This article was downloaded by: [McMaster University]

On: 20 November 2014, At: 12:57

Publisher: Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered
office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Royal Musical Association Research

Chronicle
Publication details, including instructions for authors and
subscription information:
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rrmc20

THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC ON THE

RECIPIENT
a
HELMUT RÖSING
a
Gesamthochschule (Universität) Kassel , West Grermany
Published online: 02 Jan 2013.

To cite this article: HELMUT RÖSING (1980) THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC ON THE RECIPIENT, Royal Musical
Association Research Chronicle, 16:1, 62-77, DOI: 10.1080/14723808.1980.10540889

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14723808.1980.10540889

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the
“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our
agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the
accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and
views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are
not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not
be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information.
Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands,
costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising
directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the
Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any
substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,
systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &
Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-
and-conditions
 THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC ON THE RECIPIENT

AN ATTEMPT TO DEFINE A POSITION

By

HELMUT ROSING

IF MUSIC IS to meet the requirements of modern medical practice, it

ought ideally to behave like a medicine (Kneutgen 1970): in other
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:57 20 November 2014

words, it ought to be possible to calculate its effects on a patient in

advance, in the same way that this is possible with tablets. Yet the
history of music therapy, from its beginnings in shamanistic healing
songs and ancient Greek ethos doctrine to the present (Moller 1971),
shows that music can scarcely be said to generate effects that are cal-
culable in advance in a medical sense; and, consequently, the hackneyed
idea of music as a drug has no meaning. The effects of music are complex
and diverse, and are not comparable with those of drugs, which have
largely been established as specific to individual drugs. Drug depen-
dence is descrioed in terms of concepts like addiction; dependence on
music, if indeed it exists at all, ought rather to be described in terms
of concepts like predilection or preference.

In recent literature on music therapy, there have been attempts to

discuss the effects of music on the listener in a systematic way. Never-
theless, the choice of music thought to be therapeutic for certain dis-
orders still very often seems arbitrarily dependent on the individual
likes and dislikes of the scholar. Pontvik (1948; 1955), for example,
regards Bach as the ideal medicine, on account of the alleged cosmolog-
ical attunement of his musical forms; other scholars (e.g. Schullian
and Schoen 1948; Kohler 1971; Willms 1975) report therapeutic success
with various works from the standard classical and romantic concert
repertory, and Schwabe (1969) refers in particular to successful treat-
ment of neurotic, psychotic and psychosomatic disorders with light music
and folk-songs.

It does not seem necessary to discuss the merits of all such instan-
ces in detail: in general it may be said that, in the field of music
therapy, individual scholars clearly rate the effectiveness of different
types of music for therapeutic use in widely divergent ways. One is
forced to suspect that arbitrary personal preferences, rather than
rational argument, have tipped the scale in favour of the choice of
music for therapeutic use, in some instances at least. This impression
is by no means dispelled by the frequent claim that healing effects can
be achieved mainly through music characterized by 'positive emotion':
there are very many examples of music, in diverse styles, which might be
described thus. As Martin Geck (1973) has very pertinently asked: can
one be justified in trying to heal psychiatric patients - whose dis-
orders generally arise from a conflict between them and the society in
which they live - by exposing them to music which is an expression of
that very society, whether through listening or active participation?
And, moreover, do we not judge pieces of music (say Smetana's VZtava) as
 THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC 63

'emotionally positive' ultimately according to the 'rules' of our own

particular culture - that of western society? Although it is claimed
that such judgment may be made objectively, as for example by an inves-
tigation of the 'standardized semantic differential', the methods which
are employed are inherently positivistic: the fixed terms given in
questionnaires and the answers provided by subjects inevitably involve
circular arguments.

In the nature of the case, certainly it is very difficult to

account convincingly for the different types of effect which music pro-
duces in recipients. Whether music is popular or classical, the laws of
production, intention and consumption it obeys are very different from
those obeyed by medicinal tablets mass-produced on a conveyor belt. Its
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:57 20 November 2014

functions, and the aesthetic expectations which derive from them, bear
no simple, direct relation to medical therapy: they are multiple, varia-
ble and often ambivalent. The complexity and imprecision of the effects
of music are quite unlike those of drugs; they represent the strength
of music for therapeutic use, compared with conventional medicines, but
at the same time they rule out any watertight scientific definitions of
those effects.

The interrelated problems concerning the effects of music will be

discussed here, or, better, formulated for future discussion, chiefly
from three points of view:

(1) the methods· used, and results achieved, in research so far into the reception
of music;
(2) the reception of music as a dynamic, creative process;
(3) the individual (psychological) and social (communicative) functions that
music can fulfil.

