Varieties of musical experience
Cognition, 100 (1):
131--72 (May 2006)DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2005.11.008
Abstract
In this paper, we argue that music cognition involves the use of acoustic
and auditory codes to evoke a variety of conscious experiences. The
variety of domains that are encompassed by music is so diverse that
it is unclear whether a single domain of structure or experience
is defining. Music is best understood as a form of communication
in which formal codes (acoustic patterns and their auditory representations)
are employed to elicit a variety of conscious experiences. After
proposing our theoretical perspective we offer three prominent examples
of conscious experiences elicited by the code of music: the recognition
of structure itself, affect, and the experience of motion.