Aesthetic Experiences With Music

Abstract

This study, which is a replication and extension of earlier research by Paul, examines the correspondence of perceived aesthetic experiences between musicians, in the present investigation, and children, from Paul's previous experiment. As did fourth-grade students ( N = 60) in Paul's earlier study, 56 adult musicians listened to Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43, Variation 18, and used a Continuous Response Digital Interface (CRDI) to simultaneously indicate reactions. Mean group responses were calculated and graphed. Visual analysis of graphs indicates that children did not differ substantially from musicians in their reaction to the excerpt, and correspondence between the two groups, computed using Pearson correlation coefficients, showed a strong positive correlation, r = .87, which was significant at the p < .001 level. These results are consistent with those from previous studies that found little difference in the frequency or magnitude of perceived aesthetic responses between adult musicians and nonmusicians.