Music and COVID-19: Changes in music usage and emotional responses under curfew

https://doi.org/10.1177/03057356211003326

Commentary

In response to COVID-19, lockdowns and other measures were issued in many countries, and people had to cope with health-related fears and anxieties and social distancing during the stay-at-home order. The study, conducted in Israel shortly after the first lockdown was lifted, examined individuals' subjective ratings of how they listened to music and their emotional responses compared to normal conditions at the end of May 2020.

The study involved a total of 200 participants who completed an online questionnaire focusing on the following three issues.

(1) Changes in the amount and context of music listening, which included references to COVID-19 and a new music clip type directly related to its effects.

(2) Changes in the intensity of the emotions experienced in response to the music.

(3) For general emotional changes, music listening and use remained the same or increased.

Both general negative and socially relevant emotions toward music were stronger than in normal situations. The measures of music use and emotion correlated with socially relevant emotions, supporting previous findings on the use of music for mood regulation and the importance of music as a means of social contact, and resulting in providing a demonstration of subjective assessment of these functions in real-time coping during a global crisis. The results of this study are as follows.