Musical experience: musical process, emotion and meaning

Abstract

This thesis aims to indicate the crucial link between musical processes and the emotion and meaning we get. Every musical experience arises from the expectations, which are shaped through listening. The expectations in the listener can be formed through harmonic, rhythmic or dynamic processes in a piece of music. More, each musical style and musical form compromise different compositional possibilities and an experienced listener is affected by the tendencies. The way those expectations in the listeners fulfilled and actualised is the reason we have musical emotions and also meanings associated. Through listening to a piece of music one can feel the tension and resolution, and other more complicated feelings. Those are the keys lead to musical experiences and also musical appreciation. By giving examples and presenting central claims regarding the issue, this thesis will defend the existence of musical emotions due to musical expectations and the way they are satisfied through musical processes.