Short- and long-term musical preferences: what makes a favourite piece of music?

Within the growing field of music preferences, little is currently known about the concept of a favourite piece of music. The current study explores listeners’ nominated favourite pieces of music over short and longer time-spans, combining diary and interview methods to uncover what a favourite means, how stable it is, and what factors influence the development of favourites. Nine undergraduate students participated in a diary study spanning one month, with follow-up interviews conducted with two participants. Results indicate that musical favourites are subject to rapid change and highly context-dependent. Most daily favourites were heard on the day, either deliberately or by chance. ‘Magpie’ listeners collected a large number of relatively transient favourites, while ‘squirrel’ listeners had a large catalogue of music stored from which to select. Long-term favourites differed from daily favourites, being associated with intense emotional events in listeners’ lives. In this small-scale study, diary methods successfully captured fluctuations in music preferences over time for most listeners, while interviews revealed more about listeners’ motivations and personal stories connected with their favourite music. Future research is required with larger samples to tease out the complexities of developing music preferences over time and engagement with music in everyday life settings.

[1]  A. Colman,et al.  The effect of familiarity on preferences for surnames , 1981 .

[2]  S. Gosling,et al.  PERSONALITY PROCESSES AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES The Do Re Mi’s of Everyday Life: The Structure and Personality Correlates of Music Preferences , 2003 .

[3]  Alexandra Lamont,et al.  Music preference in adulthood: Why do we like the music we do? , 2006 .

[4]  Laura A. Mitchell,et al.  An experimental investigation of the effects of preferred and relaxing music listening on pain perception. , 2006, Journal of music therapy.

[5]  D. Hargreaves.  The Effects of Repetition on Liking for Music , 1984 .

[6]  N. Bolger,et al.  Diary methods: capturing life as it is lived. , 2003, Annual review of psychology.

[7]  Beatriz Ilari.  Music and identity of Brazilian Dekasegi children and adults living in Japan , 2006 .

[8]  Adrian C. North,et al.  Musical preference and taste in childhood and adolescence. , 2006 .

[9]  Adrian C. North,et al.  Subjective complexity, familiarity, and liking for popular music. , 1995 .

[10]  David D. Harnish,et al.  Music as a cultural identity: a case study of Latino musicians negotiating tradition and innovation in northwest Ohio , 2006 .

[11]  S. Dollinger,et al.  Music preference correlates of Jungian types , 2004 .

[12]  Mary E. Ballard,et al.  RESTING AROUSAL, SENSATION SEEKING, AND MUSIC PREFERENCE , 1999 .

[13]  J. Sloboda,et al.  Functions of Music in Everyday Life: An Exploratory Study Using the Experience Sampling Method , 2001 .

[14]  J. Panksepp,et al.  Emotional sounds and the brain: the neuro-affective foundations of musical appreciation , 2002, Behavioural Processes.

[15]  Laura A. Mitchell,et al.  A survey investigation of the effects of music listening on chronic pain , 2007 .

[16]  Victor Minichiello,et al.  The meaning of music in the lives of older people: a qualitative study , 2005 .

[17]  Leif Finnas,et al.  A Comparison between Young People's Privately and Publicly Expressed Musical Preferences , 1989 .

[18]  Adrian C. North,et al.  Experimental Aesthetics and Everyday Music Listening , 1997 .

[19]  Raymond MacDonald,et al.  A comparison of the effects of preferred music, arithmetic and humour on cold pressor pain , 2006, European journal of pain.

[20]  V. Konečni.  17 – Social Interaction and Musical Preference , 1982 .

[21]  James J. Kellaris.  Consumer Esthetics Outside the Lab: Preliminary Report on a Musical Field Study , 1992 .

[22]  Adrian C. North,et al.  Musical preferences during and after relaxation and exercise. , 2000, The American journal of psychology.

[23]  Adrian C. North,et al.  Uses of Music in Everyday Life , 2004 .

[24]  Adrian C. North,et al.  Situational influences on reported musical preference. , 1996 .

[25]  F. Bailes.  The prevalence and nature of imagined music in the everyday lives of music students , 2007 .

[26]  Ronald G. Heyduk.  Rated preference for musical compositions as it relates to complexity and exposure frequency , 1975 .

[27]  D. Rawlings,et al.  Toughmindedness and Preference for Musical Excerpts, Categories and Triads , 1995 .

[28]  S. Gosling,et al.  Message in a Ballad , 2006, Psychological science.

[29]  T. DeNora,et al.  Music and informal learning in everyday life , 2005 .

[30]  P. Russell.  Effects of Repetition on the Familiarity and Likeability of Popular Music Recordings , 1987 .

[31]  R. Zatorre,et al.  Intensely pleasurable responses to music correlate with activity in brain regions implicated in reward and emotion , 2001, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[32]  I. Peretz,et al.  Exposure effects on music preference and recognition , 1998, Memory & cognition.

[33]  S. Ohlsson,et al.  The Relationship Between Musical Complexity and Liking in Jazz and Bluegrass , 2001 .

[34]  D. Berlyne,et al.  Aesthetics and Psychobiology , 1975 .

[35]  M. Tarrant,et al.  Can music bring people together? Effects of shared musical preference on intergroup bias in adolescence. , 2006, Scandinavian journal of psychology.

[36]  Adrian C. North,et al.  Lifestyle correlates of musical preference: 1. Relationships, living arrangements, beliefs, and crime , 2007 .

[37]  A. North,et al.  Responses to music in aerobic exercise and yogic relaxation classes , 1996 .

[38]  Adrian C. North,et al.  Adolescents' Intergroup Attributions: A Comparison of Two Social Identities , 2004 .

[39]  Adrian C. North,et al.  The importance of music to adolescents. , 2000, The British journal of educational psychology.