The article discusses Peter Kivy’s contour theory explicating the relationship between music and emotions. To enhance its potential to describe emotions expressed in instrumental music, The author proposes a modification to the theory suggesting that more emphasis should be placed on the metaphorical character of descriptions and arguing that the contour theory should be treated as a strategy for unpacking such metaphors. In this way, specific narrative descriptions of music in non-musical terms, if treated as metaphors and not as interpretative claims about the music’s actual contents, will retain their legitimacy.