As I have previously posted regarding the course that I am following on orchestral composition, the current module has been regarding telling stories with music.
An important part of this is evoking different feelings and emotions in the listener be that a feeling of suspense, happiness, sadness, loss, or whatever.
The trouble that I often experience is defining what emotion I need to represent, and the fact that there often seems to be a multitude of different emotions that could express a certain situation or event.
Sometimes it feels like there is no single emotion or feeling that will do and it needs to be a combination of different emotions that would evoke the kind of feeling that would fully express or describe the situation.
To try and improve my emotional senses in this respect I have a book (paid link) Musical Emotions Explained by Patrik N. Juslin. I am not sure how useful this will be, but I am about to start reading it and see if I can become more enlightened on musical emotions. Perhaps I should have started reading it before getting to the final assignment of the module.
At nearly 600 pages it looks to be comprehensive, but I am not sure whether it will be more on the psychological side of things than I need, rather than what I really need which is a roadmap to the expression of emotions in music. Either way I am sure it will be a beneficial read.
The main sections are:
- Introduction
- Expression and Perception of Emotion
- Arousal of Emotion
- Aesthetic Judgement
I am sure that I will learn a lot from it. It is really a matter of whether it is of tangible use or more of a nice to have knowledge case.
I shall write a review once I have completed it.
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