* *
1. Research into the reception of music: methods and results
Since the late nineteenth century, large-scale questionnaires have
been used to investigate the effects of music on the listener: apart
from psychological changes, these effects have mainly been taken to be
associated ideas or emotions suggested by the music. In the United
States, Gilman (1891-3) and Downey (1897), for example, invited their
subjects into a studio and played them pieces of music, mostly from the
classical repertory, in versions for piano or for piano and violin;
Ruths (1898) provided his subjects with complimentary tickets for con-
certs. In these investigations, a method of free association was used:
the subjects were asked to write down, in words, the impressions, reac-
tions, moods, ideas and so forth which had occurred to them during, or
as a direct consequence of, the musical performances. The investigators
hoped, by comparing responses to particular pieces of music, to reach
general results concerning both the properties of the music and the ef-
fects it produced on listeners. Gilman attempted to refine the preci-
sion of his results by posing his subjects leading questions on the
music: these questions were linked to expert opinions obtained in ad-
vance, and were used to steer the listeners' associations so as to make
their answers to the questionnaires more easily quantifiable.

Even using methods of directed association, however, scholars were

scarcely able to offer any concise statements of the mutual relation-
 64 HELMUT ROSING

ship between the internal structure of the music and the aural impres-
sions it produced: the music used for the purpose had been too complex
and heterogeneous, and the subjects' verbalizations too diverse. In con-
sequence, research since the 1930s has developed methods by which the
categories of investigation are defined more narrowly and in accordance
with the requirements of experimental psychology. In particular, first,
the musical examples are mostly reduced to formal units only a few bars
in length; secondly, the subjects are given long lists of adjectives
from which they choose those that best represent their aural impres-
sions; thirdly, the subjects' opinions, thus standardized, are then tho-
roughly evaluated by statistical methods and by factor analysis. This
path was pioneered by Ralph Gundlach (1935) and Kate Hevner (1936). It
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:57 20 November 2014

still remains definitive today, despite many modifications in method,

such as the use of semantic differential (Osgood 1957) and the analysis
of similarities developed in Sweden by Wedin (1969).

The results achieved by various scholars since that time show, in

some areas, interesting correspondences between certain types of music
and certain concepts described adjectivally. Melvin Rigg (1964) has pub-
lished tables comparing the results of experiments into the effects of
music by Hevner, Watson, Gundlach and himself, and has shown that eight
general concepts have been associated throughout with constant musical
characteristics; his findings are represented in Table 1. This table
illustrates in ~ striking way that a dominant role can be assigned,
among the characteristics of the music, to tempo (rated fast or slow,
in the accepted way, according to its relationship to human pulse rate).
Nevertheless, no detailed classification based on tempo seems to be pos-
sible; only two groups emerge, one characterized by slow tempos, incli-
ning to serious and passive moods, and the other characterized by fast
tempos, inclining to cheerful and active moods. (See also Behne 1972.)
All the other aspects of music, moreover, are defined only very vaguely:
to consider only the most important, neither melody (whether in range,
direction or general shape), nor rhythm, nor phrasing, nor the intona-
tion of chords, nor timbre, nor dynamics yields any sort of useful
scale by which ideas associated with music may be measured.

It is, indeed, scarcely possible as yet to verify the assumptions

underlying these investigations from the results of the investigations
themselves. (Nevertheless, their underlying assumptions are no doubt
perfectly correct: first, all the various aspects of the structure of
the music affect the impression received by the listener, even if in
different degrees; secondly, musical structures are in some way analo-
gous to reversible optical figures, whose appearance can be materially
altered by a change in only one of their dimensions.) This difficulty
may be expressed as a general problem of method: the more mathematically
and statistically precise the results, the vaguer and less helpful are
the concepts capable of investigation.

Moreover, the relevance of tonality, dissonance and some other as-

pects of musical structure is limited also in historical terms. These
factors decisively shape western music composed between the baroque and
late romantic periods, and modern popular music, but are scarcely rele-
vant to the music of other cultures, or to much modern serious music.
One may suspect that the effects which a specific type of music produces
in the listener depend particularly on the listener's own prior experi-
ence and knowledge of music. This is true also of the psychological
 THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC 65

Table 1

Adjectival Tempo Register Rhythm Tonality Dynamics, Dissonance

description intensity level

Dignified Slow Low Uniform Major Relatively No disso-

undiffer- nances
entia ted

Minor Complex
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:57 20 November 2014

Sad Slow Low

harmonies

Sentimental Slow High

Tranquil Slow Fluent Relatively

undiffer-
entia ted

Playful Fast High

Happy Fast High Accen- Major Relatively Few disso-

tuated loud nances

Triumphant Fast Loud Some disso-

nances

Majestic Regular Moderately

loud

effects music produces: many very diverse investigations (e.g. Schoen

1927; Kohler 1971; Harrer 1975) have shown conclusively that music does
produce physiological effects (alterations in the electrical resistance
of the skin, brain activity, pulse, heart and respiration rate, sweat
secretion, and so on), but that these effects are unspecific in nature:
they are not directly related to any particular pattern of stimuli re-
presented by the music. Here too the listener's prior musical experi-
ence, his expectations and his understanding of music may well be of
noteworthy importance. No scholar has so far touched on these questions,
even though scholars differ considerably concerning the relative impor-
tance to be attached to musical stimuli, the hearing process and the
listener's comprehension of music in the building up of aural impres-
sions.

