How Live Performance Moves the Human Heart

Abstract

We investigated how the audience member’s physiological reactions differ as a function of listening context (i.e., live versus recorded music contexts). Thirty-seven audience members were assigned to one of seven pianists’ performances and listened to his/her live performances of six pieces (fast and slow pieces by Bach, Schumann, and Debussy). Approximately 10 weeks after the live performance, each of the audience members returned to the same room and listened to the recorded performances of the same pianists’ via speakers. We recorded the audience members’ electrocardiograms in listening to the performances in both conditions, and analyzed their heart rates and the spectral features of the heart-rate variability (i.e., HF/TF, LF/HF). Results showed that the audience’s heart rate was higher for the faster than the slower piece only in the live condition. As compared with the recorded condition, the audience’s sympathovagal balance (LF/HF) was less while their vagal nervous system (HF/TF) was activated more in the live condition, which appears to suggest that sharing the ongoing musical moments with the pianist reduces the audience’s physiological stress. The results are discussed in terms of the audience’s superior attention and temporal entrainment to live performance.

How Live Music Moves Us: Head Movement Differences in Audiences to Live Versus Recorded Music

“…Little research has examined differences between live and recorded performances by manipulating the presence and absence of the performer. Shoda et al (2016) reported that the heartbeats of audience members at a live performance exhibited greater entrainment with the musical rhythm than those of listeners at a pre-recorded performance. Performer presence was also found to produce greater relaxation in audience members compared to those listening to a recording (Shoda et al, 2016).…”

“…Shoda et al (2016) reported that the heartbeats of audience members at a live performance exhibited greater entrainment with the musical rhythm than those of listeners at a pre-recorded performance. Performer presence was also found to produce greater relaxation in audience members compared to those listening to a recording (Shoda et al, 2016). Contemporary popular performers often play variations of recorded works at live performances (Shoda and Adachi, 2015), suggesting a novelty factor for listeners.…”

Increase in Synchronization of Autonomic Rhythms between Individuals When Listening to Music

“…Here we collected physiological responses from several individuals simultaneously as they listened to a live organ concert in a naturalistic environment. We chose a live concert design because listening to live music has been shown to yield superior entrainment between music and body physiology, compared to recorded music (Shoda et al, 2016 ), which in turn is likely to maximize the chances of inter-individual synchronization to occur. We took advantage of the possibility of using one of the most versatile organs available in Europe, capable of imitating a large number of musical instruments.…”

The Relevance of a Conductor Competition for the Study of Emotional Synchronization Within and Between Groups in a Natural Musical Setting

“…Being in the context of a concert in the presence of other people can enhance the listening experience by eliciting at least a rhythmic synchronization when people move together (Desmet et al, 2010). Live conditions provide listeners with the strongest musical experiences (Lamont, 2011), with a greater effect on physiological variables as heart rate (Shoda et al, 2016). However, contradictory results have emerged from several studies.…”

“…Thus, to study interpersonal synchronization and the mechanisms involved in social interactions, it is possible to simulate research protocols that are as realistic as possible whilst maintaining ecological validity. Ecological experiments in the musical context have already measured head movement synchronization by simulating a live concert in a living lab (Swarbrick et al, 2019), or measured the heart rate of a few people among a large audience listening to a piano performance in an auditorium (Shoda et al, 2016). Otherwise, when natural settings are not reproducible in ecological conditions, it is possible to benefit from the specific design arising from a natural situation.…”