Musical experience: in attempts to define

Statement of the problem. World musicology is opening new frontiers every day, expanding the interdisciplinary field of research more and more. One of the littlestudied questions about the projection of the philosophical and psychological category of experience into the plane of musicology also belongs to this area. In Ukrainian musicology, this article is an attempt to provide an initial characterization of the concept of “musical experience” and the initial impetus for a broader study of this issue. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. A preliminary review of current scientific research and publications convinces us that at present there is no clear definition of the concept of musical experience, although there are descriptions of some tools, ways and means of its formation (Sessions, 1950; Orlov, 1992; Subota, 2013; Samoilenko, 2020 and some other). The novelty of this study consists in an attempt to draw the attention of the scientific community to the problem of experience as one of the basic categories of modern musicology, as well as to characterize and to define preliminarily the concept of “musical experience”, which is the purpose of this article. The following research methods were applied: historical – in the search for a historical basis for the formation of a modern paradigm of musical experience, source-based (a significant number of scientific sources of the humanitarian direction were processed), analytical and comparative when referring to the concepts of scientists; also the scientific judgments on the concept of musical experience for its further definition were systematized and generalized. Research results and conclusion. It was summarized that in the study of the phenomenon of musical experience, the interdisciplinary direction of musicology (involving the works on philosophy, psychology, sociology of music) will play a significant role, because the prerequisites for this are created by its “universality” (according H. Orlov, 1992), that is, the coverage of all aspects of human existence. Certain characteristics of the phenomenon of musical experience are indicated, which can be considered relatively established.  Gaining experience, in particular musical one, is a subjective internal process based on a person’s sensory perception of the external world, which involves the inner psychical and emotional response (feelings).  Musical experience is formed through various types of memory, among which musical memory dominates, both at the mental level (processing of what is heard, seen, felt) and at the physical level (bodily memory), i.e. it involves the “whole person”; the latter is referred to by H. Orlov as “universality”.  Musical experience is individual, unique, and specific, which is explained by its inextricable connection with the reality of a specific musical / cultural environment, which supplies the necessary “building material” for its formation.  Listening, studying, performing, creating music are types of activity, hence, musical experience as a holistic phenomenon is the result of various musical activities.  At the same time, experience as a result gives rise to new types of musical activity, that is, to new experience (previous experience is expanded, enriched); hence, it is included in the cognitive process and appears, thus, as a tool / means of knowing the world of musical art.  A certain level of musical experience enables successful communication, creates conditions for mutual understanding between creators and listeners of music, acting as a communicative tool. Today, musical experience should be considered as a multifaceted concept that requires more detailed study. We do not consider the proposed attempt to project the definition of the general philosophical concept of “experience” onto musical experience to be its final definition, since such requires additional deeper understanding.