Similar criticisms may be made of the results published so far on

the more fundamental topic of 'expressive prototypes' in music (Hauseg-
ger 2/1887; Mliller-Freienfels 1936, 87-106). These prototypes are de-
rived from typical human behaviour patterns, which are imitated both
directly (by synaesthesia) and analogously (intermodally) in music. The
composer will often draw on these prototypes without making any con-
scious decision to do so, for they will appear a self-evident part of
the procedure he adopts. Among human behaviour patterns, there are four
 66 HELMUT ROSING

attitudes which are particularly important as expressive prototypes in

music, and these are relatively independent of differences between cul-
tures (Rosing 1975a; 1975b): display behaviour (Imponiergehabe), demon-
strative tenderness (ZartZichkeitsbekundung), passi.ve acquiescence (passive
Resignation) and decisive activity (betonte Aktivitiit). The functions ful-
filled by these four expressive prototypes, and their general and musi-
cal characteristics, are shown in Table 2 below.

Examples of music illustrating each of the expressive prototypes

are included in the final column of Table 2; but, naturally, music sel-
dom illustrates the prototypes in any neat or pure manner. The depen-
dence of behaviour, and consequently of musical expression, on conven-
tional stereotypes varies widely within any culture; and two or more
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:57 20 November 2014

expressive prototypes may easily be combined - one need think only of

the title 'Funeral March' as an illustration of this. The wide varia-
tion in the expression of 'display behaviour' in western art music
alone is clear in the range of marches represented by those in Mozart's
Serenata notturna, K239, and Beethoven's York Marches, the fanfares in Ja-
nacek's Sinfonietta, the march in the first movement of Mahler's fifth
symphony, and no. 3 of the Drei Orchesterstucke op. 6 by Alban Berg. In
each of these the prototype is modified according to the differing val-
ues placed by society and the composer on the idea of the military; the
composers offer critical comments on the expressive prototype in each
of these works.

In analogous. fashion, however, the listener also makes his own com-
ment, whether consciously or unconsciously. Musical gestures represent-
ing display behaviour do not necessarily impress the listener in any
particular predetermined way, let alone lead to any kind of display be-
haviour on his part. For various reasons, the ways in which the musical
expressive prototypes affect the listener cannot be predicted. First,
the expressive prototypes are themselves manifested with great variation
in nuance, whether or not they occur in combination; secondly, they are
affected by accidental factors of musical style which are limited to
particular periods and particular societies; thirdly, the listening pro-
cess itself is subject to very many variables, some individual and per-
sonal in origin, some historical and social. Musical structures impart
information on several levels (as will be discussed further below); the
hearing process must therefore be defined in terms of a number of varia-
bles, and oversimplified notions of musical effects necessarily created
in the listener must be rejected, despite some of the assertions pub-
lished hitherto in the field of musical reception.

* *
2. The reception of music as a dynamic, creative process

Scholars concerned with the psychology of music have, unfortunately,

very seldom hitherto addressed the question of the different forms which
the hearing of music can take; research seems to have become arrested
with the study of the fundamental structure of hearing and the manner in
which it functions - in other words, with the physiology and psychology
of hearing. Typologies of hearing have mostly remained the preserve of
musical aestheticians, in fact, and (like the typology offered by Ador-
no, 1962) they are always presented as classifications of response based
on value-judgments.
 THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC 67

Table 2

Expressive Functions Characteristic modes of expression

prototype

General Musical

Display Self-assertion Displays of strength Broad melodies with wide

behaviour range
Arousing support Self-inflation
(Imponier-
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:57 20 November 2014

among like-minded Strongly accented rhythm

gehabe) Stern, unapproachable
individuals
bearing Moderately fast tempo
Repelling of
Purposive, goal-defined Thick, voluptuous chords
opponents
activity
Massive, intense tone-
Expansive, powerful quality
utterances
Examples: war-songs, mil-
itary music, marches

Demonstra- Renunciation of Gestures minimizing Easily-grasped arch-form

tive tend- power in favour strength melodies built of short
erness of identification phrases
(Zartlich- Self-abnegation
with a subordi-
keitsbe- nate (e.g. in the Even pulse, but with
A withdrawn, unostenta-
kundung) mother-child re- flexible rhythms
tious attitude
lationship) Moderate tempo
Moderate, cautious
activity Limited, simple harmonic
Markedly limited vocabulary
vocal utterances Transparent tone-quality
Limited dynamics
Examples: lullabies and
cradle-songs (e.g. Offen-
bach's Barcarolle from
The Tales of Hoffmann,
or Chopin's Berceuse op.
57)

Passive ac- The expression Gestures of withdrawal Melodies remaining static

quiescence of sadness and collapse around certain pitches,
(Passive or mainly downward in
Resignation) Slow, limited activity,
lacking tension, impe- direction
tus or direction Static rhythm, which may
Monotonous, colourless be either dragging or
utterances jerky
Slow tempos with frequent
ritardandi
Complex chords (especial-
ly in western music)
 68 HELMUT ROSING

(Table 2 continued)

Dark, blended tone-colour

Limited dynamics
Examples: funeral music,
laments, adagios

Decisive The expression of Gestures of purposive Rising, leaping melodies

activity abundant activity fon~ard motion with wide range
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:57 20 November 2014

