Imagined Music in Lives of Music Students-psychology of Music-2007, Vol 35, No 10

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Psychology of Music

DOI: 10.1177/0305735607077834

2007; 35; 555 originally published online Aug 16, 2007;Psychology of MusicFreya Bailes

The prevalence and nature of imagined music in the everyday lives of music students

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The prevalence and nature ofimagined music in the everydaylives of music students

555A R T I C L E

Psychology of Music

Psychology of Music

Copyright

Society for Education, Music

and Psychology Research

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F R E Y A B A I L E SU NI VE RS IT Y O F W ES TE RN S YD NE Y

A B S T R A C T Musical imagery is the experience of imagining music in the minds

ear. A study was conducted to explore the prevalence and nature of musical

imagery for music students in everyday life, using experience-sampling methods

(ESM). As a group, music students reported that imagining music was a very

frequent form of musical experience. Participants reported individual variation

in their imagery experience but also common differences between the strength of

imagery for different musical dimensions. For instance, melody and lyrics were

rated as being more vivid components of the image than timbre and expression.

Another clear pattern was the influence of hearing music on musical imagination,

one indicator being that 58 percent of sampled episodes described having heard

or performed the music recently as a possible reason for currently imagining it.

K E Y W O R D S: everyday music, experience-sampling methods, mental imagery

Introduction

Whether musicians are composing, performing, analysing, reading or

listening to music, the ability to audiate (Walters, 1989) and intentionally

imagine sound is important. Yet comparatively little is known about this

silent dimension of musical experience, the musical image (Bailes, 2002;

Gody and Jrgensen, 2001). Musical imagery can be defined as the experi-

ence of imagining musical sound in the absence of directly corresponding

sound stimulation from the physical environment. While musicians arepresumed to experience musical imagery in their music-specific activities,

they are similarly presumed to experience the more everyday occurrence of

having an involuntary tune on the brain. The idea that musicians are

particularly prone to imagining music reflects a belief that the more an

individual is exposed to particular music in everyday life, the more they

might imagine that music. This connection between music heard and music

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imagined might explain the common experience of having a recentlyperceived musical fragment on the brain.

Little empirical research to date has explored the prevalence of musical

imagery in everyday life, though the function and properties of musical

imagery have begun to form the focus of experimental research conducted in

laboratory settings. For example, Halpern (1988) demonstrated that partic-

ipants could intentionally imagine songs from an early lyric to a later lyric

analogously to the time needed to hear the corresponding portion of music.

Technological advances in neuroscience have allowed for studies of the

neurological similarities and dissimilarities between hearing and imagining

music (Zatorre and Halpern, 1993; Zatorre et al., 1996; Janata, 2001). Other

research has looked at the qualia or characteristic features of the mental

sound experience, ranging from timbre (Crowder, 1989; Pitt and Crowder,1992) to expressive timing (Repp, 2001). Brodsky et al. (2003) examined the

factors that interfere with the accurate imagining of a musical score.

Orchestral musicians were required to match sounded melodies to their

mental image of the well-known melody hidden within a score. Results

suggest that the expert musicians participating in the research varied greatly

in their ability to inwardly hear notated music.

In order to measure the prevalence of musical imagery for musicians

beyond the laboratory setting, be that intentional or unintentional imaging,

it is important to sample experience as it occurs naturally. Accordingly, a

study adapting experience-sampling methods (ESM) was devised by the

author to allow participants to record details about their musical imagery,

current activity, mood and musical environment when contacted by theresearcher at random times throughout the day. The methods in this research

and a discussion of the use of ESM to study musical imagery are described in

Bailes (2006). The work builds on a study by Sloboda et al. (2001), who made

use of ESM to explore musical experience in the everyday life of eight partic-

ipants. North et al. (2004) also used sampling methods, though on a larger

scale (346 respondents), to address similar issues. Neither study focused on

imagining music. Rather, both studies gathered information regarding the

relationship of respondents to their musical environment, and concluded

that hearing music was frequent throughout the day (44% of episodes for

Sloboda et al., 39% for North et al.), and that music was used by participants

to serve different purposes and suit different contexts.

