One of the elements of piano composition is emotion. What
kind of feelings does the composer want the listener to experience? It is the
pianist who must identify those elements – and express them – in order to
elicit the appropriate response from the audience.
Researcher Blumstein (2012)1 explored this scary
phenomenon, which links sound to biological responses. He Found that nonlinear sound, especially if
it is not expected, can evoke fear. Some of the specific aspects include introducing
a minor key, musical dissonance, distortion noise, numerous abrupt shifts up
and down in pitch, and rapid rising musical phrases. These sounds are more evocative,
and they often stimulate biological responses related to fear and danger (such
as a child screaming).
So if you want to have a spooky Halloween musical
experience, you might play one of these piano pieces (in order of probable
easiness):
·
Toccata
and Fugue in D Minor by J. S. Bach
·
Danse
Macabre by C. Saint-Saens
·
Hungarian
Dance No. 5 by J. Brahms
·
William
Tell Overture by G. Rossini
·
Totentanz by
F. Liszt
·
Lacrymosa
(from Requiem) by W. Mozart
·
Sonata No.
17 in D Minor, Opus 31, No. 2 (Tempest)
by L. van Beethoven
·
Pictures
at an Exhibition by M. Mussorgsky
·
Piano
Sonata No. 1, Opus 22 by A. Ginastera
·
The Isle
of the Dead, Opus 29 by S. Rachmaninoff
(Thanks to www.musicnotes.com/blog).
Blumstein,
D., Bryant, G., & Kaye, P. (2012). The sound of arousal in music is
context-dependent. Biology Letters. DOI:
