Peak Experiences with Electronic Dance Music
Music Perception April 1, 2019 Ragnhild Torvanger Solberg, Nicola Dibben
Peak pleasurable experiences with electronic dance music (EDM) are linked to specific musical features, particularly the 'drop' section of a track's break routine (breakdown, build-up, and drop). In a lab setting, 24 participants listened to five EDM excerpts, four containing break routines and one without. Skin conductance was significantly higher during drop sections than other parts of the break routine. Participants reported intense, energizing, and uplifting affective experiences, describing them as embodied and kinaesthetic, even though they were not dancing or in a club. The findings confirm that acoustic features associated with peak response in other genres also apply to EDM, and identify novel musical characteristics particular to EDM.