Music preferences and listening styles

Abstract

Researches that explore direct relationships between certain types of people and the ways in which they are attracted to the music of particular composers, periods, and types are discussed in this chapter. It focuses upon the use of personality inventories to clarify issues relating to individual differences in listening to different kinds of music. It aims to provide an understanding of the aesthetic experience by clarifying the demands that different types and styles of music make upon listeners, and the nature of their responses. This chapter presents how neurotics tend to be attracted to romantic and emotional styles, whilst stable types lean towards classical styles. Also, the more ‘intellectual’ and restrained a piece of music is, the more likely it attracts introverts, whilst extraverts prefer predictable types. Evidence suggesting that listeners may be divided into two broad but distinct types on the basis of perceptual style is presented as well.