No abstract

Musicians display individual differences in their spontaneous performance rates (tempo) for simple melodies, but the factors responsible are unknown. Previous research suggests that musical tempo modulates listeners' cardiovascular activity. We report an investigation of musicians' melody performances measured over a 12-h day and subsequent changes in the musicians' physiological activity. Skilled pianists completed four testing sessions in a single day as cardiac activity was recorded during an initial 5 min of baseline rest and during performances of familiar and unfamiliar melodies. Results indicated slower tempi for familiar and unfamiliar melodies at early testing times. Performance rates at 09 h were predicted by differences in participants' alertness and musical training; these differences were not explained by sleep patterns, chronotype, or cardiac activity. Individual differences in pianists' performance tempo were consistent across testing sessions: participants with a faster tempo at 09 h maintained a faster tempo at later testing sessions. Cardiac measures at early testing times indicated increased heart rates and more predictable cardiac dynamics during music performance than baseline rest, and during performances of unfamiliar melodies than familiar melodies. These findings provide the first evidence of cardiac dynamics that are unique to music performance contexts.

This Element reviews literature on the physiological influences of music during perception and action. It outlines how acoustic features of music influence physiological responses during passive listening, with an emphasis on comparisons of analytical approaches. It then considers specific behavioural contexts in which physiological responses to music impact perception and performance. First, it describes physiological responses to music that evoke an emotional reaction in listeners. Second, it delineates how music influences physiology during music performance and exercise. Finally, it discusses the role of music perception in pain, focusing on medical procedures and laboratory-induced pain with infants and adults.

We addressed how circadian rhythms influence daily musical activities of performing musicians, who exhibit fine temporal control. Music performances often occur in the evening and late at night; evidence suggests that composing musicians tend to be later chronotypes than noncomposing musicians. However, chronotype and daily music-making in performing musicians have yet to be investigated. The current study examined chronotype in actively practicing and/or performing musicians and non-musicians, and whether it was related to the daily timing of music performance. To test influences of daily changes due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, disruptions to musical, athletic, social, and sleep habits were also measured. Performing musicians, active (practicing but non-performing) musicians, inactive musicians, and nonmusicians, residing in Canada, completed a 7-day online daily activity and sleep diary in Summer 2020. There were more evening chronotypes than morning chronotypes in the sample.Active/performing musicians tended to be earlier chronotypes than all other groups. Musicians' chronotype, but not nightly sleep timing, predicted the time of day that musicians made music: Late chronotypes made music later in the day and early chronotypes made music earlier in the day. Music performance and practice amount decreased during the COVID-19 period, but the daily timing of these activities did not change. All participants reported later sleep onset during related to the time of day of music-making independent of nightly sleep timing, suggesting that times of day for making music reflect an individual's circadian rhythm.

Perception and production of auditory rhythms are key capacities for human behaviors such as speech and music. Auditory rhythms in music range in the complexity of successive tone durations; complex rhythms (based on non-integer duration ratios) are more difficult to perceive and produce than simple rhythms (based on integer ratios). The physiological activity supporting this behavioral difference is not well understood. In a within-subjects design, we addressed how rhythm complexity affects cardiac dynamics during auditory perception and production. Musically trained adults listened to and synchronized with simple and complex auditory rhythms while their cardiac activity was recorded. Participants identified missing tones in the rhythms during the Perception condition and produced finger taps to synchronize with the rhythms in the Synchronization condition. Participants were equally accurate at identifying missing tones in both rhythms during the Perception condition. Tapping synchronization was less accurate and less precise with complex rhythms than with simple rhythms. Linear cardiac analyses showed a slower mean heart rate and greater heart rate variability during perception than production, for both simple and complex rhythms. Individual differences showed that greater heart rate variability was correlated with poorer synchronization. Linear and nonlinear cardiac analyses identified perception / synchronization differences; only nonlinear recurrence quantification analyses captured cardiac differences between simple and complex auditory rhythms. Cardiac dynamics were also more deterministic (predictable) during rhythm perception than synchronization. Overall, these findings suggest that cardiac activity is modulated by both task (auditory perception, production) and by rhythm complexity.