# From Game to Concert: Exploratory Listening in ‘Stardew Valley: Festival of Seasons’ Concert Tour

## TL;DR

This paper explores how people listen to and experience music from the game Stardew Valley during live concerts, focusing on attention, immersion, and enjoyment.

## Contribution

The study introduces the concept of exploratory listening in the context of game music concerts, highlighting diverse audience engagement.

## Key findings

- Attendees focused on different aspects of the music, such as melodies or the concert's audiovisual elements.
- Highly immersed listeners experienced thoughts beyond the immediate musical content.
- Exploratory listening influences attention, immersion, and enjoyment in musical and audiovisual settings.

## Abstract

Exploratory listening encompasses the various ways, contexts, and levels of attention with which listeners engage with their sonic environment. This paper presents findings from qualitative research conducted with audience members during the Stardew Valley: Festival of Seasons concert tour. During these events, attendees encountered music from the widely successful indie video game, reorchestrated in a new context. Just as the game encourages exploration through open-ended gameplay, the concerts prompt listeners to explore how the rearranged music refers to and diverges from its use in the game. Findings suggest that attendees deployed their attention to divergent aspects of the music. While some attendees focused on specific musical aspects like recognizable melodies and instrumentation, others focused on the broader audiovisual and community aspects of the performance. Results also indicate that highly immersed listeners experience diverse thoughts, including those not directly about the immediate musical content. Positioning music-evoked imaginings as a way listeners become immersed in musical experiences, we report on how exploratory listening shapes the dynamics of attention, immersion, and enjoyment within musical and audiovisual contexts.