Music psychopathology. II. Assessment of musical expression

A short polarity profile which was well suited for the assessment of the musical expression of performances recorded from mentally ill patients and controls is described. 9 out of 12 polarities showed sufficient differentiating qualities, ranging from professional to poor amateur performances. Only 3 polarities had to be reformulated. The assessments of the 3 experts had a high interrater reliability and retest stability. The very significant correlation between the results of the experts and 50 independent subjects indicates the validity of the experiment.