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An innovative new project enabling music lovers to create and curate a soundtrack for their life was launched today by the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

My Life As A Playlist is a major cross-platform project produced by ABC Arts and presented by ABC Radio National's The Inside Sleeve host Robbie Buck.

Over five weeks users will be able to create music playlists for five major life events - birth, childhood, falling in love, heartbreak, wedding and funeral - using an interactive website.

They can share selections, explore other people's playlists and discuss the reasons behind their choices.  There will be surveys and pop quizzes that produce instant results about how and why you like the music.

The results will feed into the Centre for the History of Emotions' research exploring musical choices, emotions elicited, personality and social context.  The Centre will examine the history of the socio-emotional uses of music across time and culture, offering a history of emotions perspective on why and how we use music in our lives.

The project was developed by Winthrop Professor Jane Davidson, Deputy Director of ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions at The University of Western Australia, and UWA researcher Sandra Garrido.

Professor Davidson, an internationally recognised researcher in performance and music psychology, said the project focused on how music was used as a means of emotional regulation at individual and communal levels.

"Through our partnership with the ABC, the creation of this website has given us the opportunity to engage with the Australian public in a fun yet meaningful way to collect important data about music, personality, culture and history," Professor Davidson said.

The ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions focuses on European life from 1100 to 1800 and its impact on Australia today.  Professor Davidson and UWA researcher Sandra Garrido have developed the project and will collect new details about how people interact with music and associated beliefs and attitudes surrounding those musical behaviours and connect these to their extensive historical research data.

My Life As A Playlist will roll out over the next five weeks, with each week featuring a new theme.  The themes of love and heartbreak, weddings, funerals, childhood, and birthdays will be explored across the ABC's radio networks Radio National, Local and Triple J.

Media references

Winthrop Professor Jane Davidson (ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions)  (+61 8)  6488 7176
Simone Hewett (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8) 6488 7977  /  (+61 4) 13 444 154