Soundscape and Inner Resonance: An Analysis of Psychosomatic Perceptions within a Musical/Sensory Laboratory at School

Abstract

The relationship between music and moods, within a suitably structured acoustic landscape, is important for the conscious perception of specific emotions and sensations. Music/sensory workshops using Acusmonium can be held in schools, where participants and artists can let their inner experiences flow, creating a bodily resonance, including through movement in space. The research’s musical performance was created through original works created with SOMA Laboratory organismic synthesizers and followed a narrative structure that guides listening like a sound story. The targeted use of frequencies and rhythms physically engages the body, synchronizing with the heartbeat and generating different emotional states. Each piece explores a specific psychosomatic reaction—movement, anger, fear, joy, and sadness—through specific acoustic parameters. Acousmatic music thus becomes a means of corporeal and symbolic communication, capable of evoking profound and universal sensations. Sounds act on the body and are in turn influenced by it, creating a resonant dialogue between perception, emotion, and the acoustic landscape. The statistical analysis, which also focused on the different experiences of men and women, was appropriately supported by the use of scales and questionnaires for the self-assessment of psychosomatic changes, administered on a test-retest basis. The results obtained through this approach, particularly innovative in the context of musical experimentation in schools, suggest a wider diffusion of this emotional journey methodology based on embodiment. Indeed, in addition to the development of introspective abilities and emotional perceptions in adolescents, in line with the most recent neuroscience studies, positive improvements in nonverbal communication and peer relationships emerge.