Emotion & Music Expression

[gltyrian]

hey guys,

i'm working on my final project-- its a survey / experiment about music recognition and cognition in relations to emotion. pretty interesting stuff-- if you got a few seconds.. please check it out

http://www-scf.usc.edu/~sjer/exp

im looking to garner up as much results as i can get by midnight, so any help is definitely very much appreciated! thanks guys!

siao

ps. please drop any feedback you get too

 

[gltyrian]

friendly bump

 

[Neurorelay]

I doubt the legitimacy of using ATOT as a reliable data indicator in a university study, however informal it may be.

 

[TBone48]

I visited the site and did the exercise. Hope it helps

 

[johnjohn320]

I did the exercise. You need WAY more options for emotional reponses, though.

 

[Sentinel]

Did it for ya, I didn't really like the tune but answered honestly.

 

[imported_LoKe]

Did the exercise, the option for fear...did anyone even pick that one?

 

[gltyrian]

thanks guy, your help has been tremendously useful.. keep it rollin'!

 

[gltyrian]

late nite bump.. last one!

 

[OdiN]

This is what I chose, and my comments:

For the first one - No Expression / Emotion (I picked this for every one of your questions, because it's the same dull piece just at different tempos)

#1 - Very dull and expresionless piece.

#2 - WTF? This is the same crap as in #1 but slower.

#3 - Uhm...yeah this is the same damned thing. I'm wondering why I'm doing this.

#4 - Okay...again this is the same thing, tempo changed. This is starting to piss me off.

#5 - I am infuriated now. I might just set you on fire.

#6 - Well this was a total waste of my time. Are you insane? This is all the same damned piece of crap. I hate it. And whoever did the recording is pretty crappy too.

So yeah....if you want to find out about different emotions which are evoked by music, perhaps you should test more than one piece of music, instead of using the same thing. Seems to me the results will be useless.

 

[eits]

i'm not getting any sound from the pieces...

edit: nevermind... works fine on safari, not on firefox.

#2 sounds HORRIBLE... what's with the random-ass decrecendos?

i sent you a pm because my survey won't submit.

 

[gltyrian]

Odin,

the idea of the experiment was to look at music expression.. a piece of music can be played mechanically and have no expression, but certain things that an exert performer do can elicit different impression-- ie. upping the tempo to create a happy impression, adding legato to pieces for a different effect, adding dynamics to certain parts to elicit another emotion..

researchers have come up with these pieces that they claim show certain emotions..and while these results were based on "experienced listeners", i wanted to see what the general population and untrained ear may think..especially considering that i have limited background , and in some degree..agree with what you say..

I hope that adds some clarification to the experiment..

Thanks for taking some time to add your feedback,

Siao

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: gltyrian
Odin,

the idea of the experiment was to look at music expression.. a piece of music can be played mechanically and have no expression, but certain things that an exert performer do can elicit different impression-- ie. upping the tempo to create a happy impression, adding legato to pieces for a different effect, adding dynamics to certain parts to elicit another emotion..

researchers have come up with these pieces that they claim show certain emotions..and while these results were based on "experienced listeners", i wanted to see what the general population and untrained ear may think..especially considering that i have limited background , and in some degree..agree with what you say..

I hope that adds some clarification to the experiment..

Thanks for taking some time to add your feedback,

Siao

I was also hoping to provide some comic relief.

But...the pieces sound like MIDI's...

 

[jagec]

Did it. I wrote something in all the comment boxes, too.

Originally posted by: OdiN
This is what I chose, and my comments:

For the first one - No Expression / Emotion (I picked this for every one of your questions, because it's the same dull piece just at different tempos)

#1 - Very dull and expresionless piece.

#2 - WTF? This is the same crap as in #1 but slower.

#3 - Uhm...yeah this is the same damned thing. I'm wondering why I'm doing this.

#4 - Okay...again this is the same thing, tempo changed. This is starting to piss me off.

#5 - I am infuriated now. I might just set you on fire.

#6 - Well this was a total waste of my time. Are you insane? This is all the same damned piece of crap. I hate it. And whoever did the recording is pretty crappy too.

So yeah....if you want to find out about different emotions which are evoked by music, perhaps you should test more than one piece of music, instead of using the same thing. Seems to me the results will be useless.

It doesn't convey emotion really well, I agree, but surely you can pick out what emotion is there?

Using different music would invalidate the test, from a scientific standpoint.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Originally posted by: gltyrian
Odin,

the idea of the experiment was to look at music expression.. a piece of music can be played mechanically and have no expression, but certain things that an exert performer do can elicit different impression-- ie. upping the tempo to create a happy impression, adding legato to pieces for a different effect, adding dynamics to certain parts to elicit another emotion..

researchers have come up with these pieces that they claim show certain emotions..and while these results were based on "experienced listeners", i wanted to see what the general population and untrained ear may think..especially considering that i have limited background , and in some degree..agree with what you say..

I hope that adds some clarification to the experiment..

Thanks for taking some time to add your feedback,

Siao

funny, i replied to your project, then read this reply...

i sent you somethign like this, but just edited it..

instead of just varying the composition in tempo, dynamics, and sequence, try different pieces altogether.. the first time I heard the piece, i thought sadness, and i associated that initial feeling to the music the entire way through... regardless of the nuances in musicianship. a change of keys, time signature, etc... like, how can you play something in minor and get happiness out of it?

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: jagec
Did it. I wrote something in all the comment boxes, too.

Originally posted by: OdiN
This is what I chose, and my comments:

For the first one - No Expression / Emotion (I picked this for every one of your questions, because it's the same dull piece just at different tempos)

#1 - Very dull and expresionless piece.

