Final answer:
The stylistic tone of sad music allows for emotional expression by facilitating a contemplative mood, rather than inducing joy or energetic movement, which often leads to a reflective and cathartic experience.
Step-by-step explanation:
The stylistic tone of sad music in a composition facilitates emotional expression primarily through its ability to set a contemplative mood. Rather than enhancing rhythmic complexity, fostering joy, or encouraging energetic movement, sad music typically uses slower tempos, minor keys, and expressively melancholic melodies to facilitate a state of introspection. This musical atmosphere allows listeners to engage with and reflect upon the feelings being conveyed, often leading to a cathartic emotional experience. In artistic forms like television, movies, and even commercials, these musical cues are used to suggest specific emotions to the audience, suggesting that certain aspects of musical expression may indeed be cultural universals.