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The influence of music on young children

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Nederlandse vlag Nederlands

couple Is it the music in itself?

Music expresses emotions and it excites emotions in the listener. There is a difference. You can think that a piece of music sounds sad, but it can make you feel happy anyway, because it is played so well. Feelings that are expressed in music and feelings that music excites are not always the same.

Music induces emotions.

What are emotions? The words "feelings" and "emotions" are almost exchangeable in daily use. "Feelings" refers to how we experience things internally. But when the word "emotion" is used, it also includes physical reactions on an event. For instance music literally can give you goose bumps or make your heart rate go up. What emotions are there? Psychologists make a distinction between basic emotions and complex emotions. A basic emotion fulfils at least the following conditions:

How many basic emotions are there? Generally there is agreement on the next four: Happiness, sadness, anger and fear. Of course music also induces more complex emotions. For instance do we feel longing, nostalgia and even pride when we listen to music.

Music expresses emotions.

What can music express? Some think that music just expresses music, nothing else. They say that music is "absolute". Others think that music can refer to other things. In music a story can develop. Music can express a mood, a feeling, an atmosphere. They say that music is "referential".

Usually others notice if we are happy, sad, angry or afraid. We express it by means of our body language (movements), our facial expression and our voice. One could say that those basic emotions are expressed in a similar way in music, for example by the musical form, pitch, tempo or volume:

But is anger expressed in the same way as fear, musically? No it isn't. Will you be angry or afraid if the music sounds that way? If you want to know more about it, go to page: Music on prescription?

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