Music and Mourning

While grief is suffered in all cultures, it is expressed differently all over the world in accordance with local customs and beliefs. Music has been associated with the healing of grief for many centuries, with Homer prescribing music as an antidote to sorrow as early as the 7th Century BC. The changing role of music in expressions of grief and mourning throughout history and in different cultures reflects the changing attitudes of society towards life and death itself. This volume investigates the role of music in mourning rituals across time and culture, discussing the subject from the multiple perspectives of music history, music psychology, ethnomusicology and music therapy.

Jane Davidson has written five books and has produced over 100 other scholarly outputs. She is the current Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions and Callaway/Tunley Chair of Music at The University of Western Australia. Her research in performance studies centres on emotion and expression. She is widely published and is former Editor ofPsychology of Music (1997–2001); Vice-President of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (2003–2006); and President of the Musicological Society of Australia (2010 and 2011).

Sandra Garrido is an early career researcher with a broad research interest in music psychology and particular interests in understanding emotional response to music, the influence of personality on musical experience and the use of music to improve mental health. She works as a postdoctoral research fellow for the Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions at the University of Western Australia and for the Conservatorium of Music at the University of Melbourne. She has published in numerous well-regarded academic journals including Music Perception and Musicae Scientiae as well as regularly reviewing for several journals. Her research into why people listen to sad music has attracted media interest and been covered by reports on SBS radio,The Sun Herald and Spectrum.