Violations of Musical Expectations and Emotion

A Qualitative Study and Interpretation

Abstract

This study investigates the possibility of a relationship between types of violations of musical expectations and perceived emotions. A natural consequence of listening to music is the development of musical expectations, or rhythmic, harmonic, and structural anticipations of what the listener expects to hear. Existing research in psychology and neuroscience demonstrates that violation of these musical expectations has significant physiological and emotional effects on the listener. Through a survey format, participants were asked to evaluate their experience listening to twelve excerpts by providing written responses and completing two rating scales. This allowed for a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of emotion in contrast to physiological measures used in other studies. Nonparametric tests showed statistically significant differences between ranked mean ratings according to type of violation. Thus, this study provides evidence supporting the existence of a relationship between types of violations of musical expectation and perceived emotions in listeners. Further research is suggested for clarification of this relationship and its possible applications in musical compositions.