Dropping the bass: The relationship between heart rate and expectation in electronic dance music (A preliminary report)
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Date
2021-12-16
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ohio State University. Libraries
Abstract
The relationship between musical expectation and physiological stress has been examined with increasing frequency in recent years (Huron, 2006; Tarr, et al. 2016). Stress induced from either an unexpected musical event can be studied through the measurement of heart rate (Steinbeis et al., 2006). Previous studies have focused on the interaction between global features (e.g., beat subdivision and pitch height) and stress (Liu, et al. 2018), while others have found no effect of local harmonic violations on heart rate (Steinbeis et al., 2006) and little effect of rhythmic entrainment (Mütze, Kopiez, & Wolf, 2020). More research is needed that focuses on the relationship between predictors of stress through local textural and rhythmic features inherent in musical genres. This study examines the role of specific musical and stylistic features on heart rate. Specifically, we examined elements of electronic dance music (EDM), including fulfilled and avoided "bass drops", defined as a climax of beat subdivision and pitch height which acts as a resolution for the musical phrase. Due to COVID-19, the data collection for this study is still ongoing, although we hypothesize that musical markers of stress, such as the avoidance of bass drops, are positively correlated with a heart rate.
Description
Keywords
Heart rate, stress, electronic dance music, EDM, musical expectation
Citation
Future Directions of Music Cognition (2021), pp. 102-104