Engaging the Audience: a Matter beyond Music?

Gustavo Abela Cruz

Despite knowing that music and emotions have a lot to do with each other, sometimes it is hard to articulate which relationship they have. Since the emotional impact seems to be one of the biggest appeals for an audience, do we, the musicians (specifically the performers), pay and draw enough attention to it? After reviewing the relevant literature about the processing of emotions, I came across the philosophical approaches of emotions in and through music by Peter Kivy, Jerrold Levinson, and Stephen Davies, proposals that could serve as inspirations for an audience and for performers. Then, I decided to carry out a series of experimental sessions to test the impact of these three approaches, as well as the performer's role, and components that could also affect a performance, such as set-ups, musical manipulations, or what I have called 'extramusical' items or elements. In addition to my research question “How can a performer affect or manipulate the emotional engagement of an audience?”, I sought to explore another inquiry. Is engaging more with the public nowadays strictly a musical matter?

3. B) AND (how do human beings process) EMOTIONS?

A big interrelation between brain structures, sometimes called the 'limbic system', is present during the recognition and experience of emotions. Subcortical and cortex areas play a significant role too. A lot of discussion is (once again) found about the prevalence of a hemisphere in emotion processing. Whereas the right seems to be more active in many emotions, especially the negative ones, the left possibly contributes more while smiling and in other positive emotions. This is the basis of the 'valence' theory (Dess, 2017, p. 4). Edmund Rolls added that this ambivalence could be elicited by positive (rewarding) and negative (punishing) instrumental reinforces (Rolls, 1999, as cited in Dalgleish, 2004, p. 587). However, there are defensors of a right hemisphere dominance in all the emotional processing as well.

On the one hand, the neuroendocrine arousal mechanisms are of great importance. The hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands control stress hormones, which serve to adapt quickly to emotional events. On the other hand, the autonomic nervous system is the one that responds to cognitive stimuli (Dess, 2017, p. 4-5). During the 20th century, a couple of big schemes were designed to explain the functions of the different mechanisms that participate in the process:

- In 1937, James Papez created his 'Papez circuit', where the most appealing idea was the distinction between upstream and downstream directions, analogous to the 'thought' and 'feeling' dichotomy. See Figure 4.

- The most complete map was the one built by Paul MacLean, where the limbic system was the region in charge of the emotional processing, within a triune structure comprised by the mentioned limbic system, the reptilian complex, and the neocortex (responsible for the instincts and cognition respectively). See Figure 6. MacLean is the first one to introduce the huge role of the amygdala regarding emotions (Dalgleish, 2004, p. 583). For example, this region is essential to identify facial expressions, and lesions impair their good processing, concretely the fear ones (Dalgleish, 2004, p. 584, 585).

In the 1920s, Walter Hess conducted experiments and managed to manipulate coordinated and sophisticated emotions in cats after installing electrodes, in this case, in the hypothalamus, another region of utmost importance (Dalgleish, 2004, p. 587).

Figure 4. Papez Circuit.

Figure 5. Brain regions.

Figure 6. Triune structure.

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Gustavo Abela Cruz - Engaging the Audience: a Matter beyond Music? - 2024