Originally posted by Gleemonex
i don´t think ALL emotions come from the listener. sure, the listener's emotions can make the emotions in the song (if any) more evident or deeper than they are. but to mention Chopin again, i´ve listened to him while in a holly jolly mood and just.. i don´t know what it is, but his music just seems to me to be so sad, i just feel this, i dunno, maybe empathy. maybe just a feeling of knowing there was someone who felt THAT depressed. maybe it has something to do with what Opet said.. maybe it does make me feel good to know that i will never feel as sad as Chopin.
whatever it is, i must say that i´ve just felt like there IS emotion in his music, i´ve felt like i could feel those emotions. that's why i disagreed with what you said D Mullholand, i think there is some music that has emotion.
notice the underlined parts in the quote and see how that correlates with my previous post.
you see, there's a universe of music out there that can't be reduced to a word like "happy" or "sad" - or are you saying that every piece of music you listen to can be reduced to a simple emotion-word? besides, you can't know what emotions Chopin felt when he composed his piano pieces -- the emotions he felt might've put him into a state of inspiration, but the music, once he starts playing/composing, instantly gets a life of its own. you can only know the emotions *you* are feeling, and then you suddenly project them onto the sounds you hear.
Chopin's music is very minor-based, and right now in the Western culture minor tonalities are perceived as "sad". in China or Africa i don't think Chopin's music would have the same "sad" effect. as soon as you go beyond tonality into rhythm-dominated music, or noise, or free improvisation, or atonal music, or just about everything, you won't be able to tell the "emotion" because the emotional responses to such music are not culturally established. what i'm trying to say, that our emotional responses to music are mostly created of two factors:
1. instinctive reaction to sounds which might signal "threat" or "safety" (like, harsh sounds resemble a sabre-tooth tiger and are perceived as "dangerous", as opposite to the sounds of birdsong).
2. cultural responses to certain musics that are ingrained from early childhood.
the mystical idea of emotion in sound doesn't have any rational basis. for me, as i said, when i see/hear immense creativity, i am instantly inspired. when i hear something fake, i'm bored and my attention goes elsewhere.
finally, i never said that music doesn't cause emotions or that emotions are bad. it's good that music makes you feel something, you know, i have an emotional connection to some music too, but these connections usually depend on you being in a certain special mood (caused by an event, or just a thought) at least once when listening to a certain music, and then this mood is associated with that music for many, many following listens.