(Betonte and joy

Vital, motoric activi- Contrasted, lively rhythm
Aktivitat)
ty, effervescent,
Fast tempos with accele-
agile and jerky
randi
Clear, lively, varied,
Clear chording, with em-
intense utterances
phasis on the treble
register
Clear, bright tone-colour
Frequent contrasts in
dynamics
Examples: light music;
much of the music used in
commercial advertising;
many presto movements;
very clearly in the fina-
les of the last act of
Beethoven's Fidelia and
of the 3rd movement of
his sonata 'Les Adieux',
op. 8la

One ought first of all, on the contrary, to distinguish purely empi-

rically between different modes of perception and different patterns of
hearing, without judging their relative value. Three different types of
musical hearing may generally be distinguished (Rosing 1977, 58-60), and
these are analogous to the types of general perception termed 'motoric',
'visual' and 'auditory'. The motoric type corresponds with the percep-
tion of music as a succession of points of energetic tension - as a dyn-
amic process- or in the transmutation of such perception into movement,
in dance. The visual type corresponds with the perception of music
through visualizing or otherwise conjuring up associated images or
events. The auditory type, which allegedly occurs very rarely, corres-
ponds with the perception of music in terms of its structure; this in-
cludes both the 'linear, analytical' type of hearing (a preference for
polyphonic music, e.g. north German baroque organ music) proposed by
Wellek (1963, 131-6), and his 'polar, cyclic' type (a preference for
homophonic music, e.g. Italian baroque and pre-classical music).

This rough tripartite division has been further refined by Richard

 THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC 69

Muller-Freienfels (1909), who writes of three 'modes of reaction' (Rea-

genzformen) found within each of the three types of hearing: sensory (sen-
sorisch), imaginative and rational. In the sensory mode of reaction, the
moods and emotions associated with the music are emphasized; in the ima-
ginative mode, the symbols, ideas and concepts suggested by the music
come to the fore; and in the rational mode, the intellect takes the
foremost role, in quasi-mathematical analysis.

Thus individual factors influence the perception of music; and the

listener's own attitude is another important modifying force. Develop-
mental psychology and neurophysiology have shown that the hearing of
music is not an isolated part of human experience, and Wundt (1874; see
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:57 20 November 2014

also Kohler 1966) has noted that the very diverse stimuli received by
one's sense organs and transmitted to the brain are fused as a unity in
one's consciousness. This fusion seems to be the work of the biological
part of an individual's apparatus of perception: it comprehends and pro-
cesses (through comparison and evaluation) all the pieces of information
delivered by the sense organs to the brain, and thus achieves an inter-
pretation of the individual's immediate surroundings. From a biological
point of view, the perception of music is a 'superfluous function'
(Luxusfunktion). It cannot, of course, be equated with ordinary linguistic
perception: it does not represent 'reality' (an Ernstsituation), and hard-
ly conveys material objects or concepts in any complete, concrete way.
Music can certainly transmit information on a number of levels, among
which the emotional and affective, and the formal and aesthetic, may be
especially important. But the particular levels the listener lays hold
of, and the ways he comprehends them, decisively depend on habits of
hearing (see Faltin and Reinecke 1973) and codes of meaning which apply
only within a single culture and a single period.

In 'ordinary' perception, moreover, the listener concentrates mainly

on the significative quality of the sounds he hears, to grasp their
meaning and to find out what is causing them; in linguistic perception,
he focuses on the significance of the sounds, and only to a limited ex-
tent on their tone quality or accentuation. Musical perception repre-
sents a mixture of these two types of perception. Its tone-quality
(timbre) seems just as important as its significative character: its
tone-quality mainly evokes moods, visualizations and associated imagery;
its significative character mainly contributes to defining formal
structure, by giving sense and context to musical units which carry con-
ventional meanings (Graf 1970; Rosing 1974).

It is unnecessary to refine these formulations further, since an im-

portant inference may already be drawn: the comprehension of music
varies according to the dominance of an 'ordinary' or a 'linguistic' at-
titude in the listener. The perception of significative aspects of the
music will be favoured in listeners talented in aural discrimination and
analysis; the perception of timbre will be favoured in listeners tending
to imaginativeness and sensibility. And, besides, the listener's atti-
tude may be influenced, relatively independently of the musical struc-
ture itself, by extraneous factors (Ross 1975, chap. 3) -his momentary
mood, or social forces bearing upon him. Moods and feelings of the mo-
ment may sway him to accept or reject the music performed, or to remain
open-minded about it. If he is thirsty or hungry, or if he has just ex-
perienced a dangerous incident on the road, he will find remaining at-
tentive more difficult. On the other hand, if he has had a good day's
 70 HELMUT R5SING

work, or a pleasant surprise in his private affairs, he will find it

easier to attend fully to the music, unless the style of the music is
fundamentally alien to him (as is often the case when listeners are
confronted with contemporary experimental music).

When music is heard live in the concert hall, its reception is mate-
rially affected if the listener knows he is in a group of like-minded
people (he can tell this simply by observing the clothes they are wear-
ing) and if he is willing to identify himself with them and their ritu-
als of behaviour, such as sitting in silence, or clapping when the
music is over; or if he wishes to reject any such identification. Simi-
larly, openness to or rejection of music can also be evoked by associa-
tion, if similar music has provoked certain reactions in the listener in
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:57 20 November 2014

the past. Slow music which might according to its structure be charac-
terized by reserve and resignation, for example, might be experienced
very positively, and produce a strong emotional effect, in a listener
who associated it - let us say - with his first experience of falling in
love. The associative effects music produces in such an instance are
largely independent of its structure, and are like those of a signature
tune, or music used in commercial advertising.

