How does music affect you?

Abstract

Reviews the book The Effects of Music, a Series of Essays, edited by Max Schoen (see record 1928-01967-000). What happens to a person when he listens to music? Here is a field of fascinating research which has until recently baffled scientific workers, especially those who like dealing in controllable variables. That it is a field which has not been without its intrepid explorers, this volume attests. The essays included in this volume provide descriptions of investigations and experimental studies on the various phases of the effects of music, including (but not limited to): Types of listeners to music; the sources and nature of musical enjoyment; the mood effects of music and related problems; and how stimulating or quieting music affects heart action as measured by the Einthoven Galvanometer. The studies present a nice balance between objective measures of the organic effects of music, such as motor phenomena induced by certain selections, and introspective accounts of effects on thought, feeling, and action. The book should be useful alike to students and teachers of musical science, to those who are interested in the psychology of aesthetics, as well as the reader with a non-technical, personal interest in his own reactions to music.