Beyond Happiness and Sadness: Affective Associations of Lyrics with Modality and Dynamics
A study is reported investigating the relationship between modality (major/minor) and dynamics (piano/forte) on four affects – as evident in the content of musical lyrics. Forty solo vocal works were sampled: 10 in the major mode with a loud (forte) dynamic level, 10 in the major mode with a quiet (...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Ohio State University Libraries
2012-07-01
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| Series: | Empirical Musicology Review |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/handle/1811/52809 |
| _version_ | 1828969079076028416 |
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| author | Laura Tiemann David Huron |
| author_facet | Laura Tiemann David Huron |
| author_sort | Laura Tiemann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A study is reported investigating the relationship between modality (major/minor) and dynamics (piano/forte) on four affects – as evident in the content of musical lyrics. Forty solo vocal works were sampled: 10 in the major mode with a loud (forte) dynamic level, 10 in the major mode with a quiet (piano) dynamic level, 10 in the minor mode with a loud dynamic level, and 10 in the minor mode with a quiet dynamic level. Sampled compositions were all tonal works from the Western vocal repertoire. Without hearing the music, 60 native-speakers of English, German, and French judged the language-appropriate lyrics according to four affects: sadness, happiness, passion, and tenderness. Results were consistent with predicted associations between minor-piano music and sadness, major-forte music and happiness, and minor- forte music and passion. A fourth predicted association between major-piano music and tenderness was skewed in the predicted direction, but was not statistically significant. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T12:24:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c5b51ce9daeb420e9c94e02224d206eb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1559-5749 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T12:24:49Z |
| publishDate | 2012-07-01 |
| publisher | The Ohio State University Libraries |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Empirical Musicology Review |
| spelling | doaj.art-c5b51ce9daeb420e9c94e02224d206eb2022-12-21T23:01:23ZengThe Ohio State University LibrariesEmpirical Musicology Review1559-57492012-07-016314715410.18061/1811/52809Beyond Happiness and Sadness: Affective Associations of Lyrics with Modality and DynamicsLaura TiemannDavid HuronA study is reported investigating the relationship between modality (major/minor) and dynamics (piano/forte) on four affects – as evident in the content of musical lyrics. Forty solo vocal works were sampled: 10 in the major mode with a loud (forte) dynamic level, 10 in the major mode with a quiet (piano) dynamic level, 10 in the minor mode with a loud dynamic level, and 10 in the minor mode with a quiet dynamic level. Sampled compositions were all tonal works from the Western vocal repertoire. Without hearing the music, 60 native-speakers of English, German, and French judged the language-appropriate lyrics according to four affects: sadness, happiness, passion, and tenderness. Results were consistent with predicted associations between minor-piano music and sadness, major-forte music and happiness, and minor- forte music and passion. A fourth predicted association between major-piano music and tenderness was skewed in the predicted direction, but was not statistically significant.https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/handle/1811/52809emotionlyricsvocal musichappysadtenderpassionate |
| spellingShingle | Laura Tiemann David Huron Beyond Happiness and Sadness: Affective Associations of Lyrics with Modality and Dynamics Empirical Musicology Review emotion lyrics vocal music happy sad tender passionate |
| title | Beyond Happiness and Sadness: Affective Associations of Lyrics with Modality and Dynamics |
| title_full | Beyond Happiness and Sadness: Affective Associations of Lyrics with Modality and Dynamics |
| title_fullStr | Beyond Happiness and Sadness: Affective Associations of Lyrics with Modality and Dynamics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Beyond Happiness and Sadness: Affective Associations of Lyrics with Modality and Dynamics |
| title_short | Beyond Happiness and Sadness: Affective Associations of Lyrics with Modality and Dynamics |
| title_sort | beyond happiness and sadness affective associations of lyrics with modality and dynamics |
| topic | emotion lyrics vocal music happy sad tender passionate |
| url | https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/handle/1811/52809 |
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