This article follows on from the methodological presentation of the project

in Bailes (2006) to report a summary of the main findings. The project

investigates musical imagery experience in the daily lives of music students.

The data are too extensive to report in full in this article. Rather, the purpose

is to describe early results that raise questions of relevance to an under-

standing of musical imagery. By monitoring the occurrence of the everyday

tune on the brain, we may begin to develop a clearer understanding of its

role in daily life.

556 Psychology of Music 35(4)



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MethodIn the experience-sampling method, participants are cued to provide specific

information at random times throughout the day, during a period of several

days. The method allows respondents to provide an immediate response

rather than a retrospective report, and does not divorce participants from

their current locations and activities.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants were 11 undergraduate and postgraduate music students at the

University of Sheffield, UK (five men and six women).

MATERIALSParticipants were called on their mobile telephone, which they had set to the

silent vibrate mode. As soon as possible after receiving a call, they filled in an

experience-sampling form (ESF), designed to be completed within a few

minutes (see Appendix). In the eventuality that participants were unable to

fill out the form immediately upon hearing the signal, there was space to note

separately the time of the signal and the time of form completion. The ESF

comprised three parts. The first part asked for general information as to the

time of signal, location, activity and the presence of others. The second part

was for completion when participants were actually hearing music. The final

part was for completion when participants were imagining music. Questions

included what music was being imagined, vividness ratings for different

dimensions of the image, self-rating of mood and open questions as topossible reasons for imagining that particular music. Participants were each

provided with 42 ESFs (6 forms 7 days).

PROCEDURE

Participants received random calls between 10:00 am and 10:00 pm each

day, for seven consecutive days. The researcher called the participants one

after another in immediate succession, once within a two-hour block, with a

minimum of 20 minutes and a maximum of three hours and 45 minutes

between each call. At the end of the study, participants were interviewed

about their experiences.

Analysis

Analyses of general trends in imaging, hearing and no music episodes were

based on all 417 completed ESFs. As respondents were asked to provide data

in relation to the time of signal rather than the time of completion, more

detailed analyses of episodes were based on the 350 forms that had been

completed within 30 minutes of the signal (calculated from the researchers

recorded time of call in relation to the participants indicated time of ESF

Bailes: The prevalence and nature of imagined music 557



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completion). This was to avoid overly retrospective data. Results are primarilydescriptions of summary data across all episodes, while ANOVA and chi-

square measures are based on individual participant response, and qualita-

tive analyses refer to open questions on the ESF and post-study interview

feedback.

Results

There was a 90 percent response rate representing a total of 417 completed

ESFs, called episodes. Because experience was sampled randomly through-

out the week, the time participants spent in each musical state of imagining

or hearing could be inferred. Results are shown in Figure 1, where the

category both applies to seven out of 11 respondents who indicated thatthey had simultaneously heard one piece of music while imagining another.

There is great individual variation within this global measure of the

prevalence of imagery. The participant who experienced the least imagery did

so for 12 percent of the time, while one participant reported imagining music

as much as 53 percent of the sampled time.

As Figure 2 illustrates, there was a tendency for the percentage of actually

heard music to increase throughout the day (with only 35% of episodes

involving heard music during the earliest period from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm,

and 59% during the latest period of 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm). The number of

reported imagery episodes remained constant, before dropping to almost half

that number during the final testing period (8:00 pm to 10:00 pm).1 There

was a decrease in the number of no music episodes reported throughout the

day, though these slightly increased in number during the final testing period

(from 12% at 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, to 21% from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm).


F I G U R E 1 Distribution of episodes (N = 417) between the states of hearing music (44%),

imagining music (32%), neither hearing nor imagining music (21%), and both hearing and

imagining music simultaneously (3%). This figure is reproduced with permission from

Bailes (2006).

