Summary:
Surprise, as an emotion, in the realm of cognitive science, is an emotional state that is evoked in a person when he is "projected" in front of a new discreet process that is perceived by him as unexpected. So, the surprise can change and vary in how much an event is excluded from our expectations. In this paper we will deal with the phenomenon of surprise in relation to musical listening, whether a listener can be surprised (in the sense of the unexpected as a surprise element in musical listening) based on the basic structures of music as organized sound, that is, in relation to the harmonic, melodic, rhythmic context or timbre of the respective musical excerpt where each person is invited to listen. In this work, through experimental research, process, and analysis, we will examine the phenomenon of musical surprise between different categories of subjects, through listening to given jazz music excerpts. Jazz music, as a musical idiom, includes a rather complex harmonic and melodic structure, both horizontally and vertically, as well as full of many rhythmic changes. We think it will be extremely interesting, through the chapters that follow, to observe and examine whether these examined experimental categories of individuals converge and differ in groups but also among themselves, regarding the factor of surprise in listening to music, hoping to produce safe conclusions in order to conduct relevant future research.
Keywords:
surprise and emotion, music and surprise, music listening, jazz music, jazz improvisation, jazz music and surprise, music empathy and Jazz
