Redefining sad music: Music’s structure suggests at least two sad states

Abstract

Many researchers have noted inconsistencies between descriptions and effects of nominally sad music. The current study addresses whether traditional music-related sadness can be broken down into more than one category. Melancholic and grieving musical passages were collected in three stages. Participants with superior aural skills rated 18 structural parameters of these musical passages on 7-point unipolar scales. The results are consistent with the idea that musical parameters differ in melancholic and grieving states and that what has been previously defined as sad music may, in fact, be conflating more than one emotional state.