It is clear, then, that the expressive prototypes cannot even neces-

sarily be equated with specific musical structures, or be discussed
purely in terms of them. The meaning assigned to a musical expressive
prototype, either within a culture or by an individual, is influenced by
extraneous considerations: music generally heard within a culture at fu-
nerals, for instance, becomes 'funeral music', capable even out of con-
text of suggesting content, moods or associations connected with death
or mourning. This type of reciprocal influence (admittedly only outlined
here) is the major means of establishing musical cliches of content or
mood, which depend on knowledge of the normal circumstances in which
such music is performed, and on established traditions and private expe-
riences. Consequently, the effects which music is able to exert on the
listener are strongly heteronomous, in that they depend heavily on ex-
ternal social and cultural considerations. Melanesian love songs, for
instance, seem slow in tempo and solemn in their purely musical aspects;
the funeral music of black people often seems lively and joyful. These
examples illustrate that different cultures and societies come to asso-
ciate very different musical structures with various extra-musical con-
cepts; and these differences must play their part in determining the ef-
fects of music on listeners in particular societies.

Writing on magic and sorcery, Claude Levi-Strauss (1958) notes that

the healing effects of music associated with witch-doctors' rituals are
largely independent of the internal structure of the music, and this is
so especially because the efficacy of the music is unquestioned by any
of the participants in the rituals. Consensus agreements within a socie-
ty concerning the value and purpose of healing songs may not be ques-
tioned with impunity: they are enforced by social sanction. This type of
musical effect is, one might say, virtually pre-programmed by society.

Similar considerations a~ply also to music whose purpose is to aid

meditation or induce ecstasy. Though the structural characteristics of
such music seem to correspond naturally to its intended effects (unques-
tionably so in the rhythm, for example) by virtue of the direct and ana-
logous imitation of behaviour patterns, the listener can achieve ecsta-
 THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC 71

sy, or a condition in which meditation is possible, through the music

only if he accepts that there is a connection between the music and its
purpose. Conversely, whether and how the music exerts its effects will
remain in doubt as long as the listener - for whatever reason - divorces
the music from its purpose. In a primal culture, he is scarcely able to
do this; in western society, social pressures governing the reception of
music are weak, in the sense that the listener is relatively free to de-
cide for himself what value, meaning and function to assign to music of
very different periods and types. The westerner is thus free to make
listening an active, creative process, particularly in its individual
and psychological aspects: what he visualizes, experiences or hears in
music, what he associates with it, and the ways he comprehends and ana-
lyses it, depend only in part on the notes themselves. In an extreme
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:57 20 November 2014

case, music might even trigger perceptual experiences totally unrelated

to its structure (Kneif 1970).

* *
3. MUsic and its functions
The discussion so far has already shown how the effects of music on
the recipient are heteronomous and relative, dependent in part on the
functions which the music fulfils for the individual and within society
(Eggebrecht 1973; Feurich 1978). One may now distinguish between psycho-
logical functions, applicable to the individual listener, and communica-
tive functi.ons, applicable within a society. Individual and psychologi-
cal functions include sublimation of aggressive instincts; compensation
for frustrated drives, often in the form of motoric activity; projection
of wishes and dreams in music; activation of emotion through psychologi-
cal resonance; evocation or intensification of well-being and content-
ment; and bringing to rest and release of tension in psychological
terms. These individual functions vary to an extent largely independent
of the music itself: they are (as described above) variously dependent
on the particular circumstances of each particular listener.
The social and communicative functions of music are quite different.
These generally depend on immutable dogmas by which music is assigned to
particular functional contexts; such music is then invariably restricted
to these contexts, by common consent (achieved voluntarily, or at times
even by force) among the members of the society concerned. This is true
especially of music for magic or ritual purposes, and of other sacred
music. Animistic spells, rain and hunting songs, songs of shamans and
medicine men - and also western sacred music - are given a recognizably
normative character by being placed under specific taboos, which pre-
clude profanation of them and any consequent diminishing of their effi-
cacy. Tendencies of this sort can be traced even in modern papal de-
crees concerning sacred music. Some music is permeated by magic in its
performance: such music generally serves as a symbol of status and auth-
ority, and represents an audible 'display' gesture. Music and dances for
red-letter festive occasions, especially births, initiation ceremonies,
weddings and funerals, are also generally closely related to music serv-
ing magic or ritual functions. Even work songs often have magic over-
tones, and are not simply stimuli to action or aids to co-ordinated
movement. A numinous character is customarily assigned to certain styles
of singing or certain instruments: in the west, perhaps, the church or-
gan; for aboriginal peoples often noise-producing instruments or (as in
 72 HELMUT ROSING

