Absorbed concert listening: a qualitative, phenomenological inquiry

Lists

Høffding, Simon, Haswell-Martin., Remy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3473-6249 and Nielsen, Nanette (2025) Absorbed concert listening: a qualitative, phenomenological inquiry. Philosophies, 10 (2). pp. 38-60. ISSN 2409-9287

Preview

PDF (PDF/A)
Absorbed Concert Listening_accessible.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (713kB) | Preview

Official URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10020038

Abstract

This paper pursues a phenomenological investigation of the nature of absorbed listening in Western, classical music concert audiences. This investigation is based on a data-set of 16 in-depth phenomenological interviews with audience members from three classical concerts with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra conducted in spring 2024. We identify seven major themes, namely “sharedness”, “attention”, “spontaneous thought/mental imagery”, “modes of listening” “absorption”, “distraction”, and “strong emotional experiences”, and interpret these in light of relevant ideas in phenomenology, cognitive psychology, and ecological aesthetics, more precisely “passive synthesis” from Husserl, the “sense of agency” from Gallagher, and “mind surfing” from Høffding, Nielsen, and Laeng. We show that, like absorbed musical performance, absorbed musical listening comes in many shapes and can be grasped as instantiating variations of passive synthesis, the sense of agency, and mind surfing. We conclude that absorbed listening circles around a kind of paradox of passivity, characterised by a sense of loss of egoic control arising from particular forms of invested, intensive perceptual, cognitive, and affective engagement.

Item Type:	Article
Identifier:	10.3390/philosophies10020038
Keywords:	live concert listening; musical absorption; passive synthesis; sense of agency; mind surfing; phenomenological interviews; concert research
Subjects:	Performing arts > Music concerts Philosophy
Related URLs:	Publisher
Depositing User:	Remy Haswell-Martin.
Date Deposited:	01 Apr 2025 08:27
Last Modified:	01 Apr 2025 08:30
URI:	https://repository.uwl.ac.uk/id/eprint/13406
Sustainable Development Goals:	Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Actions (login required)

View Item

References

Gallagher, S.; Zahavi, D. The Phenomenological Mind: An Introduction to Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science; Routledge: London, UK; New York, NY, USA, 2008.

Høffding, S.; Martiny, K. Framing a Phenomenological Interview: What, Why and How. Phenomenol. Cogn. Sci. 2016, 15, 539–564.

Husserl, E. Experience and Judgment; Northwestern University Press: Evanston, IL, USA, 1973.

Husserl, E. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy: Second Book Studies in the Phenomenology of Constitution; Springer: Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1990.

Husserl, E. Analyses Concerning Passive and Active Synthesis: Lectures on Transcendental Logic; Springer: Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2001; Volume 9.

Gallagher, S. How the Body Shapes the Mind; Clarendon Press: Oxford, UK; New York, NY, USA, 2005.

Høffding, S.; Nielsen, N.; Laeng, B. Mind surfing: Attention in musical absorption. Cogn. Syst. Res. 2024, 83, 101180.

Genuisas, S. Absorption, as a Theme in Phenomenology. In Encyclopedia of Phenomenology; de Warren, N., Toadvine, T., Eds.; Springer Nature: Cham, Switzerland, 2023.

Clarke, E.F. Ways of Listening: An Ecological Approach to the Perception of Musical Meaning; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 2005.

Clarke, E. Music perception and musical consciousness. In Music and Consciousness: Philosophical, Psychological, and Cultural Perspectives, 1st ed.; Clarke, D., Clarke, E., Eds.; 2011 online ed.; Oxford Academic: Oxford, UK, 2012.

Clarke, E.F. What does musicking afford? Ecol. Psychol. 2024, 36, 56–68.

Krueger, J. Enacting Musical Experience. J. Conscious. Stud. 2009, 16, 98–123.

Krueger, J. Affordances and the Musically Extended Mind. Front. Psychol. 2013, 4, 1–13.

Krueger, J. Music as Affective Scaffolding. In Music and Consciousness 2. Worlds, Practices, Modalities; Herbert, R., Clarke, D., Clarke, E., Eds.; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 2019; pp. 55–70.

Leman, M. Music, gesture, and the formation of embodied meaning. In Musical Gestures; Leman, M., Godøy, R.I., Eds.; Routledge: London, UK, 2010; pp. 138–165.

Leman, M.; Maes, P.J. The role of embodiment in the perception of music. Empir. Musicol. Rev. 2014, 9, 236–246.

DeNora, T. Music in Everyday Life; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 2000.

Herbert, R. Absorption and openness to experience: An everyday tale of traits, states, and consciousness changes with music. In Music and Consciousness 2: Worlds, Practices, Modalities; Herbert, R., Clarke, D., Clarke, E., Eds.; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 2019; pp. 223–253.

