This text is based on a meta-analysis of 153 empirical studies investigating the effects of (background) music on non-musical activities. No significant effects of music could be proved for one third of these studies, with an increasing tendency in the last years. If non-significant results are interpreted as due to an ineffectiveness of music, it is necessary to consider all possible flaws of experimental methods and peculiarities of academic us­ age which could result in under- or overestimating the actual ineffectiveness of music. On this background it is presumed that nowadays in more than 50 % of everyday situations of listening to music we may expect no effects. The most important cause for this development is thought to be habitualization brought about by the over-all presence of music. The importance of lay psychological theories for the effects of music is shown through the example of a widely ignored study by Baker (1937). Finally, hypotheses and aspects of a theory of the ineffectiveness of (background) music are discussed.

This paper characterises the beginnings and current state of reception research and thus concerns the history of science. In particular, it addresses the central issues and methodological approaches of reception research. The author states that initially there were not only experimental and quantitative, but also empirically oriented qualitative and phenomenological research traditions. Although in the course of time, cognitivistic and experimental approaches prevailed, some examples from recent research demonstrate that the cognitivistic-experimental research often lacks practical relevance. The author suggests several ways to increase the practical relevance and ecological validity of musical reception research. Among those are the stronger consideration of the situational context of music listening and sensory-motor processes, an increased variety of research methods, a decrease of importance of the experimental paradigm, and a stronger link of research questions to everyday-life issues. Finally, it is argued that reception research requires a historical perspective in order to become aware of its own development and to reconstruct the time and culture specific changes in musical reception.

During the last five years the market has been flooded with an immense number of various relaxation CDs. Their booklets promise a quick and easy route to relaxation. Some of them even promise to provide counsel­ ling in certain situations by music only or by a combination of text and music. Sceptical of these promises I investigated the actual effects of this "relaxation" music. An experimental group (n = 20, most of them experienced in music or instrumentalists) had to listen for 10 minutes to the CD "fresh and balanced in 15 minutes". They also could bring with them music from which they believed it would help them to relax. To test the effect of music in general a control group (n = 10) had to undergo the same procedure with­ out listening to any music. In addition to the 5 parameters blood oxygen saturation, pulse rate, pressure of oxygen and carbon dioxide in blood and skin temperature, which were taken every minute, blood pressure and body temperature were taken before and after a testing period to verify the state of activity of the body. Also, the persons were asked to fill in questionnaires about their musical preferences, personal details and attitudes towards CDs. As main result there is a significant difference between testing and control group. Notably a deeper state of immersion was reached, but also the relaxation in the second period of the control group was much better. According to these results, both a deeper relaxation and a better degree of immersion was reached without listening to music. One reason for this could be that most of the experimental group have a certain awareness of music and could have been distracted by the music rather than supported by it in relaxation.

Starting point is the hypothesis that a linguistic analysis of texts concerning the inner experience of music may give an essential contribution to an understanding of processes of music perception. An experiment was con­ ducted with 118 probands who had to lay down their spontaneous reactions on four examples of actual presented music pieces which differed in familiarity. A content analysis of the documented texts proofed the fact that every thinking in music (evaluation, interpretation, biographic context, daily experience) including the most important music metaphors (message, emotion, space, time), mediated by general image schemes, goes back to bodily sensations. Some categories of content analysis are chosen as examples and explained in respect to the characteristic bottom-up-processes. An analysis of contingencies shows the connections also in their statistical relevance so that the texture of connections may be brought into a systematic order and can be demonstrated in a figure. In consequence music cognition may be investigated adequately by qualitative methods especially by including the interpretation of language materials into the methodological repertoire of music psychology.

Music and emotions are interconnected in a close relationship. This close relationship can best be explained in terms of a theory in which the right hemisphere is the dominant one for the perception of music and emotions as also for the production of music and emotions. The right hemisphere is suited for events like music and emotions, because it is specialised to pro­ cess an event as a gestalt. The left hemisphere also plays an important part in perceiving music, because it is specialised for temporal aspects of music like rhythm and tempo. In the experiment subjects perceived the music either monaural (right, left) or binaural. We proceeded from the assumption that music perceived with the right ear will be processed in the left hemisphere and music perceived with the left ear will be processed in the right hemisphere. The pieces of music varied in two factors: Activation (activated vs. calm music) and valence (positive vs. negative music). The combination of the two factors resulted in four types of music: positive­ activated, negative-activated, positive-calm, negative-calm. The quality of the four types of music were tested with different scales and in addition to that the influence of the music on behavioural tendencies which are one component of emotions was also registered. According to the hypothesis the hemispheric asymmetry has an effect on the perception of music but not on the behavioural tendencies. The behavioural tendencies are stronger effected from the emotion caused by music. lt showed that the right hemisphere is better suited to perceive the valence of music than the left hemisphere. This result supports the theory that the right hemisphere is the dominant one for the perception of music. Music perceived with the left, and especially with both hemispheres, will be judge to be faster in tempo than perceived with the right hemisphere. lt seems that the left hemisphere, and especially the working together of the two hemispheres, is better suited to estimate the actual tempo of music than the right hemisphere. According to the hypothesis the hemispheric asymmetry does not have an effect on behavioural tendencies.

This paper reports on a three year longitudinal study which examined the development of five distinct types of musical performance. High School instrumentalists were administered tests to measure their capacity to perform a repertoire of rehearsed music, sight-read, play by ear, play from memory and improvise. Additional data concerning a range of variables thought to influence the development of these skills were obtained in face­ to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire, and a content analysis of reflective comments made by students as they completed each of the measures. Path analysis was used to test a theoretical model designed to encapsulate the flow of influences theorised to exist between the five types of musical performance and four factors derived from variables thought to influence their development (see McPherson, Bailey & Sinclair, 1997a). Tue study has implications for instrumental teaching which range from a re-evaluation of teaching practices that are restricted to the refinement of performance repertoire and technique, to guidance in the aural and creative styles of performance and cognitive strategies which this study shows may exert a positive influence on the development of overall performance ability.

Reported here is a detailed experimental examination of the individual and combined effects of the structural elements of an entire and intact quasi-musical performance piece. The playwright of Tasol and the re­ searcher were the same person. The study was especially concerned with the hedonic impact of classical vs. aleatory components of the piece and of its mode of presentation. Four samples of subjects in Lahti, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and San Diego (N = 184), which were classified into two sub­ samples on the basis of aesthetic experience, rated, in small groups, the eight research versions of the original piece ( a 2 x 2 x 2 between-subjects design), that were presented on black & white videotapes. The orthogonal factors represented the three constituent elements of the piece, with the first mentioned being the original: (a) Development + Climax vs. Chance; (b) "Death" vs. "No Death" of the players; and (c) Respiratory/Vocal (sneeze, laugh, cough) vs. Instrumental (three toy instruments) performance of the aural events. On the key psycho-aesthetic dimensions of pleasingness and interestingness, quasi-Tasol, the research version closest to the original, was rated by far the highest of the eight. This was true for both sub-samples on the interestingness scale, but only for the aesthetically experienced sub-sample on pleasingness and a number of other scales that helped explain the hedonic advantage of the original piece. These and auxiliary results indirectly explain the failure of aleatory and stochastic works to appeal to all but the most rarefied audiences.