Music and Familiarity

Familiarity underpins our engagement with music. This book highlights theoretical and empirical considerations about familiarity from three perspectives: listening, musicology and performance. Part I, ΓÇÖListeningΓÇÖ, addresses familiarity as it relates to listenersΓÇÖ behaviour and responses to music, specifically in regulating our choice and exposure to music on a daily basis; how we get to know music through regular listening; how comfortable we feel in a Western concert environment; and musicΓÇÖs efficacy as a pain-reliever. Part II, ΓÇÖMusicologyΓÇÖ exposes the notion of familiarity from varied stances, including appreciation of music in our own and other cultures through ethnomusicology; exploration of the perception of sounds via music analysis; philosophical reflection on the efficiency of communication in musicology; evaluation of the impact of researchersΓÇÖ musical experiences on their work; and the influence of familiarity in music education. Part III, ΓÇÖPerformanceΓÇÖ, focuses on the effects of familiarity in relation to different aspects of Western art and popular performance, including learning and memorizing music; examination of ΓÇÖgrooveΓÇÖ in popular performance; exploration of the role of familiarity in shaping socio-emotional behaviour between members of an ensemble; and consideration about the effects of the unique type of familiarity gained by musicians through the act of performance itself.