New Guinea) sacred flutes; in ancient Mesopotamia, large drums; in anci-

ent Israel, priestly rams' horns. But the sound of the organ, for exam-
ple, will suggest reverent devotion only to listeners who are condi-
tioned to this association in advance: in ancient Rome the sounds of the
organ at gladiatorial combats seem rather to have produced inflammatory
effects. Thus each society associates certain functions and meanings
with certain musical forms and instruments; and the consequences of
these associations should not be underestimated in discussing the ef-
fects of music on recipients. Such functions are derived from or closely
related to the functions and meanings of ritual and magic music; they
exist in aboriginal music and still survive in both functional music and
some art music in western culture.
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:57 20 November 2014

Another type of function for music is associated with its use for
quasi-semantic communication. The transmission of messages (for example
in drum languages, yodelling and hunting calls) still survives intermit-
tently, in rudimentary fashion, even in such absolute music as Haydn's
symphony no. 31 in D ('Mit dem Hornsignal' ). Linked with a text, music
may become a 'narrative in sound' (klingernk Geschichte) or even carry a
message, but admittedly only for listeners who are familiar with the
code; this function may be assigned to descriptive programme music in
the western tradition. From the idea that music represents a narrative,
moreover, it is only a short step to conceive of music as an education-
al medium, as is illustrated for example in Maori didactic songs. The
exploration of personal relationships in music (for example, between
lovers, or between mother and child) may also be assigned to this area
of semantic communication.
In general one should emphasize that all music exerts a strong force
in support of existing social structures besides fulfilling its psycho-
logical, 'magic; and communicative functions. Different styles of music
not only help to define social groups and social strata, but from one
point of view are no more than the expression of such groups. Distinc-
tions may depend on age and education (thus for example pop music still
remains chiefly the preserve of young people and 'light' music the pre-
serve of older people, and classical music is valued much more highly by
listeners with school-leaving qualifications than by those educated only
to primary level). They may also, however, depend on listeners' ideolog-
ical, religious, political and cultural attitudes and activities.
The view has here been advanced that music can produce effects cor-
responding with its various intended functions only when the listener is
prepared to accept that these functions and their meaning are associated
with the music. If this is true, then a single piece of music (whether
the latest hit song or Beethoven's Grosse Fuge) will produce different ef-
fects in listeners from different social groups. A listener will value
music, certainly, according to individual preference and experience, but
still more according to his position and status in society, and accord-
ing to the function of the music - and the latter too is judged by soci-
al criteria. So social factors influence the effects of music to a very
considerable extent.
They do so even with recorded music, which may be broadcast on the
mass media quite outside the context in which it was originally per-
formed, and may be repeated at will (Rosing 1976; 1978). Nevertheless,
there is a trend towards the erosion of the social functions of music,
 THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC 73

owing to this loss of 'aura' -of the context of person-to-person commu-

nication in performance - in mechanical reproduction. Moreover, the so-
cial functions of entertainment music can be largely interchangeable
with those of purely utilitarian music, very largely for economic rea-
sons. Identical music may be used in different contexts for commercial
advertising; for background music in factories or shops to stimulate
production or spending; on public occasions and at public demonstra-
tions, to promote camaraderie and solidarity; on the other hand, as
background music for leisure activities; and for other entirely hetero-
geneous functions. The particular intended function will thus be ful-
filled only insofar as the recipient is willing to associate it with the
music, particularly if the music already evokes other, alien associa-
tions for him.
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:57 20 November 2014

From the producer's point of view, it can be thoroughly positive if

the recipient links music with associations alien to its original inten-
ded function, especially if the producer wishes subtly to manipulate the
recipient. An advertisement for a skin cream may prove less insidious if
the naive listener recognizes the music accompanying it as the adagio
from Beethoven's 'Pathetique'; background music in a factory may not
achieve total success in stimulating productivity if it evokes associa-
tions of leisure activities among the members of the shop-floor.
Interchangeability in, and erosion of, the social and communicative
functions of mus·ic are coupled with increased importance of its individ-
ual and psychological functions. The listener is able to decide for him-
self what values he will place upon music; his freedom of choice rests
not only on his ability to play recordings or listen to broadcast music
whenever he wishes, but also on his ability to regulate the volume and
tone-quality on his equipment at will, for these also affect the func-
tion of the music. Loud reproduction, with a strong bass, may betray a
desire to bring the sound of music closer to the listener, which is con-
nected with psychological projection or sublimation; quiet reproduction
may correspond to various types of background music whose function is
general psychological stimulation; uniform reproduction of all (inclu-
ding high) frequencies at moderate volume is typical of the normal lis-
tener to serious music who wishes to make out the structure of the
music. It is naturally, however, also possible for serious music to be
listened to as background music, at low volume, or for it to be turned
up loud, with strong bass; in such instances, the functions the music
fulfils alter. Indeed, the listener can to a remarkable extent choose
the functions music is to fulfil, and consequently alter the effects
music produces, within the general framework of his experience and edu-
cation, as well as tradition.

