Listening to music is one of the most enjoyable activities of daily life. Music is remarkable in its ability to evoke profound emotions in listeners. Musical emotion is one of the primary motives for engaging in music listening. Listening to music is quite common in our daily life. The most common motive for listening to music is to influence emotions. How does listening to music produce emotions and pleasure in listeners? The list of factors associated with emotion in music have been discussed.

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8 Components of Musical emotion
Ref-Shahram Heshmat in Psychology Today of 21 Jun 2021
Emotion is a fundamental aspect of musical experience.

2. Key points
 Listening to music is one of the most enjoyable activities of
daily life.
 Music is remarkable in its ability to evoke profound emotions in
listeners.
 Musical emotion is one of the primary motives for
engaging in music listening.
 Listening to music is quite common in our daily life.
 The most common motive for listening to music is to
influence emotions.
 How does listening to music produce emotions and pleasure
in listeners?
 The list of factors associated with emotion in music have
been discussed.

3. Components of Musical Emotion
 1. Musical pleasure.
 Music mostly makes us feel good.
 The enjoyment of music appears to involve the same
pleasure center in the brain as other forms of pleasure,
such as food, sex, and drugs (Juslin 2019).
 Has potential health benefit and tend to broaden our mindset
in ways that are beneficial to
 Health and
 Creative thinking.
 Music-evoked emotions predict whether individuals will decide
to buy a song.
 The pleasure of music explains why the religious leaders are
concerned that music could weaken human moral fibre(Gioia,
2019).

4. Components of Musical Emotion
 2. Musical surprise.
 Music can be experienced as pleasurable both when it
 Fulfills expectations and
 Violates expectations
 (e.g., unexpected harmonies, or the entry of a solo voice).
 The more unexpected the musical ingredients, the more
surprising is the musical experience.
 We enjoy the disruptions in musical patterns.
 For example, you may become startled and surprised by the
loud noise during a live concert (or the sound effects in
movie).
 It is like when someone creeps up behind you and says
‘Boo’.

5. Components of Musical Emotion
 3. Appraisal.
 Emotion is an evaluative attitude.
 The evaluation of music gives rise to emotions such as
 Pleasure or
 Displeasure.
 For instance, nostalgia is the most frequent emotion evoked
by music.
 Many listeners use music to remind themselves of the valued
past events (e.g., the song by Lata Mangeskar or Mohammed
Rafi is considered a jewels of modern nostalgia.

6. Components of Musical Emotion
 4. Action tendency.
 Music often creates strong action tendencies to move in
coordination with the music (e.g., dancing, foot-tapping).
 For example, classical music has been used as a form of
crowd control, such as in shopping malls to deter teenagers,
or in public spaces to drive the homeless away.
 If you don’t identify with the music that is playing in a
given space, then the space becomes an unpleasant place
for your taste.
 However, the same space welcomes classical music
lovers.

7. Components of Musical Emotion
 5. Being in sync.
 Being in sync with music is a source of pleasure.
 It is no accident that dance-like music makes people happy
because it is easy to entrain (attune) to its rhythmic pattern.
 Our internal rhythms (e.g., heart rate) speed up or slow
down to become one with the music.
 We float and move with the music.

8. Components of Musical Emotion
 6. Memory.
 Memories are one of the important ways in which musical
events evoke emotions.
 A great deal of our musical preferences reflects our
individual learning history.
 For example, some people may have a fond memory
associated with Subhas Chandra Bose’s ADAM KADAM
BARAHE JA , Rang de Basanti Chola ,Sare Jehan se achcha
etc.
 People do not forget these emotional events.

9. Components of Musical Emotion
 7. Emotional contagion.
 Music doesn’t only evoke emotions at the individual level, but
also at the interpersonal level.
 When people attend concerts, their emotions are in part
influenced by the emotions of other people present.
 When sports fans sing together, their brains release love
hormone (Oxytocin) which makes them feel emotional
bond with those in their group.
 That is why nations have national anthems.

10. Components of Musical Emotion
 8. Imagination.
 Imagination refers to mental activity of imagining what is
perceived in the music (e.g., a narrative) would be true.
 For instance, imagining monsters during fear-evoking music
enhances fear responses.
 Imagining nature, such as mountains or fields, enhances
our emotional responses to music such as the Four
Seasons by Vivaldi.
 In a high-tech digital age, for some listeners, the easy country
melody/Folk Songs is a reminder of the ‘good old days.’

11. Conclusion
 In sum, music is capable of inspiring emotions (cry and laughter, and
physiological responses).
 Music can be is used to create an emotional atmosphere like
 Calming,
 Relaxing,
 Playful,
 Sincere,
 Intimate.
 References
 Gioia Ted (2109), Music: A Subversive History. NY: Basic Books.
 Juslin PN (2019), Musical Emotions Explained, Oxford University Press.