All That Jazz

Traditional Irish music and modern pop-rock band ‘The Corrs’—sadly, sadly not performing anymore—have touched the hearts of listeners from all over the world. In one of their live acoustic sessions, the pianist makes a mistake in the last note, hence producing tension that was left unresolved. The guitarist jokes about it by uttering, “Jazz.”

They say that this kind of music is the hardest to appreciate. I wouldn’t be surprised, since it’s also one of the most difficult to learn. Progressions are not easily detected, and the randomness of sounds is usually taken by many musicians as an excuse to make mistakes. Different genres have had their share of the research limelight. There is the Mozart Effect for classical, and associated aggression and violence for Hip Hop. What about jazz and people’s perceptions of it?

No, not this Jazz.

Gridley (2009) studied the interaction between music and emotions, particularly anger. The Spielberger Trait Anger Test was administered to 287 undergraduates of the Cleveland State University. After that, a jazz saxophone improvisation was played to them, and after listening, they were asked asked to rate its emotion. Results showed that students who rated the recording as angry had a significantly higher trait anger score than those who rated it as friendly. The correlation between listener perceptions of anger in the sax solo and listener scores on the trait anger inventory was small, but significant.

These findings suggest that it is the personality that heavily influences our emotions, which further influences our perceptions on music. In other words, a sanguine personality is likely to rate the recording as less sad than the melancholic ones. Other components of personality could be considered too. In the Big Five for example, those higher in agreeableness are expected to have the least angry ratings. Either way, the influence of jazz per se remains varied; its emotional content ambiguous due to individual differences.

Or are you not a fan? 

Jazz interests me nonetheless because it's unpredictable. I'm not exactly an enthusiast, but I believe that over time, it could make us perceive things that no other genre can. But for now, we just conclude that it isn’t dependable in expressing emotions. Maybe that’s why it isn’t as mainstream as the rest. The serenading suitor would probably stick to ballads or movie themes to woo his loved one, especially if he don’t wanna wake up alone anymore. Still believing you'd walk through my door. All I need to know is... (you do know the lyrics to this, right?)

Source: Gridley, M. (2009). Trait anger and music perception. Creativity Research Journal, 21(1), 134-137.