Musicae ScientiaePub Date : 2026-03-11eCollection Date: 2026-09-01DOI: 10.1177/10298649261421169
Catherine Tan, Anastasios Mavrolampados, Alessandro Ansani, Marianne Taipale, Friederike Koehler, William M Randall, Suvi Saarikallio
{"title":"Relaxation music for stress alleviation: Exploring relationships of audio features and listener profiles.","authors":"Catherine Tan, Anastasios Mavrolampados, Alessandro Ansani, Marianne Taipale, Friederike Koehler, William M Randall, Suvi Saarikallio","doi":"10.1177/10298649261421169","DOIUrl":"10.1177/10298649261421169","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Stress is an increasingly prevalent state experienced by many individuals, but mood regulation and relaxation can alleviate some of its associated symptoms. While music listening has generally been shown to support stress alleviation, less is known about how individual differences potentially guide the choice of music for this purpose. The present study focused on depression and anxiety as individual differences that might relate to the selection of relaxation music. Through an online questionnaire, 93 participants provided ~20 minutes (median number of tracks per participant = 6) of self-selected relaxation music and completed questionnaires measuring depression, anxiety and previous use of music for mood regulation and adaptive functions. We compared Spotify audio features of the relaxation music to general music and found that relaxation music had higher levels of Acousticness and lower levels of Speechiness, Energy, Valence, Liveness, Instrumentalness, Danceability and Loudness. Through clustering, we identified three subgroups of relaxation music (i.e., 'loud-energetic-danceable', 'neutral-acoustic' and 'mellow-instrumental'). Finally, results showed that higher depression scores increased the likelihood of selecting relaxation music from the 'loud-energetic-danceable' cluster over the remaining two, while higher anxiety scores increased the likelihood of selecting music from the 'mellow-instrumental' cluster over the 'loud-energetic-danceable' cluster. Previous use of music for mood regulation, but not adaptive functions, also predicted music selection for relaxation. This research advances our understanding of how different individuals use music to reduce stress and relax and provides guidance on how music can adaptively cater for these purposes.</p>","PeriodicalId":47219,"journal":{"name":"Musicae Scientiae","volume":"30 3","pages":"486-506"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13544627/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148898104","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Musicae ScientiaePub Date : 2026-02-25eCollection Date: 2026-09-01DOI: 10.1177/10298649261419777
Julia Vigl, Marcel Zentner, Suvi Saarikallio
{"title":"The role of attachment style in unhealthy music use.","authors":"Julia Vigl, Marcel Zentner, Suvi Saarikallio","doi":"10.1177/10298649261419777","DOIUrl":"10.1177/10298649261419777","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Music is a widely used tool for stress reduction and mood regulation, but its effectiveness may differ depending on individual characteristics and the emotion regulation strategies employed. In the present study, we investigated the association between (un)healthy music use and attachment style, a factor that shapes not only interpersonal behavior but also emotion regulation tendencies. Using a sample of 224 participants, we administered questionnaires assessing attachment styles, general emotion regulation tendencies, attitudes toward emotions, and patterns of healthy and unhealthy music use. Our results showed that insecure attachment styles are associated with unhealthy music use, mediated by general emotion regulation tendencies. Specifically, anxious attachment was linked to ruminative music listening, mediated by a broader tendency to use rumination as an emotion regulation strategy. In contrast, avoidant attachment was linked to avoidant music use, mediated by a general tendency to avoid emotions. In conclusion, attachment style plays an important role in shaping how individuals engage with music, with anxious and avoidant styles being associated with unhealthy patterns of music use. This study makes a significant conceptual contribution by laying the groundwork for a new area of research that focuses on how attachment styles influence music use and related emotional outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":47219,"journal":{"name":"Musicae Scientiae","volume":"30 3","pages":"388-405"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13544628/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148897450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Musicae ScientiaePub Date : 2025-12-28eCollection Date: 2026-03-01DOI: 10.1177/10298649251385727
Max Delle Grazie, Cameron J Anderson, Jonathan De Souza, Michael Schutz
