Emotion and Meaning in the Musical Experience-part 2

Emotion and Meaning in the Musical Experience-part 2

             What music philosophers sometimes seem to deny is that when music is received by the ears, and its vibrations are actually felt by the auditor, it will then be received by the neurological synapses of the brain causing cognitions will take place. When this material is processed and hence internalized, emotional responses will occur.  When the brain acts (muses) upon this material, the emotional effects caused by this music will either have a positive or negative effect on all who hear it.  As I have often said, no one musics or listens or performs music in a “bubble”.  So, I am drawn to the belief that music always has emotional effects upon the hearer, and that these emotions caused or aroused by the music will affect the hearer.

            Everyone who hears music or performs it brings something to the musicing experience, and everyone takes something away from this music interaction.  So, it is a faulty notion that music cannot affect the emotional state of all who actively or passively experience it.  Therefore, I purport that part of the musicing experience that has effect on all performers and listeners is referential (from outside the formal properties of the music) and some of it is internal (caused by the arrangement of the formal properties of the music itself).  Furthermore, the emotive cognitions that take place as a result of the power that this music exerts over the auditor, have the propensity to help or hinder the spiritual life of all who experience it.