Even though music is widely used as a source of solace, the question as to how and why music offers consolation remains largely unexplored. The aims of the present study are as follows: (a) to compare listening to music versus other self-soothing behaviors, (b) to explore when music is used as a means for solace, (c) to identify aspects of music that are important for providing solace, and (d) to explore behavior while listening to consoling music. Participants completed an internet survey distributed through the websites of Dutch National Radio 2 and Radio 4 (N = 445). The survey consisted of the Geneva Emotion and Music Scale (GEMS), the solace-scale from the Music in Mood Regulation questionnaire (MMR), questions concerning means of solace, situations requiring comfort, song aspects, and feelings and activities during music listening. The main findings indicate that: (1) music is the most important source of consolation compared with other soothing behaviors, (2) situations in which people have experienced loss and sadness are the primary situations in which music offers solace, (3) consoling music induces a feeling of being moved and a mixture of both positive and sad emotions; the most important aspects of a song for soothing purposes are the music itself and the lyrics, and (4) music for comfort is listened to predominately in solitude, as the sole activity. On the basis of these findings, a characterization of listening to consoling music is compiled. Behavior and song aspects are discussed in terms of how and why they are helpful in providing solace.

No abstract

This study compared the characteristics of 150 songs (Dutch lyrics, N = 47, English lyrics, N = 103), popular at Dutch funerals, to an equal number of non-funeral songs. The variables explored included those linked with the music (valence, energy, danceability, acousticness, key, and tempo); and lyrics, namely: linguistics-related (first-person singular/plural, second-person pronouns; past, present, future tense; expressed emotion (positive, negative words, and the discrete emotional categories anger, anxiety, sadness); and category words (those relating to family, friends, death, religion). Funeral music was lower in valence, energy, and danceability and higher in acousticness than non-funeral music. Furthermore, English funeral music lyrics contained more second-person pronouns and were more future-focused than comparison songs. Funeral lyrics were not particularly negative, but English texts contained more words relating to sadness. In conclusion, funeral music differs in severable notable respects from general popular songs that may reflect the special purpose of this music.

This exploratory study was designed to determine the effects of background music of different valence on the perception of tearful faces and other emotional expressions. Participants (154 men, age range 9-64 years, and 208 women, age range 9-77 years) rated photographs of crying, smiling, anger expressing and yawning unique men and women (N = 12 each) on the following three dimensions: kindness, attractiveness and pleasantness, while concurrently being exposed to happy, angry, sad and calm music, or a no-music condition. Mixed models analysis revealed that observers made more favourable judgments about a crier when listening to sad and calm background music. This particularly concerned the ratings on the dimensions kindness and pleasantness, while calm music additionally increased ratings of attractiveness. Opposite effects were found for angry faces, for which lower ratings were obtained on all three dimensions with calm music. We speculate that calm background music may be helpful to boost social bonding and empathy, when people are in tears.

Emotional Eating (EE) is understood as a maladaptive self-regulation strategy to satisfy emotional needs instead of hunger. Consequently, EE has been associated with negative health consequences.Enjoyment of food and music share similar neural activations in the brain and are both used by people for regulating affect. This suggests that music listening could potentially be a healthier alternative to EE. The present study was designed to investigate associations between EE, disordered mood, and music-related mood regulation.Five-hundred-and-seventy-one participants completed measures of EE, music listening strategies and disordered mood. Associations between seven different music listening strategies and EE were examined, and also whether these regulation strategies were associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. Finally, we explored associations between music listening and EE in people with low and high (non-clinical) levels of disordered mood (depression, anxiety, and stress).The findings of this research indicated that music listening for discharge (releasing anger or sadness through music that expresses these same emotions) and EE were positively associated with one another. In addition, EE and the music listening strategies of entertainment, diversion or mental work were associated in people with low levels of disordered mood. When disordered mood was high, EE was higher, but was not associated with music listening strategies. These associations point towards the possibility of some music listening strategies being useful as healthier alternatives for EE.