an ascending prime sixth mainly implies to desirability for pleasure. The same theory also argues that a minor sixth sends a message of increased hostility or even disruption (Shibles, 2014, p. 273). This theory was derived from observation and examination of the lyrics that were collected from accompanied music. Another theory proposed by William james ensues that bodily changes and movements directly follow the perception collected from the exciting fact which is clearly similar to the feeling of the same variations eminent to the occurrence since most occur in the IS the motion (Pellitteri, 2014, p.231). According to Juslin (2003, p. 234), an interval of any rising major third is predominantly succeeded by the use of words that describe positive emotions. Other intervals such as ascending minor third is mostly followed by mere words meaning negative emotions. With reference to this distinct language of emotion viewpoint, the relationship between melodic intervals and human emotions are present across diverse cultures. The theory by Deryck presents a new landmark in comprehending the relationship between music and emotion but there is no evidence that proves if the melodic features presented in the theory are consistently associated with detailed emotional connotations ranging in diverse genres and historic periods. The greatest limitation in the theory is that the emotional associations are extremely specific. The main point, is that music can be segmented into a collection of intrinsic auditory attributes that contain equally eminent emotional connotations, and considerable experiential and empirical support. Main Findings Regarding Music and Emotion in Recent Years: Over recent years, experiments have been conducted to reveal the relationship between music and emotion. According to (Shibles, 2014, p.263), the empirical studies in music have been compelled by the huge regards for the listeners, who are felt to be hugely swayed by the emotional aspects of music. Across diverse cultures, most listeners have been viewed to be highly responsive to the entailed emotional aspects of playing music. The listeners display a very convergent emotional comprehension and detailed investigations of music. The result of the varying range of the detailed investigations and experiments on music in the past century intimate that the the multi-faceted and inherent attributes of music, for instance, intensity, pitch height, tempo and dissonance are hugely related to the emotional expressions. Variation in the outlined attributes resembles or are correlated with respective variation in the emotional interpretation and it is equivalent or affective experience. The outlined segmented attributes usually exhibit and contribute to an elevated pool of emotional code that can usually be considerable while composers and varying performers communicate their emotions in music that they compose. An event speaker also invokes the same qualities in case they expect to trigger emotional response amongst the listeners and as most of them prefer to communicate emotions with variation of their voice (Juslin, 2003, p. 234). According to (Juslin, 2003, p. 236), through experimentation , it was shown that the relevance of cue is highly notable in the use of the tempo and empirically, melodies typically played at low tempo evoke great emotions but with low subsequent energies, for instance, sadness. The vice versa applies; melodies that are equally played in relatively swift tempo hugely create emotions having extended energy, for instance, anger and corresponding joy. Experimentally, an investigation was conducted to determine the importance of tempo in the audience or listeners. The listeners were presented with varying and several pieces of classical oriented music which was performed at comparatively slow tempo (63 – 80 bpm) and another was performed at faster (102 – 152 bpm) tempo. The listeners gave their best descriptive adjective from the list provided to them. All the pieces that represented the music that was played to them was relatively similar in all proportions except from the tempo and the results created out of the output revealed significant relevance (Juslin, 2003, p. 234). The typical aspects and descriptions associated with slow tempo performance includes the use of the terms such as the joyous, restless, happy and exciting. The entailed emotional connotation could have been learnt through passive entailed exposure to detailed conventions of western tonal music. The selection was influenced by the great relevance of reflecting the the natural correlations that normally existed within pace and varying emotional states. Specifically, there is a great evidence showing the consequence of manipulating the inherent acoustic attribute for instance, intensity or pitch heights which are not inclined to the western listeners (Juslin, 2003, p. 234). Western music apparently appears to tap hugely into extreme links between the established auditory system and subsequent emotional responses which are evidence that have been collected from varied, diverse collection from the research-based lines. There has been collected ability of relating the manipulation attributes established in the music which overlaps the effects of controlling the similar attributes in speech. Finally, the many attributes, that