ABSTRACT
THINK for a moment about a truly memorable musical experience you have had and try to catalogue how your body responded. Did your heart rate speed up? Did you feel goosebumps or did the back of your neck feel prickly? Did you cry or laugh? Ever since David played the harp to help Saul with his insomnia, and probably long before that, the influence of music on the body has been a topic of interest. For our purposes, we have divided bodily responses into two categories: physiological, those bodily processes that happen internally, and physical, external events that we can observe. Sometimes researchers refer to these collectively as psychophysiologial responses. As you read this chapter, it is important to remember that normal musical experiences are holistic; that is, the different kinds of bodily responses meld into one integrated experience.
