Areas of Interest: My primary area of interest is the psychology of music. This interdisciplinary field brings together scholars in the humanities as well as the social and natural sciences to address an intriguing issue: How is it that abstract patterns of sounds stir us to laughter or tears, elicit chills, compel our bodies to move, communicate emotions, and above all, make us feel so good? Over the last several years, I have immersed myself in this area of study, conducting research to help address some of the most fundamental questions in the field, including:
Why do some combinations of tones sound more pleasant than others?
Why do certain collections of tones sound sadder than others?
How does sadness influence music choice?
How do timing variations influence music preference and musical emotion?
Specific Areas of Interest:
Origins of Consonance/Dissonance
Musical Communication of Emotion
Social Psychology of Music
Timing Variations and Musical Emotion
Representative Publications
Friedman, R. S., Kowalewski, D.**, Vuvan, D.T., & Neill, W. T. (in press). Consonance preferences within an unconventional tuning system. Music Perception.
Friedman, R. S. (2018). Final ritardandi and the expression of musical emotion. Music Perception, 36, 53-59.
Friedman, R. S., Neill, W. T., Seror, G. A., & Kleinsmith, A. L. (2018). Average pitch height and perceived emotional expression within an unconventional tuning system. Music Perception, 35, 518-523.