Pitts, S.E.; Price, S.M. Are you being engaged? Exploring the limits of audience capacity for engagement. J. Audience Recept. Stud. 2021, 18, 266–273.

Pitts, S.E.; Price, S.M. The benefits and challenges of large-scale qualitative research. In Routledge Companion to Audiences and the Performing Arts; Reason, M., Connor, L., Johanson, K., Walmsley, B., Eds.; Routledge: London, UK, 2022; pp. 343–354.

Dearn, L.K.; Pitts, S.E. (Un)popular music and young audiences. Exploring the classical chamber music concert from the perspective of young adult listeners. J. Pop. Music Educ. 2017, 1, 43–62.

Toelle, J.; Sloboda, J.A. The audience as artist? The audience’s experience of participatory music. Music. Sci. 2021, 25, 67–91.

Wald-Fuhrmann, M.; Egermann, H.; Czepiel, A.; O’Neill, K.; Weining, C.; Meier, D.; Tschacher, W.; Uhde, F.; Toelle, J.; Tröndle, M. Music listening in classical concerts: Theory, literature review, and research program. Front. Psychol. 2021, 12, 638783.

Tröndle, M. (Ed.) Classical Concert Studies; Routledge: New York, NY, USA, 2021.

Tschacher, W.; Greenwood, S.; Ramakrishnan, S.; Tröndle, M.; Wald-Fuhrmann, M.; Seibert, C.; Weining, C.; Meier, D. Audience synchronies in live concerts illustrate the embodiment of music experience. Sci. Rep. 2023, 13, 14843. [PubMed]

Lange, E.; Zweck, F.; Sinn, P. Microsaccade-rate indicates absorption by music listening. Conscious. Cogn. 2017, 55, 59–78. [PubMed]

Vroegh, T. Zoning-in or tuning-in? Identifying distinct absorption states in response to music. Psychomusicol. Music Mind Brain 2019, 29, 156–170.

Small, C. Musicking: The meanings of Performing and Listening; Wesleyan University Press: Middletown, CT, USA, 1998.

Beilock, S.L.; Carr, T.H. On the Fragility of Skilled Performance: What Governs Choking Under Pressure? J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 2001, 130, 701.

Christensen, W.; Sutton, J.; McIlwain, D. Putting Pressure on Theories of Choking: Towards an Expanded Perspective on Breakdown in Skilled Performance. Phenomenol. Cogn. Sci. 2015, 14, 253–293.

Gallagher, S. Phenomenology and Experimental Design: Toward a Phenomenologically Enlightened Experimental Science. J. Conscious. Stud. 2003, 10, 85–99.

Merleau-Ponty, M. Phenomenology of Perception; Routledge: London, UK; New York, NY, USA, 2004.

Bertinetto, A. Parker’s mood. Emotional atmospheres and musical expressiveness in jazz. Studi Di Estet. 2019, 14, 23–41.

Di Stefano, N. Musical emotions and timbre: From expressiveness to atmospheres. Philosophia 2023, 51, 2625–2637.

Høffding, S.; Roald, T. Passivity in Aesthetic Experience: Husserlian and Enactive Perspectives. J. Aesthet. Phenomenol. 2019, 6, 1–20.

Høffding, S. A Phenomenology of Musical Absorption; Palgrave Macmillan: Hampshire, UK, 2019.

Levenson, R.W.; Ekman, P.; Ricard, M. Meditation and the Startle Response: A Case Study. Emotion 2012, 12, 650–658.

Seli, P.; Kane, M.J.; Smallwood, J.; Schacter, D.L.; Maillet, D.; Schooler, J.W.; Smilek, D. Mind-Wandering as a Natural Kind: A Family-Resemblances View. Trends Cogn. Sci. 2018, 22, 479–490. [PubMed]

Lavie, N. Distracted and confused: Selective attention under load. TRENDS Cogn. Sci. 2005, 9, 75–82. [PubMed]

Swarbrick, D.; Martin, R.; Høffding, S.; Nielsen, N.; Vuoskoski, J.K. Audience Musical Absorption: Exploring Attention and Affect in the Live Concert Setting. Music Sci. 2024, 7.

Giorgi, A. The Descriptive Phenomenological Method in Psychology: A Modified Husserlian Approach; Duquesne University Press: Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 2009.

Køster, A.; Fernandez, A.V. Investigating modes of being in the world: An introduction to Phenomenologically grounded qualitative research. Phenomenol. Cogn. Sci. 2023, 22, 149–169.

Ravn, S. Integrating qualitative research methodologies and phenomenology—Using dancers’ and athletes’ experiences for phenomenological analysis. Phenomenol. Cogn. Sci. 2023, 22, 107–127.