44%

32%

21%

3% Hearing music

Imagining music

Neither hearing norimagining music

imagining music

Both hearing andimagining music



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The main activity of respondents at the time of the signal was measured.

This was to look for any apparent relationship between activity-type and

musical thought. Responses were subsequently grouped into categories to

include activities as diverse as talking, watching television, listening to music,

rehearsing, buying groceries, sitting, teaching, waiting, eating dinner and

surfing the internet.


0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

10am-

12pm

12pm-

2pm

2pm-4pm 4pm-6pm 6pm-8pm 8pm-

10pm

Heard musicImagery

'No music'

Both Heard and Imagined

10:00 am 12:00 pm 2:00 pm 4:00 pm 6:00 pm 8:00 pm 12:00 pm 2:00 pm 4:00 pm 6:00 pm 8:00 pm 10:00 pm

F I G U R E 2 Graphic representation per two-hour time period of the distribution of reports of

hearing music, imagining music, experiencing no music, or both hearing and imagining music

simultaneously. Data represent the percentage of episodes per time period across the full seven

days of the study. Note that the overall completion of ESFs was not constant throughout the

day (ranging from 66 at 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm, to 74 at 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm).

F I G U R E 3 Frequency of occurrence of different types of activity reported during episodes of

hearing music, imagining music, neither hearing nor imagining music, and both hearing and

imagining music simultaneously.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Interacting

Workin

g

Travelling

Maintenance

Being

Timefiller

Leisu

re(ex.

TV) TV

Leisu

remusic

Music

-making

Other

Hearing

Imaging

Neither

Both



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Figure 3 shows that imagery episodes were most frequent during inter-action with others, with working the second most frequent activity. It is

worth noting that while watching television often involved heard music,

respondents were less likely to be imagining music than experiencing no

music at this time. Activities categorized as time filler (for instance, waiting,

lying in bed) and states of being (for instance, getting up, sitting) were twice

as likely to be accompanied by imagery as by heard music. Travelling is

associated with more imagery than hearing music episodes.

When no music is physically present, the company of other people might

have a bearing on whether an individual is prone to imagine music or is

music-free. A chi-square test for the frequency with which heard, imagery

and no music episodes coincided with the presence of others (see Figure 4)

shows a significantly non-random distribution (2 = 6.29; d.f. = 2;p < .05). Itis noteworthy that the imagery data resemble patterns for heard music more

than those for music-free episodes, occurring more in the presence of others

than alone.

Fifteen percent of all completed ESFs were filled out more than half an

hour later than the time of signal: all these data were discounted for the

purposes of the following more detailed analyses. This left a collection of 350

responses (76% of all possible returns). The following analyses were based

solely on these 350 episodes. Findings are discussed thematically under

characteristics of musical imagery and when and why it occurs.

CHARACTERISTICS OF EVERYDAY MUSICAL IMAGERY

In relation to their musical imagery at the time they were contacted,

participants were asked How aware of the imagined music were you? and

How much were you concentrating on the music? On the whole, respon-

dents were quite aware of the music they imagined (rating above average on


76

51 49

108

78

39

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Heard Imaged No music

Alone

Others

F I G U R E 4 Number of episodes of heard music, imagined music or no music occurring

either in the presence of others or alone.



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a scale between not at all and very much so), though not concentratingparticularly on it (mostly average rating and under). Contrary to the common

belief that music on the brain is an irritant, the music students in this study

mostly stated that they wouldnt wish to be imagining different music, or

even no music at all.

For each imagery episode, vividness ratings were recorded for the musical

dimensions of melody, timbre, harmony, expression, dynamics, texture, lyrics

and physical memory of playing (where appropriate). A mean value for each

dimension per participant was calculated, and these data were analysed with

a one-way ANOVA. Mean ratings between dimensions were significantly dif-

ferent (F7 49 = 5.45; M= 4.16; SD = 0.9;p < .0001) and Figure 5 illustrates

the resultant hierarchy of vivid features (1 = absent, 7 = very vivid), averaged

across all participants.