comprise an emotional code in any music, are similarly effective at revealing the emotion by tone of any entailed voice. This quality is referred to as the supra-linguistic element and dimension of speech or any entailed prosody. The main findings create implications on the emotional communications structure that functions excellently across the auditory domains (Juslin, 2003, p. 234). Film Music and Affect: The Music can greatly affect human emotion especially with regards for the film music and affect segments. The essence of this statement is derived from the observation that humans are well paced and excellent in interpreting diverse soundtracks. This quality has been extensively applied while designing various moods and atmospheres for many films and movies. Deryck’s theory can be found associated to an exemplary demonstration of film music and affect is the scenario where Walter Murch (The Godfather - 1972) advances or heightens alarm and fear by the application of the noise of a train screaming to stop outside .In the Psycho (1960), Alfred Hitchcock has requested from the composer Bernard Herrmann to ensure that the iconic shower scene was un-scored but instead, Herrmann decided to have written jarring, screaming animals and jabbing notes. The final output triggered the change of mind for Hitchcock. Another crucial example is the case where Lalo Schifrin had initially failed to write for Steve McQueen (Bullitt - 1968) a virtually ten-minute chase in the streets along the San Francisco and thought that twisting tires and inherent roaring engines could equally perform the job instead. The result was successful as un-soundtracked segment of the movie. With reference to Streetcar Named Desire (1951), which was the Hollywoods initial drama that had complete jazz soundtrack, and subsequent ripe sensuousness had annoyed the self-appointed moralisers and the composer Alex North had tone it down. With the reference to the review of the past example, there is considerable effect of music on the emotion of the final viewers. The use of the soundtrack triggers a mixed range of emotions from happiness to sadness, hope to disillusionment and love to fear depending on the model applied (Magowan and Wrazen, 2013, p. 234). Film music and affect apply the use of the noise of panic to achieve a certain output to the audience of the music or film. The best examples are identifiable in the thrillers or horror movies, which hugely employ large extents of the dissonant or even the screeching sounds that audience unconsciously relate with behaviour of animas in great distress (Nussbaum, 2014, p. 324). A study conducted in 2010 by the University of California established that human sensitivity to non-linear alarm sounds, for instance the sound created by groundhogs in warning about the incoming predators, has been employed by the film composers the recurrently unsettle or unnerve the audience while watching the film (Cook, 2012, p. 98). The use of over-blowing brass and straining strings in films, like the Hitchcocks Psycho (1960), mimics the noise of panic. A study revelation regarding the group of the audience that prefers and enjoys the lush romantic oriented score according to the experiment conducted by the Canadas McGill University with entrenched regards for study into the neural mechanics. The mechanics created relate with the sensation of “goosebumps”, especially from the great tunes. While the experience can be related to purely auditory further intensive scans relates some parts of the brain which light up with music as the main group that are exclusively linked and connected to the euphoric stimuli, for instance sex, food and drugs. There is intensive and invigorated flow of blood in the stated regions which are responsible for the reward, arousal and emotion (Juslin and Sloboda, 2012, p.213). With reference to the theory proposed by William james, apparently ssoundtracks have the ability to produce the same reaction in the human brain, whether it is good or bad to similar types of noise something that the society cannot switch off. Film composers acknowledge that quality and use it as a shortcut to the logical portion of the brain with great attitude to get into human emotional centres. The current technology in the sector has prompted the creation of the infrasound use in the derivation of fear in the audience. The sound refers to the entailing of the bass vibration or waves that have low frequency comparable to the frequency that can be heard by the normal human ear. Traditionally, inaudible low-frequency sounds, also referred to as infrasound, are considered to have been the cause of fear in Paranormal Activity (2007). The infrasound cannot be heard, but it can be applied to induce anxiety, extreme sorrow and shivering and heart palpitations. On the contrary, the naturally existent infrasound is normally linked and associated with regions of supernatural activity, including the parts produced during the natural disasters, for instance in storm cases (Deliege and Sloboda, 2011, p.213). A French psychological thriller produced in 2002 was evidence to this technique, as the audience reported feeling disorientated and physically ill after one and half hour of exposure to the infrasound, thus greatly enhancing the shocking sequence on the screen. On the Paranormal Activity (2007), most