ABSTRACT. Our paper brings to light the importance of musical compositions as created worlds of aural experience, the communication of emotion in music performance, and music’s role in relation to the construction of the self. As Graham puts it, any assessment of a musical composition must take account of its intrinsic structure as well as its effect upon the listener. DeNora emphasizes that there are ways of attending to music as an active ingredient in the construction of affect without eliding the empirical processes of musical consumption. (pp. 197–202)