Fantasy control : Implications for distributed imagination and affect attunement in music and sound

This chapter deals with the control of imagination. Three thematically distinct aspects of sonic imagination are investigated – archive, context, and identification – together with two modes of connection with the environment – metaphorical projection and affect attunement. It is argued that much of the available work on sonic imagination, music perception, and embodied cognitive science suffers from a one-person perspective, unable to explain either the difference between environmental sound and culture-specific music, or the dominant role of feelings in our musical experiences. In its stead an approach is suggested that assigns central importance to affect attunement in our encounters with sound and music. Through a case study, different types of sonic control are exemplified, showing that control of sonic imagination may be both negative and positive for the listener