Emotions in Music. An Overview of Musical Expressive Qualities

Abstract

What does it mean to say that a particular melody is cheerful rather than melancholic, or that a musical rhythm is anxious and nervous rather than peaceful and calm? Which kind of qualities are these? In this paper we will give an overview of musical expressive qualities, trying on the one hand to describe them as tertiary or valuequalities and, on the other, to understand their expressiveness by means of a phenomenological analysis of rhythm and rhythm perception.

Keywords

• musical expressive qualities
• emotions
• rhythm
• Piana