Standard deviation bars have been included in Figure 5 to give an idea of

the amount of agreement between participants on the vividness of each

dimension. Melody and lyrics are rated as being the most vivid dimensions of

musical imagery. Timbre is less vivid than melody for these respondents. For

those times when the respondent reported having performed the music they

were imagining, the degree to which they imagined a physical memory of

playing was measured. The mean response is 3.7 on a scale from 1 (absent)

to 7 (very sharp), though there was high variability. Most participants were

agreed that expression was not particularly vivid in their imagery. Dynamics

and harmony were rated as being the least vivid components of a musical

image.


1

2

3

4

5

6

7

M el od y L yr ics Ti mb re T ext ure E xp re ssi on P hys ica l

memory

Dynamics Harmony

Meanrating

F I G U R E 5 Mean vividness ratings of dimensions of the musical image, with standard

deviation. The range is from 1 = absent, to 7 = very vivid. Lyrics and a physical memory

of performing were only rated when they formed part of the musical experience. The graph

represents a hierarchy of the strength of musical features experienced in the mental image,

averaged across all respondents.



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The ESF did not include a separate category to measure the vividness ofimagery and perception for rhythm, though one participant was keen to

point out that his imagery was most often centred on this. No respondents

reported an association between the rhythms they perceived or rhythmic

importance and the music they imaged, though this does not rule out an

unconscious association. Also note that this analysis does not take the mus-

ical features of the particular music being imaged into account, and these

can be expected to have an important bearing on the vividness of different

dimensions. For example, a person imagining a piece of atonal music would

be unlikely to imagine a veridical harmonic scheme, and a person imagining

meditation music without a clear beat would be unlikely to report a veridical

rhythmic component.

An open question asked respondents to outline how complete anexperience their imagery was. The majority of episodes describe the image as

a repeated fragment rather than a full mental run-through. Very often the

repeated segment was the chorus of a song. Varying levels of clarity in the

image were sometimes described in this section of the ESF, ranging from

quite hazy to the imagining of baroque instrument timbre. In a couple of

episodes, a spatial location in the head is associated with the image: music is

heard at the back of the mind, or salient elements appear at the front. Multi-

modal aspects of musical imagery are described, such as imagining a score,

imagining the video of a pop song, imagining the physical aspect of getting a

piece right, dancing, and visualizing a specific performer.

The ESF did not take into account the possibility of imagining and hearing

different music simultaneously. Post-experiment interviews checked that allrespondents who did experience this managed to note it down in some form.

When asked what this experience was like, respondents spoke of concen-

tration being shared between both heard and imagined music, and of

multiple layers of awareness. For instance, one participant reported hearing

a particular piece of music passively, but as it was unfamiliar to him he had

continued to imagine some familiar music that he had previously heard.

W HE N A ND W HY M US IC AL I MAG ERY O CC UR S

The possible relationship of mood to imagery was investigated.2 Table 1

presents the overall frequency of mood ratings for all imagery episodes. The

most frequent ratings per mood-pair are highlighted.

Mood-pairs in Table 1 are grouped according to the three primary factors

borrowed from a principal components factor analysis of mood change,

before and after listening to music, from the study by Sloboda et al. (2001).

The factors named by these authors are positivity, present-mindedness and

arousal. Data from the current study do not examine mood change and can

only be viewed as descriptive patterns of mood at the time of imagery

episodes. Nevertheless, respondents reported above average positivity (happy

and relaxed), and arousal (alert and energetic) based on their subjective




10/17

interpretation of the response scales. Present-mindedness as represented

by the scales of interested/bored, involved/detached, and connected/lonely,

received generally neutral ratings.