* *
4. FutuPe PeseaPch

It is to be hoped that the questions raised here concerning the ef-

fects of music may be further refined and discussed; the author hopes to
do so himself in the foreseeable future. In particular it seems desira-
ble to study the complex reciprocal relationships obtaining between
music peP se, listeners of specific types, and the social contexts which
mould both music and listeners. But, as I have attempted to show, all
three of these factors should be studied if one is to understand the ef-
 74 HELMUT ROSING

fects of music on the listener. A monocausal explanation of these ef-

fects, based only on the internal structure of the music, has been shown
to be untenable, even though much research into the reception of music
takes it for granted.
This study has concentrated on social phenomena: on the role of so-
ciety in shaping norms of behaviour and intellectual stereotypes, and
their decisive part in determining the possible effects of music. Soci-
ety seems also to determine even the extent to which these social norms
depend in turn on more basic normative attitudes which remain constant
between different cultures and which may thus be termed 'biological'.
(In music these are the unchanging features that characterize the ex-
pressive prototypes described above.) Comprehensive research seems nec-
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:57 20 November 2014

essary on the relationship between these fixed 'biological' norms and

stereotypes purely local to any one society or period; and on the rela-
tive extent to which effects of music are influenced by individual atti-
tudes in various types of listener, rather than musical structure per se
or stereotypes of musical perception due to social forces. The relative
strength of social and individual factors in this process may be meas~
ured above all by considering different conceptions of musicality in
various cultures, and their meaning for an understanding of music.
Even though the relationships between music, the listener and soci-
ety are complex, it remains true that music can evoke intense and endu-
ring effects in the listener. These cannot, however, be determined a
priori: relevant. biological, individual and social influences need care-
ful and precise analysis, as well as the musical structure itself, be-
fore an1 specific effects of music can be properly understood.

* *
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adorno, Theodor Wiesengrund, 1962. EinZ.eitung in die MusiksozioZ.ogie: zwoZ.f

theoretisahe VorZ.esungen. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag (trans.
into English by E.B. Ashton as Introduation to the SoaioZ.ogy ofMusia,
New York: Seabury, 1976)
Behne, Klaus-Ernst, 1972. Der Einfl.uss des Tempos auf die Beurteil.ung von Musik,
Veroffentlichungen des Staatlichen Instituts fur Musikforschung
Preussischer Kulturbesitz 7. Cologne: Arno Volk Verlag
Blacking, John, 1973. How MusiaaZ. is Man? (The John Danz Leatures). Seattle and
London: University of Washington Press; London 1976: Faber & Faber
Downey, June E., 1897. 'A Musical Experiment' , Ameriaan Journal. of PsyahoZ.ogy
9, 63-9
Eggebrecht, Hans Heinrich, 1973. 'Funktionale Musik' , Arahiv f"Ur Musikwis-
sensahaft 30, 1-25
Fal tin, Peter, and Reinecke, Hans-Peter, ed. , 1973. Musik und Verstehen:
Aufs~tze zur semiotisahen Theorie, ~sthetik und SozioZ.ogie der musikaZ.isahen Re-
zeption. Cologne: Arno Volk Verlag
Feur:j.ch, Hans-Jiirgen, 1978. 'Funkt ion en' , K:r>itisahe Stiahworter zum Musikunter-
 THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC 75

richt, ed. Walter Gieseler, 92-7. Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag

Geck, Martin, 1973. Musiktherapie als Problem der GeseUschaft. Stuttgart:
Ernst Klett Verlag
Gilman, Benjamin Ives, 1891-3. 'Report on an Experimental Test of Music-
al Expressiveness' , American Journal of Psychology 4 ( 1891-2), 558-76; 5
(1892-3)' 42-73
Graf, Walter, 1970. 'Gewohnliches, sprachliches und musikalisches Ho~
ren' , Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen GeseUschaft Wien 100, 359-68
Gundlach, Ralph H., 1935. 'Factors Determining the Characterization of
Musical Phrases' , American Journal of Psychology 47, 624-43
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:57 20 November 2014

Harrer, Gerhart, ed. , 1975. Grundlagen der Musiktherapie und Musikpsychologie.

Stuttgart: Gustav Fischer Verlag
Hausegger, Friedrich von, 1885, 2/1887. Die Musik als Ausdruck. Vienna: C.
Konegen
Hevner, Kate, 1936. 'Experimental Studies of the Elements of Expression
in Music' , American Journal of Psychology 48, 246-68
Hofstiitter, Peter Robert, 1957. Gruppendynamik: Die Kritik der Massenpsycholo-
gie. Hamburg: Rowohlt
Kneif, Tibor, 1970. 'Ideen zu einer dualistischen Musikiisthetik', Inter-
national Review of Music Aesthetics and Sociology 1, 15-34
Kneutgen, Johannes, 1970. 'Eine Musikform und ihre biologische Funktion:
Ober die Wirkungsweise der Wiegenlieder' , Zeitschrift fur e:x:perimenteUe
und angewandte Psychologie 17, 245-65
Kohler, Christa, ed., 1971. Musiktherapie: Theorie und Methodik. Jena: G.
Fischer
Kohler, Ivo, 1966. 'Die Zusammenarbeit der Sinne und das allgemeine Ad-
aptationsproblem' , Handbuch der Psychologie, ed. Wolfgang Metzger, Hei-
ner Erke and others, 1/1 ( = Allgemeine Psychologie: Der Aufbau des Erken-
nens: Wahrnehmung und Bewusstsein), 616-55. GlHtingen: Verlag fiir Psycho-
logie; Dr. C.J. Hogrefe
Kilmmel, Werner Friedrich, 1977. Musik und Medizin: Ihre Wechselbeziehungen in
Theorie und Praxis von BOO bis 1800. Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Karl
Alber
Levi-Strauss, Claude, 1958. Anthropologie structurale. Paris: Plon
Moller, Hans-Jiirgen, 1971. Musik gegen Wahnsinn: Geschichte und Gegenwart musik-
therapeutischer VorsteUungen. Stuttgart: J. Fink
Muller-Freienfels, Richard, 1909. 'Individuelle Verschiedenheiten in der
Kunst' , Zeitschrift fur Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane 50, 1-61
1936. Psychologie der Musik. Berlin: C. F. Vieweg
Osgood, Charles Egerton; Suci, George J.; and Tannenbaum, Percy H., 1957.
The Measurement of Meaning. Urbana: University of Illinois Press (reprin-
ted 1971)
Pontvik, Aleks, 1948. Grundgedanken zur psychischen Heilwirkung der Musik 3 unter
besonderer Beri:tcksichtigung der Musik von J.S. Bach. Zurich: Rascher Verlag
1955. Zurich: Rascher
Heilen durch Musik.
Reinecke, Hans-Peter, 1967. '0ber Allgemein-Vorstellungen von der Musik',
 76 HELMUT ROSING

