Unpacking musical beauty: Sound, emotion, and impact differences across expertise and personality.

ABSTRACT: Beauty is an aesthetic quality that many composers and performers strive to attain and that most listeners value highly in music. Yet, what listeners hear and feel when they find music beautiful, the impact this experience has on them, and wherein lie any potential individual differences remain unclear. To address these gaps, an online questionnaire was administered to 81 adults. They described their experience of listening to three self-selected "beautiful pieces of music" alongside three pieces they listened to a lot but did not consider beautiful; focusing on each piece's sonic features, emotions induced, and any impact engaging with the pieces had had on them. Respondents' personality traits and level of musical training were also collected to explore if these contributed significantly

SUBMITTER: Arthurs Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12617921 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature