Music in a Social Context and Emotions in Musical Performance
Chapter 16, Music in Social Contexts, explores the powerful role music plays in shaping social behaviors, identities, and structures. It highlights how music is integral to defining group identities and helping individuals align with or differentiate themselves from social, cultural, or ethnic groups. Music fosters group cohesion, uniting people in shared experiences, such as in families, communities, or teams. It plays a vital role in communal rituals, religious ceremonies, weddings, funerals, and life transitions, marking significant moments and reinforcing social norms and cultural traditions. The chapter also examines music's influence on social movements and protests, where it serves as a tool for rallying people, communicating ideologies, and inspiring collective action. Protest songs, in particular, have historically been symbols of resistance, mobilizing social change. Beyond movements, music plays a central role in workplaces and schools, promoting discipline, creativity, and teamwork, while also aiding socialization and helping individuals adapt to group norms. Music is also essential in childhood development, teaching social behaviors like cooperation and empathy through songs and musical games. In an article by Jay Schulkin and Greta B. Raglan, “Music is linked to learning, and humans have a strong pedagogical predilection. Learning not only takes place in the development of direct musical skills but also in the connections between music and emotional experiences. Darwin understood both music and the consideration of emotion to be human core capabilities. Emotional systems are forms of adaptation allowing us to, for instance, note danger through the immediate detection of facial expressions”(https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4166316/#:~:text=Music%20is%20a%20core%20human%20experience%20and%20a,social%20ties%20and%20the%20strengthening%20of%20relational%20connectedness). The chapter discusses how music reflects and reinforces social hierarchies, noting that classical music is often linked with elite social classes, while popular and folk music is tied to subcultures or working-class communities. In youth subcultures, genres like rock, punk, and hip-hop help form group identities, offering spaces for self-expression and resistance to mainstream culture. Music also plays a major role in popular culture, shaping attitudes and connecting individuals to larger societal trends. Finally, music is a potent means of emotional expression and social commentary, preserving collective memory and reflecting political, economic, and social realities. Through all these functions, music influences social relationships, unity, and cultural landscapes.
Chapter 35, Emotions in Musical Performance, examines the role of emotions in musical performance, exploring how performers express and experience emotions through music and how this affects both the performer and the audience. Musicians use elements like dynamics, tempo, phrasing, and articulation to convey a wide range of emotions, and this emotional expression is communicated to the audience, often creating a shared emotional experience. The chapter discusses how performers manage their own emotions, using techniques such as focusing on technical aspects or physical relaxation to regulate performance anxiety and stress. However, balancing emotional expression with technical control can be challenging, as over-expression or miscommunication of emotion can distort musicality. The emotional state of the performer, such as anxiety or excitement, can also influence their interpretation and execution of the music, affecting the performance's emotional impact. In a paper by Felicia Rodica Baltes and Andrei C. Miu “For instance, individuals differ in their capacity to understand and respond to the emotions they perceive in the environment (i.e., empathy), as well as to associate stimuli from any sensory modality with vivid images in the mind (i.e., visual imagery). Such stable individual differences (i.e., traits) may interact with more transient psychological characteristics (e.g., mood) and contextual features (e.g., location, the presence of others) in influencing emotional reactivity to music”(https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/pmu-pmu0000030.pdf). Furthermore, the chapter highlights how emotional expression in music can be contagious, with the audience experiencing emotions triggered by the performer’s expression. Cultural and contextual factors, including genre and performance setting, also shape how emotions are expressed and perceived. Ultimately, the chapter emphasizes the complex relationship between emotion and musical performance, noting that emotional expression is essential for connecting with the audience while managing one’s emotions is the key to delivering a technically sound and emotionally powerful performance.