Smith, J.A.; Flowers, P.; Larkin, M. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: Theory, Method and Research, 1st ed.; Sage: Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2009.

van Manen, M. Researching Lived Experience: Human Science for an Action Sensitive Pedagogy; SUNY Press: New York, NY, USA, 2010.

Zahavi, D. Phenomenology: The Basics; Routledge: London, UK, 2019.

Zahavi, D. Applied phenomenology: Why it is safe to ignore the epoché. Cont. Philos. Rev. 2021, 54, 259–273.

Brinkmann, S.; Kvale, S. InterViews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing, 3rd ed.; Sage: Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2014.

Hammersley, M.; Atkinson, P. Ethnography: Principles in Practice; Routledge: London, UK; New York, NY, USA, 2007.

Høffding, S.; Martiny, K.; Roepstorff, A. Can we trust the phenomenological interview? Metaphysical, epistemological, and methodological objections. Phenomenol. Cogn. Sci. 2021, 21, 33–51.

Martiny, K.M. How to develop a phenomenological model of disability. Med. Health Care Philos. 2015, 18, 553–565.

Legrand, D.; Ravn, S. Perceiving Subjectivity in Bodily Movement: The Case of Dancers. Phenomenol. Cogn. Sci. 2009, 8, 389–408.

Olive, J.L. Reflecting on the tension between emic and etic perspectives in life history research: Lessons learned. Forum Qual. Soc. Res. 2014, 15, 2.

Huron, D.B. Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation; MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, USA, 2006.

Vuust, P.; Ostergaard, L.; Pallesen, K.J.; Bailey, C.; Roepstorff, A. Predictive Coding of Music—Brain Responses to Rhythmic Incongruity. Cortex 2009, 45, 80–92. [PubMed]

Gabrielsson, A. Strong Experiences with Music; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 2011.

Juslin, P.N.; Sloboda, J. Handbook of Music and Emotion: Teory, Research, Applications; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 2011.

Downes, J.K. Headphone Listening: Space, Embodiment, Materiality. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, 2021.

Gallagher, S. The 4Es and the 4As (affect, agency, affordance, autonomy) in the meshed architecture of social cognition. In Handbook of Embodied Psychology; Robinson, M.D., Thomas, L.E., Eds.; Springer: Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany, 2021; pp. 357–379.

Cox, A. Music and Embodied Cognition: Listening, Moving, Feeling, and Thinking; Indiana University Press: Bloomington, IA, USA, 2016.

Johnson, M. The Meaning of the Body: The Aesthetics of Human Understanding; The University of Chicago Press: Chicago, IL, USA, 2007.

Moore, A.F. Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Music; Routledge: London, UK; New York, NY, USA, 2012.

Moore, A.F.; Schmidt, P.; Dockwray, R. A Hermeneutics of Spatialization for Recorded Song. Twent.-Century Music 2009, 6, 83–114.

Høffding, S.; Vara Sánchez, C.; Roald, T. Being Moved by Art: A Phenomenological and Pragmatist Dialogue. Estet. Eur. J. Aesthet. 2022, LIX/XV, 85–102.

Ratcliffe, M. Feelings of Being: Phenomenology, Psychiatry and the Sense of Reality; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 2008.

Davies, S. Musical Understandings and Other Essays on the Philosophy of Music; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 2011.

Nussbaum, C. The Musical Representation: Meaning, Ontology, and Emotion; MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, USA, 2007.

Robinson, J. Music and Emotions. J. Lit. Theory 2008, 1, 395–419.

Maiese, M. How can emotions be both cognitive and bodily? Phenomenol. Cogn. Sci. 2014, 13, 513–531.

Martin, R.; Nielsen, N. Enacting Musical Aesthetics: The Embodied Experience of Live Music. Music Sci. 2024, 7.

Menninghaus, W.; Wagner, V.; Wassiliwizky, E.; Schindler, I.; Hanich, J.; Jacobsen, T.; Koelsch, S. What are aesthetic emotions? Psychol. Rev. 2019, 126, 171–195.

Skov., M.; Nadal, M. There Are No Aesthetic Emotions: Comment on Menninghaus et al. (2019). Psychol. Rev. 2020, 127, 640–649.

Zahavi, D. Self-Awareness and Alterity: A Phenomenological Investigation; Northwestern University Press: Evanston, IL, USA, 1999.

Zbikowski, L.M. Music, Analogy, and Metaphor. In The Routledge Companion to Music Cognition; Ashley, R., Timmers, R., Eds.; Routledge: London, UK, 2017; pp. 501–512.

Tools

CORE (COnnecting REpositories)

The University of West London

Absorbed concert listening: a qualitative, phenomenological inquiry

Abstract

Downloads

Actions (login required)

Menu