Music Therapy in affective disorders and dementia reduces symptoms and mo­dulates emotion and physiological processes. This is demonstrated in recent studies focusing on outcomes measures, physiological responses and emotion perception in depression and in arousal-regulation and learning abilities in dementia. Together with other neuroscientific perspectives arising from these stud­ies the importance of frontotemporal activities in depression and comorbid anxiety, as well as functional compensation of non-degenerated brain regions in dementia are discussed. A central role in music therapy of affective disorders and dementia is treating negative valence of discrete emotions.

Several studies have reported positive effects of (choral) singing on well-being (e.g. Beck et al., 2000), mostly by comparison to a listening condition. There is, however, a lack of literature addressing the comparison of choral singing with other active music-making conditions. This study compares the effect of choral singing, playing in a brass band, playing in a theater group, and listening to music in a concert on well-being. Participants (N=183) were three choirs (n = 58), two brass bands (n = 54), three theater groups (n = 34) and a group of concert-goers (n = 37). All participants completed the Positive Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ) and the State­ Trait-Anxiety-lnventory (STAI; state questionnaire only) before and after a 1.5- hour rehearsal/concert. They then answered a series of open questions in writing (e.g. lildng of the pieces; satisfaction with the rehearsal in general) after the session (or concert). Separate interviews were conducted with two to eight par­ ticipants of each group. Findings suggest that choral singing, playing in a theater group or listening to music in a concert influences well-being positively. Contrary to expectations, the brass bands lacked positive changes. This study also shows that satisfaction with the rehearsal in general and the liking of the piece(s) rehearsed play an important role in this context, which partly explains the lack of positive changes for the brass bands.

We investigated whether chills are associated with more successful emotion re­gulation through music listening. In particular, we hypothesized that people who experience chills on a habitual basis (within the meaning of a trait) benefit to a greater extent from music listening for stress reduction purposes in daily life. Thirty female patients with fibromyalgia - a chronic pain syndrome - were ex­amined for 14 consecutive days in their daily life. Participants rated their stress levels and music listening behavior, and provided a saliva sample for the analysis of biological stress markers five times per day. Additionally, the music preference questionnaire was completed; this instrument assesses the habitual experience of chills. The stress-reducing effect of music listening in daily life varied depending on the habitual experience of chills. Those participants who reported more fre­quent and more intense experiences of chills felt more activated after listening to music (explained variance .58 % - 3.29 %, x2>32.99, df=8, p <.001). Participants with less frequent experiences of music-induced chills reported less stress after having listened to music that was perceived as low in arousal. Participants with more frequent experiences of chills benefitted from music that was perceived as high in arousal for stress-reducing effects (explained variance 3.29 %, x2> 32.99, df= 8, p < .001). Music listening was associated with stress-reducing effects when considering relaxation as reason for music listening and the frequency of habit­ual experiences of chills: With increasing frequency of habitual chill experiences, the stress-reducing effect of music listening for the reason of relaxation decreased (explained variance .60 %, x2=24.16, df=6, p< .001). Consequently, music listen­ing per se was not associated with a stress-reducing effect for participants with more frequent and more intense experiences of chills. However, the secretion of cortisol was lowest, when participants who habitually experience chills, reported listening to music for the reason of relaxation (explained variance .89 %, x2=38.17, df=7 , p < .001). However, the arousal of the music and reasons for music listening should be kept in mind when patients with fibromyalgia syndrome, who ex­perience more frequent and more intensive chills, want to profit from music for stress reduction purposes in daily life.

Moving pieces of art often are both pleasant and interesting. Research from the new experimental aesthetics as well as aesthetic theories of emotion suggest that judgments about pleasantness and interestingness are decoupled. Yet, the cor­ relation between the two judgments has been found to be considerably high in many studies. The present article suggests a hitherto not addressed alternative by arguing that interestingness is required for pleasantness. An online survey using excerpts of everyday music was employed to test this hypothesis. The correlation between interestingness and pleasantness turned out to be higher than in previous studies (r=.87). Regression and path analyses revealed that (a) in­ terestingness significantly predicts pleasantness, (b) the two judgments are af­ fected by other music-related judgments to different degrees, and (c) the relation­ ship between complexity and pleasantness is almost completely mediated by interestingness.

This study is a replication of the paradigm for measuring open-eardness by von Georgi and Frieler (2014). This experimental approach considers open-eardness as a personality trait which should be measured independent of valence and stimuli. The sample consists of 69 students (38 male, 31 female) of an integrated school in Brunswick, Germany, with a mean age of 13.99. The subjects should individually choose 15 out of 90 musical stimuli, which were sorted in ten gen­ res with three subgenres each. After every chosen stimulus, they should rate their valance. The results show that the derived coefficient Oewd could be replicated and validated via the Entropy by Shannon (1948). Furthermore, a correlation between the measured open-eardness and the traits openness and experience seeking could be found. In conclusion, this measurement of open-eardness could be understood as a paradigm shift.

Music talent shows belong to the most popular German TV formats in the recent fifteen years and are highly regarded by the music industry. The latest format The Voice of Germany started a debate about quality of music talent shows. But do the young recipients even perceive differences between the formats? And which factors influence the success of the shows? We conducted an online based survey and asked 230 persons from the target group about their reception of the two most popular German formats The Voice of Germany and Deutschland sucht den Superstar. Factors like perceived authenticity and talent of the candidates as well as parasocial relationships between recipients and candidates will be in­vestigated in order to explain the success of music talent shows. Our results show that there are differences in the reception. In this case The Voice of Germany is regarded throughout as the more authentic format in comparison to Deutschland sucht den Superstar, whereas both formats are successful in stimulating the re­cipients in buying talent show products the more often they watch the shows. We found that the crucial factor responsible for the consumer acceptance of the re­cipients for buying talent show products is the parasocial relationship.