{"title":"Analysis from multiple perspectives (AMP): Applying decision hygiene to analysis of musical structure.","authors":"Max Delle Grazie, Cameron J Anderson, Jonathan De Souza, Michael Schutz","doi":"10.1177/10298649251385727","DOIUrl":"10.1177/10298649251385727","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Music analysis is a complex and subjective task requiring a considerable degree of judgment on questions often lacking verifiable answers. In many cases, this subjectivity leads to seemingly intractable disagreements. Although disagreements can offer useful insight, whether they represent genuine differences in perspective is not always clear. To contribute to this challenging aspect of music analysis, here we introduce a procedure inspired by recommendations for improving decision making in other domains lacking verifiable answers, such as judicial sentencing. Our approach involves a 3-phase procedure, combining independent analyses with information sharing and re-evaluation among five graduate-level music analysts. We show that this procedure reduces self-identified errors/oversights in music analysis while preserving meaningful differences in perspective. As a proof of concept, we apply this procedure to 381 excerpts from 16 historic sets of preludes to assess <i>relative mode</i>, a complex musical property alluded to in previous scholarship but never formally explored in theoretical applications. This procedure (yielding complementary qualitative and quantitative data) demonstrates how a new, group-based approach to music analysis can offer insights unavailable from more traditional single-scholar approaches.</p>","PeriodicalId":47219,"journal":{"name":"Musicae Scientiae","volume":"30 1","pages":"27-50"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12981565/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147463945","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Musicae ScientiaePub Date : 2025-12-16eCollection Date: 2026-06-01DOI: 10.1177/10298649251385676
Susanne Reisner, Trinh Nguyen, Pierre Labendzki, Stefanie Hoehl, Gabriela Markova
{"title":"The reciprocal relationship between maternal infant-directed singing and infant gaze.","authors":"Susanne Reisner, Trinh Nguyen, Pierre Labendzki, Stefanie Hoehl, Gabriela Markova","doi":"10.1177/10298649251385676","DOIUrl":"10.1177/10298649251385676","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Infant-directed (ID) playsongs and lullabies have distinct acoustic properties connected to their functions to elicit and diffuse infant attention, respectively. In the performative context of ID singing, it is crucial that infants and caregivers adjust to each other for the songs' function to be reached. In this study, we observed face-to-face ID singing between mothers and their 7-month-old infants and measured variability in maternal singing (i.e., spectral flux) around the onset of infant social gaze toward the mother. Results showed that maternal acoustic variability and infant attention were increased in playsongs over lullabies. Furthermore, mothers increased their acoustic variability both before and after the onset of infant social gaze, especially in playsongs. These findings suggest that mothers increase acoustic variability both to modulate and respond to infant attention, and infants respond to more variable singing by paying more attention to the singing caregiver. Thus, we propose that ID singing interactions are reciprocal, linking infant attentional displays and maternal acoustic responses.</p>","PeriodicalId":47219,"journal":{"name":"Musicae Scientiae","volume":" ","pages":"201-214"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7619065/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147869879","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Musicae ScientiaePub Date : 2025-08-25eCollection Date: 2025-09-01DOI: 10.1177/10298649241297931
Mia O'Shea, Ilja Salakka, Anni Pitkäniemi, Emmi Pentikäinen, Petri Toiviainen, Teppo Särkämö
{"title":"Exploring the nature of music-evoked autobiographical memories in healthy aging: A mixed-methods study.","authors":"Mia O'Shea, Ilja Salakka, Anni Pitkäniemi, Emmi Pentikäinen, Petri Toiviainen, Teppo Särkämö","doi":"10.1177/10298649241297931","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10298649241297931","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Autobiographical memories play a significant role in shaping a sense of self and are essential for normal functioning on a daily basis. Music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs) are memories of past events that are triggered by music, often involuntarily. In this study, we had two aims: (1) to explore the qualitative characteristics of MEAMs in healthy aging and (2) to analyze possible relationships between types of MEAM and the emotions evoked by music. We played 140 excerpts from songs from the four decades between 1950 and 1990, and folk songs, to 82 healthy adults aged 60-86 years and collected their MEAMs, expressed in their own words. We applied content analysis to the data and categorized them manually. Participants rated the valence, arousal, and intensity of emotions evoked by each excerpt. We conducted a mixed-effects logistic regression analysis to identify relationships between participants' MEAMs and ratings. Participants frequently reported music-related activities such as singing, dancing, and listening, and specific people and places, in their MEAMs. The excerpts evoked more autobiographical memories from participants' youth than from any other periods in their lives. Our analysis of the relationships between types of MEAM and the emotions evoked by music suggest a variety of emotional profiles. The choice of methods emphasized ecological validity and the findings provide a new perspective on the nature of MEAMs in healthy aging.