Groove Experience: Emotional and Physiological Responses to Groove-Based Music

2009

Theories of music and emotion suggest that subjective affective experience and physiological arousal are elicited by anticipation of musical-structural events. However, little is known about to what extent groove-based music elicits such expectancies, and consequently how it is experienced. Due to the repetitiveness of the groove, it was hypothesised that microtiming in groove might facilitate a type of arousal that is not peak-based, but rather reflects the groove state of listening, which has been conceptualized as a steady mental state in synchronization with the music. An initial qualitative interview study with three groove-based music producers and musicians investigated the subjectiv…