Go With the Flow: When Listeners Use Music as Technology

“Illustration of a red heart isolated on a transparent background” by pixabella / CC0 1.0 “Ear-phones Headphone” by pixabay / CC0 1.0

Andrew Demetriouandrew.m.demetriou@gmail.com

“Music Technology”

“Headphones” by Sascha Kohlmann / CC BY 2.0

1. devices2. ways to access music3. ways to produce music

“Music As Technology”

“Headphones” by Sascha Kohlmann / CC BY 2.0

technology

“A manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge…”merriam-webster.com

“Music As Technology”

(DeNora, 1999)

“Headphones” by Sascha Kohlmann / CC BY 2.0

1. vary by activity2. change internal states3. awareness of effects of specific

songs

“Paris metro line 4 at Châtelet during evening rush hour” by Minato-Ku/ CC BY-SA 4.0

“Laundry” by Mei Carola CC by 2.0

"Fit Approach" by 60CC by 2.0“Studying” by Cesar Sueto CC by 2.0 “Couch Potatos” by judecat CC by 2.0

Music as Accompaniment

Music as Accompaniment1hr active listeningvs. 2-4 hrs passive listening (Kamalzadeh, Baur & Moller, 2012)

less than 2% active listening(Sloboda, O’Neil & Ivaldi, 2001)

11.6% active listening(North, Hargreaves & Hargreaves, 2004)

“Paris metro line 4 at Châtelet during evening rush hour” by Minato-Ku/ CC BY-SA 4.0

Music as a Psychological Tool

(North, Hargreaves & Hargreaves, 2004; Sloboda, O’Neill & Ivaldi, 2001; DeNora 1999)

1. arousal2. mood3. emotion

“Portret van een man” by Gert Germeraad / CC BY-SA 3.0

Music as a Psychological Tool

“Portret van een man” by Gert Germeraad / CC BY-SA 3.0

Preference for tailored playlists(Kamalzadeh, Baur & Moller, 2012)

Greater positive effects(North, Hargreaves & Hargreaves, 2004))

Present-mindedness and arousal(Sloboda, O’Neill & Ivaldi, 2001)

Music as a Psychological Tool

“Portret van een man” by Gert Germeraad / CC BY-SA 3.0

Music has specific features that affect us in specific ways

This allows for optimization based on the goals of an activity

“Ear-phones Headphone” by pixabay / CC0 1.0

The Many Effects of Music• Brain stem responses• Rhythmic entrainment• Evaluative conditioning• Contagion• Visual imagery• Episodic memory• Musical expectancy• Aesthetic judgmentBRECVEMA model (Juslin, 2013)

The Many Effects of MusicBrain stem responses

• Loud• Sudden• Low Frequency• DissonantBRECVEMA model (Juslin, 2013)

“Brain Human Brain” by pixabay / CC0 1.0

“Flow”• Complete focus• Balance of skill and

challenge• Intrinsically rewarding• Loss of sense of self• Loss of sense of time

(see Nakamura, & Csikszentmihalyi, 2004)

“Challenge vs. skill, showing ’flow’ region” by Oliver Beatson / CC BY-SA 3.0

Flow and the BrainSynchronization of attentional and reward networks

“Brain Human Brain” by pixabay / CC0 1.0

(Weber, Tamborini, Westcott-Baker, & Kantor 2009)

services using audio to reduce brain stem responses:• focus@will• brain.fm

Beyond Love at First Listen

“Illustration of a red heart isolated on a transparent background” by pixabella / CC0 1.0

“Ear-phones Headphone” by pixabay / CC0 1.0

ReferencesDemetriou, A., Larson, M., & Liem, C. C. GO WITH THE FLOW: WHEN LISTENERS USE MUSIC AS TECHNOLOGY.

DeNora, T.: “Music as a technology of the self.” Poetics, 27(1), 31–56, 1999.

Juslin P. N.: “From everyday emotions to aesthetic emotions: Towards a unified theory of musical emotions,” Physics of Life Reviews, 10(3), 235-266, 2013.

Kamalzadeh, M., Baur, D., & Moller, T.: “A Survey on Music Listening and Management Behaviours,” Proceedings of the 17th ISMIR Conference, New York City, USA, August 7-11, 2016 297 13th Int. Society for Music Information Retrieval Conference (ISMIR’12), pp. 373–378, 2012.

Nakamura, J., & Csikszentmihalyi, M.: “The Concept of Flow,” In J. S. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Flow and the Foundations of Positive Psychology, 239–263. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.

North, A. C., Hargreaves, D. J., & Hargreaves, J. J.: “Uses of Music in Everyday Life,” Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 22(1), 41– 77, 2004.

Sloboda, J. A, O’Neill, S. A. & Ivaldi, A.: “Functions of music in everyday life: an exploratory study using the experience sampling method,” Musicae Scientiae, 5(1), 9–32, 2001.

Weber, R., Tamborini, R., Westcott-Baker, A., & Kantor, B.: “Theorizing flow and media enjoyment as cognitive synchronization of attentional and reward networks,” Communication Theory, 19(4), 397–422, 2009.