#2 - WTF? This is the same crap as in #1 but slower.

#3 - Uhm...yeah this is the same damned thing. I'm wondering why I'm doing this.

#4 - Okay...again this is the same thing, tempo changed. This is starting to piss me off.

#5 - I am infuriated now. I might just set you on fire.

#6 - Well this was a total waste of my time. Are you insane? This is all the same damned piece of crap. I hate it. And whoever did the recording is pretty crappy too.

So yeah....if you want to find out about different emotions which are evoked by music, perhaps you should test more than one piece of music, instead of using the same thing. Seems to me the results will be useless.

It doesn't convey emotion really well, I agree, but surely you can pick out what emotion is there?

Using different music would invalidate the test, from a scientific standpoint.

There is no emotion. It's very cold and expressionless. Why? Because as I suspected, they are MIDI's. It's not someone actually playing the piece. It's too calculated and perfect. There is no feeling there.

 

[gltyrian]

thats a good point.. ill be sure to note that.. yes.. it is MIDI..

 

[eits]

Originally posted by: TechBoyJK

Originally posted by: gltyrian
Odin,

the idea of the experiment was to look at music expression.. a piece of music can be played mechanically and have no expression, but certain things that an exert performer do can elicit different impression-- ie. upping the tempo to create a happy impression, adding legato to pieces for a different effect, adding dynamics to certain parts to elicit another emotion..

researchers have come up with these pieces that they claim show certain emotions..and while these results were based on "experienced listeners", i wanted to see what the general population and untrained ear may think..especially considering that i have limited background , and in some degree..agree with what you say..

I hope that adds some clarification to the experiment..

Thanks for taking some time to add your feedback,

Siao

funny, i replied to your project, then read this reply...

i sent you somethign like this, but just edited it..

instead of just varying the composition in tempo, dynamics, and sequence, try different pieces altogether.. the first time I heard the piece, i thought sadness, and i associated that initial feeling to the music the entire way through... regardless of the nuances in musicianship. a change of keys, time signature, etc... like, how can you play something in minor and get happiness out of it?

different pieces or changing key, etc. kills the study because you lose validity. changing the tempo is the best way to do this study. throwing the decrecendos and whatnot in there is counter-productive, though.... especially when they're terribly/awkwardly placed.

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: gltyrian
thats a good point.. ill be sure to note that.. yes.. it is MIDI..

I think also a problem is that different sound cards will render MIDI differently. Some have very good piano sounds, others don't...so that's a problem with keeping control in the experiment.

Different soundcards will produce different results.

The best way would be to record the MIDI into a WAV file or low compression MP3 so that everyone hears the same thing.

 

[sobriquet]

I'd have to agree with most other people here and say that, at least in this particular example, the range of expression is incredibly limited. I think the minor mode in particular significantly detracts from the point of the test because of its incredibly strong cultural meaning.

What exactly are you trying to conclude with this data? I would suggest a more binary approach, where each example has two options: Is this example more sad or more angry? Giving such a huge variety of responses for such a limited example doesn't seem like it'll go very far.

 

[gltyrian]

Sobrinquet,

I did think about the binary approach, but I refrained from it because when you go into a performace at a show, aren't given an binary choice of interpretation..but rather is open to you.. i did try to compromise by giving you a list of choices.. and the choices were actually matched up so that 6 choices each appeared once in each of the six questions..

 

[sobriquet]

Originally posted by: gltyrian
Sobrinquet,

I did think about the binary approach, but I refrained from it because when you go into a performace at a show, aren't given an binary choice of interpretation..but rather is open to you.. i did try to compromise by giving you a list of choices.. and the choices were actually matched up so that 6 choices each appeared once in each of the six questions..

Well the problem with that approach is that those are YOUR responses, not the test taker's. Are we wrong for not associating certain sounds with the same emotions that you did? I don't understand how you could answer yes to that. Like I said, your examples are too limited for such a wide range of emotions.

 

[gltyrian]

Sobrinquet,

These "emotions" were based on previous research by a researcher in austria (roberto bresin) that concluded these certain adjustments made to a piece with no expression (ie played to the dot based on the original score) gave the impression of fear, anger, sad, happy, tender, etc. Having little musical background, I decided to take his research and extended this test to non-expert listeners.. to sorta "help with the results" i gave ppl choices that correlated with real possible answers..

theres no right or wrong in this, just an exploration

 

[sobriquet]

Originally posted by: gltyrian
Sobrinquet,

These "emotions" were based on previous research by a researcher in austria (roberto bresin) that concluded these certain adjustments made to a piece with no expression (ie played to the dot based on the original score) gave the impression of fear, anger, sad, happy, tender, etc. Having little musical background, I decided to take his research and extended this test to non-expert listeners.. to sorta "help with the results" i gave ppl choices that correlated with real possible answers..

theres no right or wrong in this, just an exploration

Can you give some more information on this work, even just which publication it is? I've only ever read Bresin's later works on variations in timing for expressive purposes, which, I think, yields much a greater possibility for getting desired emotional responses.

 

[gltyrian]

Yeah, roberto has a website up with these pieces: http://www.speech.kth.se/~roberto/emotion/

that's the site is also the home for the director musices program made by friberg and sundberg.. i was trying to pin the exact paper where he came up with these results, but wasn't able to nail down an exact paper.. but i did find a presentation he made in summer 2005 that details some of these results:

http://www.s2s2.org/docman/task,doc_download/gid,36/

s2s2.org is his current project i believe..

some additional work is available at our class website: www-scf.usc.edu/~ise575/b/syllabus under week5 bresin's paper.. and director musices stuff under week9..