of the viewers reported experiencing intense fear despite absence of the sequence on the screen (Juslin and Sloboda, 2012, p.213). The use of the low-frequency effects and music create intense fear to the viewers (Pellitteri, 2014, p.231). The use of film music and affect in the videos and movies expresses and emphasises the message delivery to the audience by amplifying the communication of the intended mood in the film. The desire variation creates suspends and prepares the viewers for certain feelings before the scene climax happens (Hurron, 2007, p.342). The great use in varying movies presents astounding extends in the message delivery. Music is understood as a primal form, channel or language of communication, since sound is normally processed in segments, in the temporal lobe, which is close to the memory and the segmental emotional centres. The vision, on the contrary, in initially processed in the occipital lobe which is located at the back portion of the brain, and subsequently sent to the main recognition centres found in the temporal lobe section. The importance of sound in the system implies that sound instantly triggers emotional responses, however, emotional responses related to vision are triggered following a few layers of neuronal entailed abstraction (Deliege and Sloboda, 2011, p.213). Since the human auditory memory is normally stronger and distinct in comparison to the visual memory, it is usually easier to remember a song than to remember pictures or videos. The appropriate selection of the soundtrack for a movie or film has a big impact on the audience for a certain period of time and they would appreciate the relevance of the film with excellent use of the videos in the audio process (Pellitteri, 2014, p.231). In conclusion, music and emotion are highly related and linked. Specifically, it was identified that music can trigger emotional responses. While the various theories employed in defining this process are not fully elaborated, there appears to be some association of certain soundtracks or music with certain types of emotion including fear and excitement. The film makers exploit these associations to emphasise their intended messages or moods in their movies. The infrasound and music are employed majorly to cause fear to the viewers. The use of soundtrack creates a satisfying film and has the ability to improve the perceived quality of a film. The video provides visual stimuli while music provides aural stimuli thus accentuating the communicated message to the audience. The sound has the disruptive capabilities that make it a very effective carrier of the cognitive communication; for instance, truths are normally yelled, whispered or even written. The same applies to the normal life standing where truth is normally spoken. Film music creates increased levels of impact on the listeners, as unpleasant sounds are normally hard to evade since human ability to focus their audio senses is usually not as developed as vision. Another added advantage of auditory event is that they are normally more inherent and more active. Auditory events are derived from the background noise but have a more direct and intense impact in comparison to the passive visual event. Bibliography Juslin, P. N. (2003). Music And Emotion: Theory And Research. Oxford [U.A.], Oxford Univ. Press. Kivy, P. (2012). Sound Sentiment: An Essay On The Musical Emotions; Including The Complete Text Of The Corded Shell. The Corded Shell. Philadelphia, Penn, Temple Univ. Pr. Huron, D. (2007). Sweet Anticipation: Music And The Psychology Of Expectation. Cambridge, Mass. [U.A.], Mit Press. Kivy, P. (2013). Sound Sentiment: An Essay On The Musical Emotions; Including The Complete Text Of The Corded Shell. The Corded Shell. Philadelphia, Penn, Temple Univ. Pr. Shibles, W. A. (2014). Emotion In Aesthetics. Dordrecht [U.A.], Kluwer Acad. Publ. Robinson, J. (2013). Music & [And] Meaning. Ithaca N.Y. [Etc.], Cornell University Press. Koelsch, S. (2012). Brain And Music. Chichester, West Sussex, Wiley-Blackwell. Deigh, J. (2013). On Emotions: Philosophical Essays. New York, Ny [Etc.], Oxford University Press. Magowan, F., & Wrazen, L. J. (2013). Performing Gender, Place, And Emotion In Music: Global Perspectives. Deliège, I., & Sloboda, J. A. (2011). Music And The Mind: Essays In Honour Of John Sloboda. Oxford [U.A.], Oxford Univ. Press. Levitin, D. J. (2014). This Is Your Brain On Music: The Science Of A Human Obsession. New York, Ny, Dutton. Juslin, P., & Sloboda, J. (2012). Handbook Of Music And Emotion Theory, Research, Applications. Oxford, Oup Oxford. Http://Public.Eblib.Com/Choice/Publicfullrecord.Aspx?P=797744. Becker, J. O. (2012). Deep Listeners Buch. Buch. Bloomington [U.A.], Indiana Univ. Press. Nussbaum, C. O. (2014). The Musical Representation: Meaning, Ontology, And Emotion. Cambridge, Mass. [U.A.], Mit Press. Magowan, F. (2012). Melodies Of Mourning: Music & Emotion In Northern Australia. Oxford, James Currey. Pellitteri, J. (2014). Emotional Processes In Music Therapy. Gilsum, N.H., Barcelona Publishers. Deliège, I., & Sloboda, J. A. (2011). Music And The Mind: Essays In Honour Of John Sloboda. Oxford [U.A.], Oxford Univ. Press. Cook, N. D. (2012). Tone Of Voice And Mind: The Connections Between Intonation, Emotion, Cognition, And Consciousness. Amsterdam, J. Benjamins Pub. Read More