emotions conveyed in the sounds of various instruments

Post Reply New Topic

I have written before the way I have trouble reading emotion in other people, but music is a great emotional communicator to me. The biggest way is in the tonal quality of the actual instrument. Here are some examples of some of the emotions I frequently get out of the sounds certain instruments make. Of course, it's all dependant on the musician playing, and the versatility of the instrument, which also explains some of the dramatically different feelings that are conveyed.

Rock, distorted guitar: power, agression, strength

"clean" electric guitar: anguish, solitude

acoutsic guitar: humbleness, contentment

violins, & other stringed instruments: cold, sadness, tranquility, sympathy, fragility (Rush "Bell tolls for thee")

Pipe organ w/ all the stops out: power, fury, rage, overwhelming joy (Various Bach compositions)

square-way synth (Pink Floyd "Welcome to the Machine") complexity, chaos, speed, sophistication

smooth synth: lonliness

french horns: nobility, accomplishment, loneliness, solitude

piano: mellow, contentment

trumpet, trombone, brass: excitement, energy


What are some of the feelings you get from various instruments, and how they are played in your favorite music

I totally get what you mean, although I get different effects from some of them.

Rock, distorted guitar: Depends on the guitarist, the guitar and the effects processors, but overall, yeah, power (Stevie Ray's cover of Voodoo Chile, or lots of things by Zakk Wylde), aggression (Rammstein, RATM), strength (Brian May), sometimes brutality (Pantera comes to mind), but also glee (Vai) and lust (Thorogood's tone) and love (Satriani and Slash, oddly enough)

"clean" electric guitar: "anguish, solitude"... anguish I can see in The Edge's tone in Sunday, Bloody Sunday, and solitude immediately makes me think of Sabbath's 'Planet Caravan'.

acoustic guitar: Depends on the instrument and the piece for me. 12-strings sound more ethereal/gospel, where a semi-muddy-sounding (old strings) 6-string immediately puts me in mind of the Delta blues, or bluegrass (especially if there's a banjo or mandolin) which makes me feel more relaxed, almost immediately. Slide guitar sounds either plaintive/lonely or, again, bluesey-relaxed. Django Rheinhardt makes me wanna get high just to keep up with him.

violins, & other stringed instruments: cold, sadness, tranquility, sympathy, fragility (Rush "Bell tolls for thee")
Mmmm, for me it depends. Cello I immediately equate with a seductive melancholy (especially Pachelbel's Canon in D). Violins and violas also sound somewhat furious at times (like Vivaldi's 'Winter') or joyous (Vivaldi's 'Spring') and everything in between.

Didgeridoos make me want to smoke dope. As do steel drums. Just lie out on the beach slathered in suntan lotion, watching the waves, etc.

Shakuhachi flute makes me feel all tranquil-zenmaster.

Pipe organ w/ all the stops out: power, fury, rage, overwhelming joy (Various Bach compositions)
Amen.

square-wave synth (Pink Floyd "Welcome to the Machine") complexity, chaos, speed, sophistication
I can see that, yeah.

smooth synth: loneliness
Smooth synth? Example?

french horns: nobility, accomplishment, loneliness, solitude
And hunting. Dun-da-dahhhh, we're riding sweaty horses, off to kill some... animals of some sort, and we've got lots of spears and lots n lots of booze, hurrah!

piano: mellow, contentment
Again, that one depends on various stuff, at least for me. Some old-school jazz piano just makes me want to lay down and cry. Other pieces from the same vein make me wanna hump my wife's leg. And then yet other pieces make me feel manic (the Saber Dance in particular) Overall tho, I'm not a huge fan of piano for some reason. Too ultra-cerebral I guess. Too formal.

trumpet, trombone, brass: excitement, energy
Yeah, but also, think of, like, Harlem Nocturne by Earle Hagen or some of Duke Ellingtons' stuff.

Also, fretless fingered or picked bass... sophistication.
Slap bass/slap-n-pop gets me feelin pretty funky. Almost fownkeh.

One album I discovered in my early teens that I loved to death (wore the cassette tape out) was Mike Oldfields 'Tubular Bells', and also Jean-Michel Jarre's 'Oxygene'. Non-pop synth. One song, Oxygen 3, always had the effect of playing a movie loop in my head, of a white Lamborghini Countach speeding down an elevated highway over shallow water, like in the Florida Keys. Bright sun outside, cool dark interior inside, very saturated colors and lots of speed. Loved it.

BTW, have you ever listened to Pete Gabriels 'Passion'? I'm curious to see what you felt/thought of it (provided you've heard it, obviously)

Well, its all about note choice for me. The electric guitar can sing beautiful melodies or roar with wrath. Its all about note choice and dynamics

I don't want to disregard your observations as sometimes I agree that they are true but I think it's more about the actual notes and feeling conveyed in playing.

"acoustic guitar: humbleness, contentment"

Think of all the passionot disonant sounding flamenco on a simple 6-string acoustic and they aren't humble or content sounding. A lot of classical guitar and Spanish inspired classical guitar (such as 'Concierto de Aranjuez' by Rodrigo) are full of sadness, passion ,longing and still strength.

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=6747652

-----------------
violins, & other stringed instruments: cold, sadness, tranquility, sympathy, fragility
-----------------

I think of some of Bach's violin work or parts of Vivaldi's Four Sesaons as played by the group
Giardino Armonico are none of those things (some parts are

http://www.amazon.com/Vivaldi-Four-Seas ... B000000SPU

-----------------
Pipe organ w/ all the stops out: power, fury, rage, overwhelming joy (Various Bach compositions)
-----------------

Some of Bach's organ works are quite sombre , sad, and slow.

------------
piano: mellow, contentment
-------------

Most piano works I've heard have been very non-mellow. It depends on what composer and player you are listening to. I have some of Rachmaninov's Piano works and they are not mellow. Glenn Gould's playing of Bach's Goldberg Variations have mellow spots but also all sorts of emotions and feelings throughout the whole thing.


-------------------
trumpet, trombone, brass: excitement, energy
------------------

Miles Davis' work on trumpet can be sparse and a bit haunting in a slow thoughtful way. Some of it on his famous "b*****s Brew" is like that whilst other parts have more power.

--------------------------------


I really think it's in the notes and playing by the musician. Any instrument can sound sad, happy, powerful, mellow, angry, defeated etc.

However, some instruments may lend themselves to give forth the required emotion in a given situation. If an emotional result generally requires some sustain in notes, using a harpsichord might not work well