Whatever country you come from and whatever music you like, the music you want to listen to over and over again triggers one or more of 13 key emotions.
A study involving more than 2,500 people in the United States and China revealed the subjective experience of music across cultures can be mapped within 13 overarching feelings. These key feeling are amusement, annoyance, anxiety, beauty, defiance, dreaminess, eroticism, feeling pumped up, joy, relaxation, sadness, scariness and triumph.
Researchers arrived at 13 overall categories of experience preserved across cultures. These categories of experience were found to correspond to specific feelings, such as being depressing or dreamy.
He noted, people from different cultures can agree a song is angry but can differ on whether that feeling is positive or negative. He noted that positive and negative values, known in psychology parlance as “valence,” are more culture-specific.
I – Word Understanding
Overarching – includes or affects everything/everyone
Defiance – opposition / disobidience
Valence – attractiveness or goodness (of something; positive or negative)
Psychology parlance – psychology language (use of words)
II – Have Your Say
1. What types of music do you like? How does your mood affect your choice of music?
a. Happy
b. Stressed
c. Angry
d. Tired
e. Excited
f. Working / studying
2. What media do you use to listen to music? What are the differences now and then? How does it affect your music lifestyle?
a. Radio / Streaming Apps
b. Vinyl / Casette Tapes / CD’s / MP3
c. Walkman / Ipod
3. Who are the popular musicians in your country? How do they influence the music industry and the people in general?
4. As music is constantly evolving, how does your country preserve traditional music? Why is it important?
