The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of transitional elements on listeners' aesthetic responses. Participants (N = 81) viewed an excerpt of a choral performance while manipulating a Continuous Response Digital Interface to record their aesthetic responses. Participants in one group viewed the original choral performance, which…

The purpose of the present investigation was to investigate music students' tempo changes of a soloist's performance in an excerpt from Mozart's "Concerto No. 1 in D Major for Horn and Orchestra." We then compared the composite rubato pattern to tendencies found in a previous investigation using Mozart's "Concerto No. 2 in E[flat] Major for Horn…

Attention to subtle changes in music, whether inadvertent or purposeful, occupies a great deal of practice and rehearsal time for the performer. Regardless of the extremely subtle acoustic changes that have been found to be perceptible within almost all studies, it is the total overall effect that most occupies the individual listener. This study…

The purpose of this study was to investigate listener discrimination of orchestral performances and to ascertain focus of listener attention to technical and expressive music elements of those performances. High School (n = 84) and University (n = 84) music students listened to four orchestral excerpts: two slow/soft excerpts and two fast/loud…

The purpose of the present study was to investigate aspects of vibrato performance among high school and university string players. The main questions were to determine whether students consistently initiate vibrato in an upward or downward direction and whether players vibrate continuously when performing slurs. Forty high school and university…

Reports on a study that investigated possible effects of visual information on non-music students' cognitive responses to music. One group rated the affective response of musical excerpts from the film "Fantasia" without the accompanying video while another rated the excerpts with the video. Reveals little significant difference between…

Compares the effects of different kinds of visual presentations, and music alone, on university nonmusic students' affective and cognitive responses to music. Separate groups of students listened to classical music excerpts, either by themselves, or with video accompaniment. They rated the music on Likert-type scales and responded to open-ended…