Music: the alchemy of emotions

Lviv Organ Hall. Luhansk Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, conductor - Ivan Ostapovych

It has long been known and scientifically proven that music is capable of evoking various emotions in us, influencing our emotional state, and changing our mood. However, scientists still cannot provide unambiguous answers to the question of how this happens, even though countless studies are conducted and many theories exist

A musical piece, whether vocal or instrumental, is in itself a set of audio information that transmits certain meanings and emotions. But is the emotional impact of music achieved exclusively thanks to the not-fully-decoded magic of notes and tempo-rhythms? Or is it an even more complex process involving external factors?

Every composer, like any of us, is dominated by one emotional state or another at a certain stage of life. A composer is also in a certain mood during the creative process itself, while working on each piece. So, when listening to music, do we feel the composer's own emotional state, or the emotions he consciously tried to convey to us, perhaps while being in a completely different state himself?

Do we sense when a composer writes with the aim of venting their own emotions, feelings, and experiences, and when they work to elicit specific emotions in the listeners?

Let's recall, for example, the Doctrine of Affection from the Baroque period, which stated, among other things, that one musical piece or one part of a large musical work should focus on evoking one single emotion, rather than a whole spectrum (running ahead, I'll say that this may be one of the reasons why Baroque music is perhaps the most capable of harmonizing us)

Are listeners capable of decoding the meanings and emotions embedded in the musical piece by the composer, or is appropriate knowledge and education required for this? Do we perceive music intuitively, based on previous experience, or is this ability naturally inherent in us?.. Does music always evoke in the listener exactly the emotions that the author embedded in it? For example, can a listener understand that the piece is sad, but not feel that sadness at all?.. Moreover, can a listener feel something completely different, something the author doesn't even suspect?..

Let's go further. Does the performer of a musical work influence the effectiveness of communicating the emotions embedded by the composer, and does our perception, decoding, and ability to feel certain emotions depend on the performer?.. Why does Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" performed by Giuliano Carmignola keep hold of us from beginning to end, and even longer, while in another performance it might not evoke any emotions at all?

Do the instruments themselves, their frequency ranges, and their timbres affect their ability to convey and evoke corresponding emotions in us? What about the acoustics of the room, microphones, and other equipment for recording, and later—for reproducing the musical material?

Is that initial emotion capable of "passing" through this entire chain of components and reaching our brain, and even more - reaching our soul?..

And that's not all. Do we, the listeners, always react the same way to musical material? Does our reaction depend on our emotional state in the given period, on today's mood, on emotions immediately preceding the listening experience?

Does our perception of music, decoding, and emotional reactions depend on where, in what atmosphere, and with whom we listen to music?

And does it matter how we listen - live acoustic instruments or electornic ones; Spotify, vinyl record, or CD; headphones, portable or stationary audio system; background listening or deep immersion?..

Does the quality of musical instruments, audio carriers, and audio systems influence our emotional reactions and music's ability to affect our emotional state?

Having a higher musical education, daily discussing sound with the Master, practicing deep listening myself, with the Master, and our guests, being interested in the topic of music's emotional impact for the last few years, and reading a mass of literature, my knowledge is still very superficial, and the number of questions that arise is always greater than the number of answers

I fear I won't have time to get to the bottom of the matter in this life... Well, I'll be a researcher in the next one. Only, perhaps, it won't be marketing anymore, but the search for ways to harmonize people using music...