Peak Experiences with Electronic Dance Music

2019

This paper investigates the role of musical features in shaping peak-pleasurable experiences of electronic dance music (EDM). Typically, large structural and dynamic changes occur in an EDM track, which can be referred to as the break routine, consisting of breakdown, build-up, and drop. Twenty-four participants listened to four EDM excerpts featuring break routines, and one excerpt without a break routine. Measures were taken of skin conductance, self-reported affect, and embodied aspects of subjective experience, and incidence of pleasant bodily sensations. Participants reported intense affective experience with EDM despite being removed from the club context, and attributed this experien…