Name:Kyle Albuquerque-Boutilier

School/Affiliation:McMaster University

Co-Authors:Emily A. Wood, Daniel J. Cameron, & Laurel J. Trainor

Virtual or In-person:In-person

Abstract:

Music has the remarkable ability of making people move. Previous research suggests that the musical structure is a factor that influences how people move. In electronic dance music (EDM), a specific use of musical structure to elicit movement is the break routine. Break routines consist of three distinct parts; the breakdown, the build-up, and the drop. Prior research has shown that individuals move more during the “drop” portion of the break routine. What is not known is whether an individual’s rating of their urge to move (while not actually moving) changes in a similar way. The current study explores how individuals’ subjective urge to move ratings change dynamically when listening to break routines. We collected continuous ratings of participants' urge to move when listening to paired EDM clips with and without break routines taken from the same songs. After each clip, participants (n = 30) also provided Likert ratings of actual movement, enjoyment, and familiarity. Enjoyment ratings were significantly higher for clips with a break routine than for clips without a break routine (p = 0.033), although ratings of familiarity and movement did not differ between clips with and without break routines. Further analyses of the continuous ratings are ongoing. We expect those results to reveal insights into how break routines affect the dynamics of the urge to move.