</p>","PeriodicalId":47219,"journal":{"name":"Musicae Scientiae","volume":"29 3","pages":"484-501"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12377674/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144973565","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Musicae ScientiaePub Date : 2024-08-08DOI: 10.1177/10298649241269011
Rory Kirk, Renee Timmers
{"title":"Characterizing music for sleep: A comparison of Spotify playlists","authors":"Rory Kirk, Renee Timmers","doi":"10.1177/10298649241269011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10298649241269011","url":null,"abstract":"There is widespread interest in the use of music to help with sleep, although there is little clear understanding of the features that distinguish music for sleep from music for other purposes. We asked if music intended to facilitate sleep is distinct from music more generally considered as relaxing by comparing the features of tracks comprising three types of playlist on the music streaming service Spotify. Ninety playlists to facilitate sleep, relaxation and, for comparison, energy were gathered, based on titles and descriptions. Our analysis found significant differences between many of the features of the tracks in the three playlist categories, and nature sounds were prominent in sleep music playlists. A nonlinear classification model correctly classified music from sleep playlists with an accuracy rate of 72%, with brightness being the strongest predictor in distinguishing music from sleep and relaxing playlists. Music from sleep playlists could generally be described as acoustic, instrumental, slower, quieter, and with less energy compared to the other playlists, conforming with previous work. Our results emphasize the importance of timbral qualities in music for sleep and confirm sleep music to be distinct from music for relaxation. The results can be used to guide the selection of music for sleep, and the transition from relaxation to sleep.","PeriodicalId":47219,"journal":{"name":"Musicae Scientiae","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141944927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Musicae ScientiaePub Date : 2024-08-03DOI: 10.1177/10298649241252292
Johannes Lunde Hatfield
{"title":"Performance profiling: A systematic approach to the enhancement of music practice and peak performance","authors":"Johannes Lunde Hatfield","doi":"10.1177/10298649241252292","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10298649241252292","url":null,"abstract":"Performance profiling (PP) has been used by elite athletes and their coaches and/or trainers for more than three decades to identify, select, and implement the qualities they believe are most important for them to achieve peak performance in their own sport. It thus enhances athletes’ awareness and ability to establish task-relevant goals contributing to their pursuit of excellence. Given the similarities between athletes and musicians, and in particular the psychological, physiological, and technical requirements of their professions, I believe that PP could usefully be applied in the context of higher music education, with benefits for music students and their teachers. In this article I provide an overview of the theories on which PP is based and, review the ways in which it has been implemented, adapted for use with populations other than athletes, and evaluated. To date, musicians have used PP only to a limited extent, and research on its effectiveness for musicians is therefore scarce. I propose specific adaptations of existing approaches to PP for athletes with a protocol that can be used by music students with their peers and/or teachers.","PeriodicalId":47219,"journal":{"name":"Musicae Scientiae","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141944928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Musicae ScientiaePub Date : 2024-07-26DOI: 10.1177/10298649241262672
Ariadne Loutrari
