Abstract
Suggestions for basic emotional music excerpts in the western art music repertoire were collected through a survey that was sent to about 500 music professionals. A total of 78 music excerpts were then tested in the listening experiments 1 (n = 44) and 2 (n = 55), considering emotional quality and intensity, and the topological organization of the music excerpts in the basic emotion dimensions (i.e. joy, sadness, anger, fear, surprise and disgust) was examined using Kohonen’s neural network. The results suggest that, in general, the basic emotions can be considered as distinct emotional dimensions in music. Joy and sadness seem to be easier to express and recognize than fear, anger and surprise. The participants’ level of music education or other background factors had no effect on emotional or intensity judgments. The results also suggest that the emotional connotations in modern music are not so well established as in music that is more tonal (i.e. Baroque, Classical, and Romantic).
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