Music, Meaning and Emotion

Hannah Jefferies

Name: Hannah Jefferies Main Subject: Classical Flute Research Supervisors: Ines de Avena Braga, Research Question: How can elements and features from psychology and philosophy illustrate what is fundamental to our emotions, in what way can these concepts be represented within and expressed by the flute repertoire, and how can we incorporate and convey these understandings as performers to create music meaningfully and be of beneficence to others? Summary of Results: This research sets out to contrast and evaluate diverse standpoints from psychology and philosophy to discuss firstly how emotions can be defined, whether music creates real emotions in us, and what capacities we possess to be both receptive and conveying of emotion within music. During my discussion, I incorporate examples of excerpts from the flute repertoire, consider the harmonic language used and function of musical structures, and balance this against the resulting emotional response from us. This initial discussion is in support of a questionnaire which I conducted in order to gather results from respondents of their perceived emotional response and valence when presented with differing musical excerpts, both upon an initial and second listening. I aimed to gauge and qualify their reaction to musical traits which have been connected more strongly than others to specific emotional states, and additionally I was interested to find if there was a connection between memory of a piece of music, and emotional valence due to this familiarity. Finally, having demonstrated the emotive strength it is possible for music to hold, I investigate how as artists we can harness and emphasise certain functions of music to create performances which are highly engaging and positively affecting for listeners. Additionally, this research then leads us to an understanding of the impact of integrating the effects of emotion and music, and suggests how this combination can be beneficial and utilised in and for the wider society, namely in the field of music therapy. Biography: I am currently a second year masters student from the UK studying classical flute at the Koninklijk Conservatorium with Jeroen Bron and Dorine Schade, having recently completed my Bachelors degree at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. During my studies I have been very lucky to have had the opportunity to perform as part of ensembles including Asko|Schönberg, New European Ensemble, European Youth Wind Orchestra, and Amadeus Orchestra Academy. Outside of performance, I greatly enjoy being part of outreach and community music; a highlight was working with the Manchester Camerata Orchestra, delivering music therapy to people with Dementia.

The Research Process.

This research is very much driven by my own personal interest into the topics and standpoints I demonstrate within this work, particularly the topic of personal identity. I have taken a broad scope in all of the chapters included in this thesis, and referenced many different source types: books, articles, journals, musical scores, both empirical and anecdotal studies and meta- analyses. From the wide outlook and perspective, I bring together many varying theories from different fields to suggest how the music we play and perform is understood by us as communicative and emotional, and the benefits to us of being able to connect with music and each other.

Secondly to this, my own research study was inspired in response to the discussion, and is in response to it. Additionally, only a small amount of research has been conducted into the question of valence due to memory, leading me to in my study, look to find correlations and relationships between this. Firstly, I wanted to collect data to observe from the results how people perceived the emotion expressed within music, and what emotion they felt as a response. And secondly, I wanted to be able to see if there were any correlations between memory a piece of music, and the valence a person held for it due to this emotional familiarity.

To investigate this issue, I tried to gain as many individual responses to a questionnaire which I designed to test my question and hypotheses. The questionnaire was in two parts, each part taken a week apart, and asked questions of musical emotional perception in response to hearing musical excerpts, and also a valence rating due to this. I further continue to analyse these findings in correlation with my previously discussed reasearch, and make a musical analysis of selected musical excerpts, by bringing many theories we come to look at together, and show how these are reflected within the works. The musical examples are taken directly from the flute repertoire, and I discuss how having knowledge of how the emotion constructed within them functions, we can utilise this to create more meaningful and rich performances.

Finally, I apply all of these theoretical understandings to their use in music therapy and health, and the physical and psychological benefits music can have for us, because of many of the theories which I forward here. My research leading in this direction is influenced by work I have previously taken part in in the past, working with elderly people to provide music therapy for them, and performing music in hostpitals. I have seen in action the incredible benefits it brings to people, and wanted to understand more the underlying mechanisms for this, so I could utilise the functions of music better, and in the future be able to tailor it to each person so it could be even more valuable to them.

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