Abstract: The pattern of tension-relaxation is an essential component in music. Musical tension, building a bridge between objective sound and subjective experience, is important for the generation of musical emotion. On the one hand, musical tension is influenced by acoustic elements and structural organizations of tonal hierarchy, which is supported by theoretic models and empirical studies. On the other hand, musical tension experienced by listeners is also affected by individual differences, such as cultural background and musical ability. Future studies should pay more attention to musical tension induced by temporal structure and large-scale tonal structure. Meanwhile, the mechanism of tension induction also needs to be examined, which will be helpful to deepen our understanding of tension and emotion processing in music.

Key words: musical tension, tonal structure, acoustic elements, cultural background, music ability