The ESF did not ask participants to distinguish between voluntary andinvoluntary imaging of music. Consequently, we cannot be sure to what

extent they were experiencing an unintentional tune on the brain, or

intentionally rehearsing or creating music in the mind. Some of the imagined

music was the students own compositions. However, the proportion was

relatively small (eight out of 123 episodes) stemming from the only four

respondents actively composing at the time of the study. Music imagined

covered a large variety of genres. For imagery episodes, a total of 89 different

pieces of music were named, while 18 episodes were unnamed music. For

heard music episodes, 81 different pieces were named, and 103 episodes were

unnamed. A generalized chi-square shows this distribution to be significant

(2 = 41.19; d.f. = 1; p < .0005). On the whole, respondents were able to

name the music they were imagining: this declarative knowledge suggests afairly high level of familiarity with the perceptual source of their imagery.

It seems probable that musicians recently hearing or performing music

would subsequently imagine it. Two questions on the ESF addressed this

question directly. In response to the first question, Had you actually heard

this music since the last time you were contacted? 43 percent replied yes

and 54 percent replied no (3% answers missing). This question only related

back in time to the last call received and it is possible that hearing music less


T A B L E 1 Percentage distribution of ratings per mood-pair during imagery

Very Quite Somewhat Neither Somewhat Quite Very

(%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

Positivity

Happy 11.5 34.4 23.8 20.5 6.6 3.3 0 Sad

Relaxed 9.2 25.8 19.2 20.8 19.2 4.2 1.7 Tense

Present-

mindedness

Interested 9.1 28.1 24 32.2 5 1.7 0 Bored

Involved 9.8 22.8 24.4 22.8 11.4 6.5 2.4 Detached

Connected 11.5 30.3 14.8 35.2 7.4 0.8 0 Lonely

ArousalAlert 9.9 29.8 20.6 13 16.8 6.1 3.8 Relaxed

Energetic 1.7 27.4 26.5 12 18 11.1 3.4 Tired

Note: This table shows the percentage of ratings recorded for each mood pair on the ESF,

collapsed across all imagery episodes. Italicized percentages represent the most common rating

per mood-pair. Mood-pairs are grouped by positivity, present-mindedness and arousal: three

primary factors resulting from a principal components factor analysis of mood change by

Sloboda et al. (2001).



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recently, for example within the last week, might also have an importantinfluence on music imagined. This possibility is accounted for by a second

question, If possible, please explain why you might have been imagining that

particular music, allowing for a more open-ended explanation for the

possible occurrence of particular music. Results in Table 2 have been grouped

according to the category of reason participants offered for imagining

particular music, and relate to the 107 completed responses for this question.

Categories of response include the following: visual trigger, music to be

performed (e.g. preparing it for music department opera), analytical

listening (e.g. working on it at the time), reaction to experiment (e.g. talking

about experiment), person association (e.g. being asked about improvisation

and thinking about someone in particular improvising), heard it, talked

about it (e.g. talking about Pop Idol before I left home), stickiness orautomatic (e.g. tune often in my head), similar to something heard (e.g.

dont know it, but similar to piece Im performing), triggered by the name of

the music, liking the music and nostalgia (e.g. cousin sang it as a child).

Discussion

Does imagining music occur as a result of recently hearing music? This study

has provided data consistent with links between heard and imagined music.

For instance, 43 percent of episodes stated that music had been imagined

since the last time the respondent was contacted, while in response to an

open question, 58 percent of episodes offered having heard or performed the


T A B L E 2 Reasons for imagining the music

Reasons given Frequency

Had heard the music previously 49

Preparing performance/memorizing 21

Talked about the music 6

No idea 6

Analytical listening/studying the music 5

Associated with a person 4Automatic/stickiness 4

Similar to something heard 2

I like the music 2

Reaction to experiment 2

Visual trigger 2

Triggered by hearing the name 1

Nostalgia 1

Other 2

Total 107

Note: Possible reasons for imagining music (107 responses) have been categorized and are

shown alongside their frequency.



