https://youtu.be/WIEpk_A9SSI A reprise of the talk I gave with Cynthia Liem at ISMIR 2016, based on this paper: Demetriou, A., Larson, M., & Liem, C. C. GO WITH THE FLOW: WHEN LISTENERS USE MUSIC AS TECHNOLOGY.

1. Go With the Flow:
When Listeners Use Music as
Technology
“Illustration of a red heart isolated on a transparent background” by pixabella / CC0 1.0 “Ear-phones Headphone” by pixabay / CC0 1.0
Andrew Demetriou
andrew.m.demetriou@gmail.com

2. “Music Technology”
“Headphones” by Sascha Kohlmann / CC BY 2.0
1. devices
2. ways to access music
3. ways to produce music

3. “Music As Technology”
“Headphones” by Sascha Kohlmann / CC BY 2.0
technology
“A manner of accomplishing a task
especially using technical processes,
methods, or knowledge…”
merriam-webster.com

4. “Music As Technology”
(DeNora, 1999)
“Headphones” by Sascha Kohlmann / CC BY 2.0
1. vary by activity
2. change internal states
3. awareness of effects of specific songs

5. “Paris metro line 4 at Châtelet during evening rush hour” by
Minato-Ku/ CC BY-SA 4.0
“Laundry” by Mei Carola CC by 2.0
"Fit Approach" by 60CC by 2.0“Studying” by Cesar Sueto CC by 2.0 “Couch Potatos” by judecat CC by 2.0
Music as Accompaniment

6. Music as Accompaniment
1hr active listening
vs. 2-4 hrs passive listening
(Kamalzadeh, Baur & Möller, 2012)
less than 2% active listening
(Sloboda, O’Neil & Ivaldi, 2001)
11.6% active listening
(North, Hargreaves & Hargreaves, 2004)
“Paris metro line 4 at Châtelet during evening rush hour” by Minato-Ku/ CC BY-SA 4.0

7. Music as a Psychological Tool
(North, Hargreaves & Hargreaves, 2004;
Sloboda, O’Neill & Ivaldi, 2001;
DeNora 1999)
1. arousal
2. mood
3. emotion
“Portret van een man” by Gert Germeraad / CC BY-SA 3.0

8. Music as a Psychological Tool
“Portret van een man” by Gert Germeraad / CC BY-SA 3.0
Preference for tailored playlists
(Kamalzadeh, Baur & Möller, 2012)
Greater positive effects
(North, Hargreaves & Hargreaves, 2004))
Present-mindedness and arousal
(Sloboda, O’Neill & Ivaldi, 2001)

9. Music as a Psychological Tool
“Portret van een man” by Gert Germeraad / CC BY-SA 3.0
Music has specific features that affect
us in specific ways
This allows for optimization based on
the goals of an activity

10. “Ear-phones Headphone” by pixabay / CC0 1.0
The Many Effects of Music
• Brain stem responses
• Rhythmic entrainment
• Evaluative conditioning
• Contagion
• Visual imagery
• Episodic memory
• Musical expectancy
• Aesthetic judgment
BRECVEMA model (Juslin, 2013)

11. The Many Effects of Music
Brain stem responses
• Loud
• Sudden
• Low Frequency
• Dissonant
BRECVEMA model (Juslin, 2013)
“Brain Human Brain” by pixabay / CC0 1.0

12. “Flow”
• Complete focus
• Balance of skill and challenge
• Intrinsically rewarding
• Loss of sense of self
• Loss of sense of time
(see Nakamura, & Csikszentmihalyi, 2004)
“Challenge vs. skill, showing ’flow’ region” by Oliver Beatson / CC BY-SA 3.0

13. Flow and the Brain
Synchronization of attentional and
reward networks
“Brain Human Brain” by pixabay / CC0 1.0
(Weber, Tamborini, Westcott-Baker, & Kantor 2009)
services using audio to reduce brain
stem responses:
• focus@will
• brain.fm

14. Beyond
Love at First Listen
“Illustration of a red heart isolated on a transparent background” by
pixabella / CC0 1.0
“Ear-phones Headphone” by pixabay / CC0 1.0

15. References
Demetriou, A., Larson, M., & Liem, C. C. GO WITH THE FLOW: WHEN LISTENERS USE MUSIC AS TECHNOLOGY.
DeNora, T.: “Music as a technology of the self.” Poetics, 27(1), 31–56, 1999.
Juslin P. N.: “From everyday emotions to aesthetic emotions: Towards a unified theory of musical emotions,” Physics of Life Reviews, 10(3), 235-266,
2013.
Kamalzadeh, M., Baur, D., & Möller, T.: “A Survey on Music Listening and Management Behaviours,” Proceedings of the 17th ISMIR Conference, New York
City, USA, August 7-11, 2016 297 13th Int. Society for Music Information Retrieval Conference (ISMIR’12), pp. 373–378, 2012.
Nakamura, J., & Csikszentmihalyi, M.: “The Concept of Flow,” In J. S. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Flow and the Foundations of Positive Psychology, 239–
263. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.
North, A. C., Hargreaves, D. J., & Hargreaves, J. J.: “Uses of Music in Everyday Life,” Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 22(1), 41– 77, 2004.
Sloboda, J. A, O’Neill, S. A. & Ivaldi, A.: “Functions of music in everyday life: an exploratory study using the experience sampling method,” Musicae
Scientiae, 5(1), 9–32, 2001.
Weber, R., Tamborini, R., Westcott-Baker, A., & Kantor, B.: “Theorizing flow and media enjoyment as cognitive synchronization of attentional and reward
networks,” Communication Theory, 19(4), 397–422, 2009.