Festschrift Walter Wiora awn 30. Deaerriber 1966, ed. Ludwig Finscher and
Christoph-Hellmut Mahling, 31-40. Kassel, Basle, etc: Barenreiter
Rigg, Melvin G., 1964. 'The Mood Effects of Music: a Comparison of Data
from Four Investigators', JoUPriO.Z of PsychoZogy 58, 427-38
Rosing, Helmut, 1974. 'Gedanken zum "Musikalischen Horen"' , Die MwJikfor-
schung 27, 213-16
1975a. 'Funktion und Bedeutung von Musik in der Werbung', Archiv
for MusiTauissenschaft 32, 139-55
1975b. 'Zur Interpretation emotionaler Erscheinungen in der
Musik' , Beitrage a'U.l' rrrusikaZischen He7'111.eneutik, ed. Carl Dahlhaus, Studien
zur Musikgeschichte des 19. Jahrhunderts 43, 175-85. Regensburg:
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:57 20 November 2014

Gustav Bosse Verlag

1976. 'Zur Rezeption technisch vermittelter Musik: psychologi-
sche, asthetische und musikalisch-funktionsbezogene Aspekte', Musik
in den Ma.ssenmedien Rundfunk und Fernsehen, ed. Hans Christian Schmidt, 44-
66. Mainz: Schott Verlag
1977. MusikaZische StiZisierung akustischer VorbiZder in der TonmaZerei,
Musikwissenschaftliche Schriften 7. Munich: Musikverlag Katzbichler
1978. 'Thesen zur Funktionsnivellierung massenmedial dargebote-
ner Musik', Syrrrposiwn Musik und Massenmedien, ed. Helmut Rosing, 95-104.
Munich: Musikverlag Katzbichler
- - - - , ed. , forthcoming. Reaeptionsforschung in der MusiTauissenschaft, Wege
der Forschung 67. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft
Ross, Peter, 1975. GrundZagen der 1'11UBikaZischen Reaeptionsforschung. Ph.D. dis-
sertation, University of Berne
Ruths, Christoph, 1898. E:r:perimentaZ-Untersuchungen Uher Musikphantome und ein
daraus erschZossenes Grundgeseta der Entstehung~ der Wiedergabe und der Aujnahme
von TomJerken, 1: Inductive Untersuchungen Uber die FundamentaZgesetae der psy-
chischen P7iicnomene. Darmstadt: Kornmissionsverlag von H. L. Schlapp
Schoen, Max, ed, 1927. The Effects of Music: a Series of Essays, International
Library of Psychology, Philosophy, and Scientific Method. London:
Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.; New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co.
Schullian, Dorothy May, and Schoen, Max, 1948. Music and Medicine. New
York: H. Schuman
Schwabe, Christoph, 1969, 2/1972. Musiktherapie bei Ne'U.l'osen und funktioneZZe
St'()rungen. Jena: G. Fischer; 2/Stuttgart: G. Fischer
Wedin, Lage, 1969. 'Dimension Analysis of Emotional Expression in Music',
Svensk tidskrift for 1'11U8ikforskning 51, 119-40
Wellek, Albert, 1963. MusikpsychoZogie und Musikasthetik: Grundriss der systemati-
schen Musikwissenschaft. Frankfurt am Main: Akademische Verlagsgesell-
schaft
Willms, Harm, ed. , 1975. Musiktherapie bei psychiatrischen Erkrankungen. Stutt-
gart: G. Fischer
Wundt, Wilhelm Max, 1874, 6/1910. Grundauge der physioZogischen PsychoZogie.
Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann (translated into English from the 5th ed-
ition by Edward Bradford Ti tchener as PrincipZes of PhysioZogicaZ Psycho-
Zogy. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co.; New York: The Macmillan Co.,
 THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC 77

1904)

* * * *
(Translated by the editor) Gesamthochschule (Universitat) Kassel,
West Germany
Downloaded by [McMaster University] at 12:57 20 November 2014