{"title":"A phrase in a loop: A rethink of verbatim repetition in the speech-to-song illusion and a new approach to the study of involuntary auditory imagery","authors":"Ariadne Loutrari","doi":"10.1177/10298649241262672","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10298649241262672","url":null,"abstract":"The human mind engages with repetition both in the form of external stimulation and as an internal psychological phenomenon. I studied these two facets of repetition in 111 musically untrained participants. The investigation was in two parts. In the first part, I looked at the speech-to-song (STS) illusion by comparing ratings of musicality for identical looped (repeated) spoken phrases and for looped spoken phrases including pitch transpositions. Contrary to previous evidence, the stimuli containing transposed presentations were rated more song-like. I attribute this finding to the particular patterns of transpositions used and the fact that the interval of transposition was a major second as opposed to the fractions of semitones used in previous studies. In the second part of the investigation, I partially adopted the stimulus design of the STS illusion paradigm, presenting participants with looped phrases and single phrases. Participants were asked to suppress them and click a button if they thought of them. An increase in button clicks suggests that participants found it significantly harder to suppress the looped phrases than the single phrases. As the stimuli in the second part had been shown in previous research not to induce the STS illusion when repeated, I attribute the differences between participants’ responses to the two kinds of stimuli to the repetition of the phrases rather than their being perceived as song-like. I consider these findings in the light of research on earworms, or involuntary musical imagery. Future directions for a more in-depth exploration of the STS illusion in conjunction with auditory imagery are also briefly discussed.","PeriodicalId":47219,"journal":{"name":"Musicae Scientiae","volume":"385 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141777946","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Musicae ScientiaePub Date : 2024-07-26DOI: 10.1177/10298649241256252
Peer-Ole Jacobsen, Hannah Strauss, Julia Vigl, Eva Zangerle, Marcel Zentner
{"title":"Assessing aesthetic music-evoked emotions in a minute or less: A comparison of the GEMS-45 and the GEMS-9","authors":"Peer-Ole Jacobsen, Hannah Strauss, Julia Vigl, Eva Zangerle, Marcel Zentner","doi":"10.1177/10298649241256252","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10298649241256252","url":null,"abstract":"The Geneva Emotional Music Scale (GEMS) is a widely used instrument to measure emotions evoked by music. Its original version includes 45 emotion-related adjectives that can be grouped into nine dimensions and three second-order factors. Because time is often critical, the same authors introduced a checklist that assesses each dimension with one item only (GEMS-9). The checklist is being increasingly used, but it remains at present unclear whether the two instruments produce comparable scores. To redress this gap, we had 192 participants rate 18 music excerpts from various music genres with both instruments. We found that although scores on the nine GEMS emotions did converge in terms of profile similarity, the GEMS-9 tended to produce somewhat higher absolute scores. Yet, when dimensions of the GEMS-45 were represented by their highest-scoring scale item, the absolute scores were consistent as well. We conclude that if researchers have time constraints but still wish to capture some of the distinct features of music-evoked emotion, the GEMS-9 provides an interesting alternative to the GEMS-45.","PeriodicalId":47219,"journal":{"name":"Musicae Scientiae","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141778034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Musicae ScientiaePub Date : 2024-04-27DOI: 10.1177/10298649241241405
Roger Chaffin, Cristina Capparelli Gerling, Alexander P. Demos
{"title":"How secure memorization promotes expression: A longitudinal case study of performing Chopin’s Barcarolle, Op. 60","authors":"Roger Chaffin, Cristina Capparelli Gerling, Alexander P. Demos","doi":"10.1177/10298649241241405","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10298649241241405","url":null,"abstract":"Experienced musicians can perform reliably from memory because they prepare performance cues (PCs) that allow them to recover when performance is disrupted. We describe a longitudinal case study in which a pianist (the second author) learned and performed Chopin’s Barcarolle, Op. 60, over a 12-year period. The pianist provided PC reports for 28 performances, starting a month before her first public performance. Shortly after each performance, she marked the features of the music that guided her playing (PCs) on a clean copy of the score, distinguishing five types of PC: structural, Schenkerian (tonal elaborations), expressive, interpretive, and basic. Structural PCs predominated at first and were later replaced by expressive and Schenkerian PCs. PCs were more frequent at structural boundaries than at other locations. This boundary effect was larger under typical, compared to atypical performance conditions, and increased over time, suggesting that the main function of PCs was promoting expression rather than guarding against mistakes. Although the pianist’s initial purpose in learning to use PCs was to have a safety net in case of memory failure, she was surprised to find that she enjoyed playing with PCs and believed they helped her to play more expressively.","PeriodicalId":47219,"journal":{"name":"Musicae Scientiae","volume":"66 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140811750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}