Musical Emotions Explained

Can music really arouse emotions? If so, what emotions, and how? Based on ground-breaking research, Musical Emotions Explained explores how music expresses and arouses emotions, and how it becomes an object of aesthetic judgments. The book is accessibly written by one of the leading researchers in the field worldwide.

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Can music really arouse emotions? If so, what emotions, and how? Why do listeners respond with different emotions to the same piece of music? Are emotions to music different from other emotions? Why do we respond to fictional events in art as if they were real, even though we know they're not? What is it that makes a performance of music emotionally expressive?

Based on ground-breaking research, Musical Emotions Explained explores how music expresses and arouses emotions, and how it becomes an object of aesthetic judgments. Within the book, Juslin demonstrates how psychological mechanisms from our ancient past engage with meanings in music at multiple levels of the brain to evoke a broad variety of affective states - from startle responses to profound aesthetic emotions. He also explores why these mechanisms respond to music.

Written by one of the leading researchers in the field, the book is richly illustrated with music examples from everyday life, and explains with clarity and rigour the manifold ways in which music may engage our emotions.

Advance praise

Musical Emotions Explained is a magnificent publication that has been painstakingly researched to illuminate the many, varied ways music can express and arouse emotions. It provides the most authoritative single authored text on the topic so far. As a highly readable and informative publication, it superbly unlocks the secrets of musical affect for experienced researchers through to lay readers alike.
Gary E. McPherson, Ormond Chair of Music and Director, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Australia

Anyone who wants to understand more about the most essential quality of music - its ability to move us - needs to read this book. Juslin's writing is gripping and thoughtful as he takes us on a journey through the latest research on this most interesting intersection between science and art.
Daniel J. Levitin, Author of This Is Your Brain on Music and The World in Six Songs.

Music Emotions Explained is a tour de force. In this extraordinary book, written with passion and humor, Patrik Juslin shares insights gleaned from decades of ground-breaking research. Breadth and depth are nicely balanced as grand, over-arching themes are richly supported by systematic and detailed research findings. This book will serve as an inviting introduction to students or interested laypersons but also as a touchstone to which professionals will return frequently for guidance and inspiration.
Donald A. Hodges, Professor Emeritus, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA

Patrik Juslin here deftly synthesizes several decades of psychological research, much of it his own, on how music both expresses emotion and moves us emotionally, in the course of developing an empirically grounded, evolutionarily based, philosophically informed theory of the phenomenon in question, doing so with style and wit. Musical Emotion Explained is wide ranging, engagingly written, full of arresting claims, and studded with telling anecdotes. It is a book that everyone who has ever marveled at the affective power of music should read.
Jerrold Levinson, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland, USA

Musical Emotions Explained is essential reading that sets the new gold standard resource for understanding the delicious pleasures of music experience. Using lucid, witty and compelling arguments, Patrik Juslin illustrates a set of core mechanisms that collectively account for music-evoked emotions. Scholars, general readers and musicians will be inspired by this landmark work, which will stimulate research for decades to come.
Bill Thompson, Distinguished Professor, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

It goes without saying that Patrik Juslin is one of the world's top experts on the science of musical emotion. What this book reveals is that he is a hugely persuasive and accessible interlocutor. It really feels as though one is in conversation with a friend who is thinking issues and arguments through with the reader, step by step. Of course all the important literature is covered, but this is far from a dry literature review. Juslin's book should excite and stimulate layreaders and professional colleagues alike to deepen their understanding of what makes music emotional.
John Sloboda, Research Professor, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London, UK

The best comprehensive and critically explanatory tome to-date on one of the most fascinating and still poorly understood topics in music research, written by the foremost international expert on music and emotion. A treasure for decades to come.
Michael Thaut, Professor of Music, Neuroscience and Rehabilitation Science, University of Toronto, Canada

In Musical Emotions Explained, Patrik Juslin probes and proffers many psychological and philosophical concepts of musical emotions toward unpacking numerous mysteries surrounding the arousal and expression of musical affect. The results of his meticulous research have profound implications for experiencing, creating, valuing, and teaching music. Written with great care and passion, this brilliant book is a must-read for anyone who takes a serious interest in the nature and values of music in people's lives.
David Elliott, Professor of Music and Music Education, New York University, USA

Patrik Juslin has been at the forefront of research into music and emotion for more than 20 years. Adding to what is already an astonishing body of work, this hugely impressive monograph is the culmination of that remarkable programme of research. Witten in an accessible and engaging style, and covering a huge range of perspectives, this is a book that will undoubtedly become a classic in the psychology of music, an indispensable resource for researchers in the field, and a fascinating read for those who may be new to the topic.
Eric Clarke FBA, Heather Professor of Music, University of Oxford, UK