Aesthetic Response to Music: Musicians versus Nonmusicians

This study represents five separate studies comparing music majors with nonmusic majors in self-defined aesthetic response to various musical selections from the Western art tradition. Five different groups of musicians and nonmusicians responded to selections from Puccini's La Bohème, R. Strauss' Death and Transfiguration, G. Holst's First Suite in E♭ for Military Sand, Haydn's Symphony #104, and Mozart's Vesperae Solennes de Confessore in C Major. All subjects used the Continuous Response Digital Interface (CRDI) to track aesthetic responsiveness. Questionnaires administered after the listening experience asked subjects to indicate whether or not each had an aesthetic response and to assess the magnitude of this response in comparison to other similar music listening experiences. Neither the frequency nor magnitude of subjects' perceived aesthetic experiences was different for musicians and nonmusicians. All subjects differentiated across the various selections, indicating relatively higher and lower aesthetic interest at various points within the music. Analyses of graphs indicated that musicians do not differ substantially from nonmusicians in aesthetic responsiveness.