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music recently as a possible reason for imagining it. The dependence ofimagery on perception is supported by the significant majority of imagery

episodes as compared with heard music episodes that could be named by res-

pondents; this implies familiarity and repeated perception prior to imagining.

Moreover, attending to particular musical dimensions in listening might have

affected the characteristics of the consequent image for the music students in

this study.

Vividness ratings show that different musical dimensions were reportedly

imaged to a different extent, with melody and song lyrics the most vivid, and

timbre, harmony and expression the least vivid. It is notable that the most

prominent features of the imagery were pitch or word based, demonstrating

the appropriateness of the expression tune on the brain as opposed to music

on the brain. Why are timbre or texture less vivid dimensions of the image?One of the ways in which they differ from melody and lyrics is that while

melody can be sung, the physical limitations of the human voice make it

impossible to reproduce non-vocal timbres and textures. It may be more

difficult to image a very well-known but physically impossible timbre than to

image the timbre of the voice (see also Halpern et al., 2002). As for expres-

sion and dynamics, Snyder (2000) writes that expressive nuance tends to by-

pass long-term memory, as it cannot be categorized as easily as the invariant

structural elements of music such as pitch, though this would not preclude

the generation of expressive nuance at the time of imaging.

What is the role of the tune on the brain? An overview of the most

common activity-type during imagery episodes revealed a surprising pattern,

namely that imagery was most frequent during interaction with others andwork. Intuitively, the active participatory nature of reacting to others and

working might seem to demand a level of concentration likely to suppress

extraneous musical thought. There are known to be optimal levels of arousal

and attention in order to perform tasks of different complexity. Hearing music

is known to have a physiological impact on arousal levels (for a reference on

mood and arousal see Thayer, 1989). It could be speculated that in the

absence of actual music, the generation of imagined music operates to either

self-regulate or to match levels of arousal. This is a potentially important area

for future investigation.

There are reasons to argue that rhythm is a central component to musical

imagery. Future research might explore a relationship between conscious and

unconscious rhythmic triggers of the image, and associations between

arousal level and the rhythmic component of musical imagery. Additional

dimensions of musical imagery mentioned by respondents in the study

include visual, spatial and kinaesthetic properties. It is probable that the

multi-dimensional nature of the musical image differs with respect to a

variety of factors. For example, important areas to explore are the impact on

imagery experience of awareness and concentration when listening to music,

personal musical taste and musical genre.




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In conclusion, this study describes the prevalence of musical imageryexperience for music students for the first time. In the process, it has begun to

reveal a multitude of important issues for future research, ranging from

characteristic sound features of the image, to the conditions of its

occurrence, and ultimately its function in everyday life.

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S

The research reported in this article was presented at the 8th International

Conference on Music Perception & Cognition and was supported by Arts and

Humanities Research Board funding for doctoral research conducted at the University

of Sheffield, UK. I would like to thank Karen Burland, Eric Clarke, Roger Dean, Joy

Ollen, Bruno Repp and an anonymous reviewer for commenting on a previous version

of this manuscript.

N O T E S

1. A chi-square test of the distribution of heard, imagery and no music episodes

across the two final testing periods of 68 pm and 810 pm did not reveal a

statistically significant pattern (2 = 4.37; d.f. = 2;p < 0.2)

2. Due to space limitations on the ESF, no comparative data were gathered regarding

mood during perception and no music episodes. Please refer to Sloboda et al.

(2001) for comparable mood ratings as a function of music listening.

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Appendix: Experience-sampling Form*

Date: _______ Time Contacted: _______ am/pm Time Filled Out: _______ am/pm

As you were contacted, were you hearing any music? YES NO

If YES, please fill out parts A & B of this form with respect to the time you were contacted.

If No, were you imagining any music as you were contacted? YES NO

If YES, please fill out parts A & C of this form with respect to the time you were contacted.

