Title influence on musical meaning: A socio-psychological experiment

Abstract

The goal of this study is to illustrate an experiment designed to reveal whether titles of musical pieces constitute a strong implication for the intended/perceived meaning inside the musical text, and if, as a consequence, a musical experience can occur within a listener’s mind with no specific intention to “visualize” or “codify” the context, and if that experience can have associations with something external to music per se. The empirical approach of this research is structured in the following manner: the participants of the experiment were accidental listeners, divided into different categories (such as age, non-/musicians, education and cultural activity), which act as important variables to show the impact of the cultural environment on music perception. By exposing listeners to musical samples that were entirely new to them, the experiment investigates (a) if a significant chance exists that stereotypes or associations (and even visualizations), implied by the title, may affect (or compromise) the “pure” musical experience; and (b) if a musical piece, this time not bearing any title, may be experienced and understood in a totally different manner.