How are our personal soundtracks of life devised? What makes some pieces of music more meaningful to us than others? This book explores the role of memory, both personal and cultural, in imbuing music with the power to move us. Focusing on the relationship between music and key life moments from birth to death, the text takes a cross-disciplinary approach, combining perspectives from a 'history of emotions' with modern day psychology, empirical surveys of modern-day listeners and analysis of musical works. The book traces the trajectory of emotional response to music over the past 500 years, illuminating the interaction between personal, historical and contextual variables that influence our hard-wired emotional responses to music, and the key role of memory and nostalgia in the mechanisms of emotional response.

While grief is suffered in all cultures, it is expressed differently all over the world in accordance with local customs and beliefs. Music has been associated with the healing of grief for many centuries, with Homer prescribing music as an antidote to sorrow as early as the 7th Century BC. The changing role of music in expressions of grief and mourning throughout history and in different cultures reflects the changing attitudes of society towards life and death itself. This volume investigates the role of music in mourning rituals across time and culture, discussing the subject from the multiple perspectives of music history, music psychology, ethnomusicology and music therapy.

Useful work has been done in recent years in the areas of music psychology, philosophy and education, yet this is the first book to provide a wide assessment of what practical benefits this research can bring to the music practitioner. With 25 chapters by writers representing a broad range of perspectives, this volume is able to highlight many of the potential links between music research and practice. The chapters are divided into five main sections. Section one examines practitioners' use of research to assist their practice and the ways in which they might train to become systematic researchers. Section two explores research centred on perception and cognition, while section three looks at how practitioners have explored their everyday work and what this reveals about the creative process. Section four focuses on how being a musician affects an individual's sense of self and the how others perceive him or her. The essays in section five outline the new types of data that creative researchers can provide for analysis and interpretation. The concluding chapter discusses that key question - what makes music affect us in the way it does? The research findings in each chapter provide useful sources of data and raise questions that are applicable across the spectrum of music-related disciplines. Moreover, the research methodologies applied to a specific question may have broader application for readers wishing to take on research themselves.

Useful work has been done in recent years in the areas of music psychology, philosophy and education, yet this is the first book to provide a wide assessment of what practical benefits this research can bring to the music practitioner. With 25 chapters by writers representing a broad range of perspectives, this volume is able to highlight many of the potential links between music research and practice. The chapters are divided into five main sections. Section one examines practitioners' use of research to assist their practice and the ways in which they might train to become systematic researchers. Section two explores research centred on perception and cognition, while section three looks at how practitioners have explored their everyday work and what this reveals about the creative process. Section four focuses on how being a musician affects an individual's sense of self and the how others perceive him or her. The essays in section five outline the new types of data that creative researchers can provide for analysis and interpretation. The concluding chapter discusses that key question - what makes music affect us in the way it does? The research findings in each chapter provide useful sources of data and raise questions that are applicable across the spectrum of music-related disciplines. Moreover, the research methodologies applied to a specific question may have broader application for readers wishing to take on research themselves.

While grief is suffered in all cultures, it is expressed differently all over the world in accordance with local customs and beliefs. Music has been associated with the healing of grief for many centuries, with Homer prescribing music as an antidote to sorrow as early as the 7th Century BC. The changing role of music in expressions of grief and mourning throughout history and in different cultures reflects the changing attitudes of society towards life and death itself. This volume investigates the role of music in mourning rituals across time and culture, discussing the subject from the multiple perspectives of music history, music psychology, ethnomusicology and music therapy.

The 20th century, with revolutionary and rapid developments in travel, communications and computerised technologies, offered new and seemingly limitless horizons which accompanied and amplified distinctive experiences of emotions. The birth of psychology and psychiatry revealed the importance of emotional life and that individuals could have control over their behaviour. Traditional religion was challenged and alternative forms of spiritualism emerged. Creative and performing arts continued to shape understandings and experiences of emotions, from realism to detachment, holistic to fragmented notions of self and society. The role of emotions in family life focused on how to deal with modern day freedom and anxiety. In the public sphere, people used emotion to oppress as well as liberate. Countering threats to national security, personal and cultural identity, a range of political motivated activities emerged embracing peace, humanitarian and environmental causes. This volume surveys the means by which modern experience shaped how, why and where emotions were expressed, monitored and controlled.

The 20th century, with revolutionary and rapid developments in travel, communications and computerised technologies, offered new and seemingly limitless horizons which accompanied and amplified distinctive experiences of emotions. The birth of psychology and psychiatry revealed the importance of emotional life and that individuals could have control over their behaviour. Traditional religion was challenged and alternative forms of spiritualism emerged. Creative and performing arts continued to shape understandings and experiences of emotions, from realism to detachment, holistic to fragmented notions of self and society. The role of emotions in family life focused on how to deal with modern day freedom and anxiety. In the public sphere, people used emotion to oppress as well as liberate. Countering threats to national security, personal and cultural identity, a range of political motivated activities emerged embracing peace, humanitarian and environmental causes. This volume surveys the means by which modern experience shaped how, why and where emotions were expressed, monitored and controlled.