Psychology of Music

Melodic line as an emotion-carrying attribute of music was examined in an attempt to test Cooke's (1959) theory, which posits the existence of a basic set of melodic lines or "terms" which convey a particular emotional meaning. Four bi-polar dimensions of emotional expression, Sorrow-Joy, Continuation-Finality, Constancy-Outburst and Submissiveness-Assertiveness, were abstracted from Cooke's descriptions of "basic terms" and validated (Experiment 1) as capturing the main features of meaning embodied in the terms. In Experiment 2 participants rated each of the basic terms on each of the four dimensions of emotional expression. Significant inter-participant agreement was found for all terms on all four dimensions, with this agreement generally in accord with theoretical predictions from Cooke's theory. The findings suggest that musical line can convey emotional meaning in a principled way, but offer only limited support for Cooke's theory. The findings are considered in the context of theories of origin of codes of emotional meaning in music.

The personality characteristics of rock and popular musicians were examined in a sample of 100 musicians who completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and a questionnaire about musical background and experience. Profile analysis revealed that rock musicians share a common profile of high Neuroticism and Openness to Experience, average Extraversion and low Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. No background factors such as instrument played, type of music performed, time spent playing, level of musicianship or commercial success moderated this finding. These results are compared with previous research on classical and rock musicians.

This study investigated the degree to which English and American adolescents report similar reasons for listening to music. A questionnaire was completed by 245 participants (mean age = 15 27 years), on which they indicated how much each of 11 potential reasons for listening to music applied to them. Factor analysis revealed three factors which accounted for 60.3% of the variance in responses. These factors were interpreted as listening to music for reasons of "selfactualisation", to "fulfil emotional needs", and to "fulfil social needs". Whilst analysis of the factor scores did reveal some individual differences between responses of participants in each culture, overall there were no significant multivariate or univariate main effects of nationality. This suggests that the English and American adolescents' reasons for listening to music may similarly be explained by the same factors.

This study was designed to examine the test-retest reliability of the Residual Music Skills Test (RMST, York, 1994), developed by the author to systematically identify musical skills of persons diagnosed with Possible and Probable Alzheimer identify musical skills of persons diagnosed with Possible and Probable Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Subjects in early to middle stages of AD were identified at American nursing homes, adult day centres, and Alzheimer's centres who met inclusion criteria. Subjects were administered the RMST initially and again after a two-week interval. Ninety-five subjects completed the testing procedure. Data analysis consisted of descriptive analyses, one-way ANOVA procedures, and the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient to determine the magnitude of the relationship between test and retest scores. Correlational analysis revealed a test-retest correlation coefficient of 9168, indicating high test-retest reliability. The ANOVA procedure examined factors of location, age, and musical training on the test results. No significant interactions were evident in regard to location (p < .32), age (p < .06), or musical training (p < 83). The RMST is believed to be a useful quantitative tool for assessing and documenting the musical skills of persons with Possible and Probable Alzheimer's disease. When used in conjunction with facility-based assessments currently used in American nursing homes and adult day facilities, the RMST may prove useful in referral and in documenting treatment outcomes in music therapy.

Two professional drummers were instructed to play three rhythm patterns on a set of electronic drums so as to communicate specific emotions (happy, sad, angry, fearful, tender, solemn, and no expression) to listeners. Listening tests confirmed that listeners on the whole perceived the intended expressions. Analyses of the acoustic variables available to the performers (i.e. tempo, dynamics, and timing) showed characteristic patterns of cue utilisation for each intended emotion. The results are discussed in relation to earlier research on communication of emotions in music performance and non-verbal vocal expression.

Musicians tend to be more sensitive than population norms (Kemp, 1996). Additionally, low psychoticism and tender-mindedness are consistently associated with indices of religion. This suggested the hypothesis that musicians may be more inclined to be religious. A sample of 350 music students completed the Francis Attitude to Christianity Scale and the short form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The data demonstrated that both male and female music students are more extravert than men and women in general. Female music students are also more tender-minded and more neurotic than women in general. Male music students are also more religious than men in general.

Little is currently known about the provision of music in the education of children who have severe learning difficulties (SLD) or profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) in the U.K., and virtually nothing about the broader place of music in their lives. The inadequacy of this position is compounded by the fact that there is a lack of conceptual clarity as to what constitutes music education for this group as opposed to music therapy. To elicit - and hopefully to inform - future debate, this article develops a new model of music education for those with SLD and PMLD which has two strands: activities that are undertaken primarily for their intrinsic musical value, and those which are intended principally to promote wider learning and development. The validity of this framework is explored in the context of the broader experience of music in the lives of children with severe and profound learning difficulites and, in particular, it is analysed in relation to the role of music therapy. It is suggested that some of the work currently undertaken by music therapists with children with learning difficulties could reasonably be defined as "educational", while much of the activity of music teachers with these pupils has a high therapeutic content. Finally, new research is proposed to identify the music provision that currently exists in special schools, and to assist in further clarifying the distinction between education and therapy in this context.

There is extensive evidence suggesting that the language and literacy problems experienced by dyslexics are caused by deficits in various sensory, cognitive and motor processes. Several theories on the underlying cause of these deficits are converging on the idea that the fundamental problems derive from abnormal neurological timing, or "temporal processing". It has been proposed that temporal processing ability can be improved through training, and that this will lead to improved language and literacy skills (Tallal et al., 1996). Music training, requiring very accurate timing skills, can offer a medium for the development and improvement of temporal processing ability, and thus may provide a valuable form of extra remediation for dyslexic children. This article reports some preliminary work in this area, which has produced encouraging results. Further research is also outlined.