Where Music Takes Us And The Record Reflection Sessions.
- Team Tonic
- Jul 2
- 3 min read
This blog is influenced by the recent 'Record Reflection' sessions I am running as part of Tonic Music's 'Never Mind The Stigma' programme for Music Fans in association with Richer Sounds.
During these very enjoyable 'Record Reflection' sessions we select music and reflect on what it means to us. This can be anything from emotional reactions, nostalgia or simply to change how we feel.
In this area, one of my favourite theories on music listening is ‘The Six Categories’ by Juslin and Vastjfall. These two researchers propose their own framework of mechanisms evoked through music listening. They suggest six categories of brain stem reflex, evaluative conditioning, emotional contagion, visual imagery, episodic memory and musical expectancy as being important factors of how music listening soothes and regulates. These sound complex but I’ll break them down into a more simplified definition.
Brainstem reflex is where the early-stage auditory process hears the music and evokes a response from the listener as we sense an important or urgent event. This could be evoked from a change of tempo, different volumes, lyrical content, basically anything that arouses interest. In a way, this factor could kind of be similar to musical expectancy described later.
Evaluative conditioning describes where the music has been paired repeatedly with a stimuli of positive or negative emotion or experience. This conditioning could be a particular reoccurring time or event that has been accompanied by the same music thus evoking the same emotion when the music is heard. Imagine, if you will, you go into a shop and hear good old Noddy singing, ‘I wish it could be Christmas everyday’... I'm sure that will evoke a mixture of emotions in most of us. Good or bad!
Emotional contagion describes how we can perceive a certain emotional quality to the music that we hear. This factor ties in with the emotional expression of music when it relates to how certain pieces can evoke certain emotions due to the components of the musical piece. This could be slow, rich strings through to sombre arrangements. It describes the ways in which the musical aspects themselves impact us.
Visual imagery is a process where the music evokes a visual image for the listener and subsequently evokes an emotional response. Mental imagery can be generated by musical devices based around harmony, melody or tempo. The classic example of this is the overused Groove Armada track ‘At The River’. It has that dreamy, holiday quality, hence why it is used on every holiday ad, ever (imagine the royalties! - minus the samples)
Episodic memory is the process that links and evokes a particular memory in the listener's life experience. The ability of music to evoke memories has been studied a lot and is a key process of how people use music to connect with past, nostalgic events and also their sense of self identity. It does cross over with emotional contagion but is more linked to how we create these conditions ourselves. I’ve written previously about my nostalgia trips during COVID and how playlists gave me a sense of safety in an unsafe world. Episodic memory describes how time stamps certain experiences, places or people with our own soundtrack. Of course, this can be a little dangerous at times if we have a tendency to get stuck in rumination... so go easy!
The last factor, musical expectancy derives its emotional power from the musical devices being able to set up expectations within the listener. This expectation can be harmonic, rhythmic or any other way that the music violates expectations. Similar to brainstem reflex in a way but more to do with the musical elements themselves. Imagine that big drop in your favourite electronic hit! There’s a reason such cliches have stood the test of time and the kids still go wild!
Next week, I’ll continue looking at how music shapes our brains and can both be a source of good and potentially bad emotional experiences!
Never Mind The Stigma
A series of online album clubs, record reflection sessions and mental health workshops tailored for music fans - supported by Richer Sounds.
Adam Ficek hosts a monthly show 'Tonic Music' on Totally Wired Radio, where he talks to various guests about music and mental health. You can listen again to any of the previous show on the Tonic Music Mixcloud page.