If you were neither hearing nor imagining music at the time you were contacted, please

just fill in Part A with respect to the time you were contacted.

PART A

Where were you? ___________________________________________________________

What was the MAIN thing you were doing? _______________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Who were you with? (Circle as many as are applicable)

Alone Partner Person/people you live with

Family member(s) Friend(s) Professional(s) (e.g. dentist)

Acquaintance(s) Strangers Person/people you work with

If not alone, how many people were you with? __________


* The ESF is reproduced with permission from Bailes (2006).



15/17

PART B (Hearing music)

Where was the music coming from?

Radio TV Walkman PA System (public place)

Record/Tape/CD Concert Busker Rehearsal/Practice

Whistling/Humming Mobile phone Other _____________________________

Can you name the music you were hearing? YES NO

If YES, please name it ________________________________________________________

If NO, please circle all style categories that best describe the music you were hearing.

Dance Contemporary

Pop Chart Classical Opera/vocal

Soul Orchestral

Rock Solo instrument/Chamber

Folk Jazz

Other _________________________________________________________

How much personal choice did you have in hearing the music?

None at all Completely own choice

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Not at all Very much so

How much were you concentrating on the music? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Was the music important to the activity/moment? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Do you wish you had been hearing different music? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Would you have rather not been hearing music? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Was there anything in the music that you found particularly important or noticeable? ____

___________________________________________________________________________

PART C (Imagining music)

For each pair of moods, tick the category that most closely describes the way you felt while

you were imagining music.


Alert Drowsy

Happy Sad




16/17


Lonely Connected

Energetic Tired

Involved Detached

Tense Relaxed

Interested Bored

Was the imagined music your own composition? YES NO

Can you name the music you were imagining? YES NO

If YES, please name it ________________________________________________________

If NO, please circle all style categories that best describe the music you were imagining.

Dance Contemporary

Pop Chart Classical Opera/vocal

Soul Orchestral

Rock Solo instrument/Chamber

Folk Jazz

Other _________________________________________________________

Had you actually heard this music since the last time you were contacted? YES NO

If possible, please explain why you might have been imagining that particular music _____

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Not at all Very much so

How aware of the imagined music were you? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

How much were you concentrating on the music? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Do you wish you had been imagining different music? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Would you have rather not been imagining music? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Was there anything in the music that you found particularly important or noticeable? ___

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________




17/17

Please describe how sharp your mental image of the following musical elements was at thetime you were contacted:

Absent Very sharp

Melody 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Harmony 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Texture 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Timbre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Dynamics 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Lyrics (if applicable) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Expression 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

In the case that you have played this music, please describe how sharp your mental image

of the following was at the time you were contacted:

Absent Very sharp

Physical memory of playing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Please give a brief description of how complete the experience was, e.g. Was the music

playing in your mind as a whole piece? Were you hearing a repeated fragment of it? Was

there a visual or spatial dimension to your musical image ? _________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Are you imagining the same music now? YES NO

If NO, are you imagining different music now? YES NO

If NO, are you actually hearing music now? YES NO

Please write below any additional information or comments about what was happening

and/or how you were feeling when you were imagining the music at the time you were

contacted __________________________________________________________________

F R EYA B A IL E S is currently researching the perception of musical macrostructure and

emotional response to digital music this represents an additional area of interest to

her doctoral and earlier post-doctoral focus on musical imagery. As a researchstudent, Freya was supervised by Professor Eric Clarke at the University of Sheffield.

Since then, she has been the recipient of post-doctoral scholarships allowing her to

work with Emmanuel Bigand in France (20022003) and David Huron in the USA

(20032004). Freya continues to work with Roger Dean, now at MARCS Auditory

Laboratories, following a post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of

Canberra (20042007).

Address: MARCS Auditory Laboratories, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag

1797, Penrith South DC NSW 1797, Australia. [email: [email protected]]


Documents

Imagined Music in Lives of Music Students-psychology of Music-2007, Vol 35, No 10