On Music’s Subtle Expressiveness

Myriam Albor

Abstract


I suggest that emotions are not the primary affective attitude towards music. If we are to explain music’s expressiveness according to the Resemblance Theory, that theory should be extended to include feelings. Because of the lack of intentionality in music and the dearth of universal emotional gestures to explain the subtlety of music’s expressive power, explaining this expressiveness by making recourse to music’s relationships with emotions is bound to face challenges. I will argue that, even though the movements in music asso- ciated with musical expressiveness might not necessarily be associated with emotions, they might very well be associated with certain feelings of the movement itself.


Keywords


emotions; expressive qualities; feelings; music’s subtle gestures; musical ex⁠pressiveness; musical gestures; Resemblance Theory.

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References


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