The psychology of music an overview

Transcription

1 University Press Scholarship Online You are looking at 1-10 of 11 items for: keywords : psychology of music The psychology of music an overview Eric Clarke, Nicola Dibben, and Stephanie Pitts in Music and mind in everyday life Published in print: 2009 Published Online: ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ The psychology of music is a well-established discipline and has been instrumental in understanding social and cultural phenomena that regularly transpire in human beings' daily lives. As a formative and well-founded discipline of study, the psychology of music has its own institutions, empirical methods, research agenda, and a wide range of publications. Since the book generally focuses on trying to understand phenomena and to answer questions related to music and veers away from reflecting on the psychology of music as a wellestablished discipline, this chapter attempts to compensate by providing a foundation on the book's primary field of study. This final chapter presents a brief history of the psychology of music which dates back to the era of well-known Greek philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, and Aristoxenus. This brief account presents how the psychology of music has developed over time and how the discipline looks at present in this contemporary era. Its development, however, brought forth a number of preoccupations and blind spots which this chapter touches upon as it closes. Music and mind in everyday life Eric Clarke, Nicola Dibben, and Stephanie Pitts Published in print: 2009 Published Online: ISBN: eisbn: Item type: book acprof:oso/ Music pervades everyday life. In so many ways, music marks and orchestrates the ways in which people experience the world together. What is it that makes people want to live their lives to the sound of music, and why do so many of our most private experiences and most Page 1 of 6

2 public spectacles incorporate or even depend on music? This book uses psychology to understand musical behaviour and experience in a range of circumstances, including composing and performing, listening and persuading, and teaching and learning. Starting from real world examples of musical experiences, it critically examines the ways in which psychology can explain people's diverse experience of, and engagement with music, focusing on how music is used, acquired, and made in a range of familiar musical contexts. Using a framework of real and imagined musical scenarios, the book draws on a wide range of research in the psychology of music and music education. The book is organized into three central sections. Firstly, it tackles the psychology of playing, improvising, and composing music, understood as closely related and integrated activities. Next, it addresses the ways in which people listen to music, manage their emotions, moods, and identities with music, and use music for therapy, persuasion, and social control. Finally, it considers music in human development, and in a range of more formal and informal educational contexts. The final chapter provides an overview of the history and preoccupations of music psychology as a discipline. Concluding remarks Adrian C. North and David J. Hargreaves in The Social and Applied Psychology of Music Published in print: 2008 Published Online: ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ Through its emphasis on experimental cognitive psychology and approach to classical music as high art, the old 1980s paradigm for music psychology failed to point out the social, emotional, and financial value that music has to the general public going about their everyday lives. The topics of research that the social and applied paradigm leads to may be new to music psychology but in fact have been a concern to society for centuries now. It is surprising then that other topics dominated music psychology until only recently. But social psychological and applied issues are now at the heart of the discipline. This chapter states a hope and belief that the social and applied psychology of music is well placed to put the case for the defence of music as a cherished object in 21st-century society. Page 2 of 6

3 Cognition and Real Music: The Psychology of Music Comes of Age acprof:oso/ This chapter believes that there are five important characteristics of a healthy paradigm: an agreed set of central problems; agreed methods for working on these problems; agreed theoretical frameworks in which to discuss them; techniques and theories which are specific to the paradigm; research which is appropriate to the whole range of phenomena in the domain being studied. Although parts of this recipe have been present in different research endeavours, the full set has only recently emerged at one time and within a research community who intercommunicate their ideas and results. Journals such as Music Perception and regular conferences, have been, and continue to be vitally important to the health of the discipline. The chapter takes each of the five characteristics of a paradigm in turn, and elaborates on them in the context of the psychology of music. Music in people's lives Eric Clarke, Nicola Dibben, and Stephanie Pitts in Music and mind in everyday life Published in print: 2009 Published Online: ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ This chapter discusses the psychological functions of music in the aforementioned event. Music, according to this chapter, has four major functions classified into four categories: Ordering and organizing time; Representing and expressing people and values; Controlling and facilitating participation and observation; and Channelling and expressing emotions. Using Princess Diana's funeral as a case in point, the chapter delves on each function by presenting concrete and factual events that took place during Princess Diana's funeral. This chapter also shares valuable insights on the psychology of music and how it differs from musicology. This chapter closes with a comprehensive synthesis of the topics and discussions that the book will delve into in the succeeding chapters. Page 3 of 6

4 The Psychology of Music Reading acprof:oso/ The ability to read music is, if not essential, an irreplaceable asset to anyone who indulges in musical activity. There are two points that need to be established: firstly, that influential commentators on psychological aspects of music have, in fact, had very little to say about music reading; secondly, that this neglect is unjustified in consideration of the importance of musical literacy for overall musical competence. This book argues further, however, that the reading facility is not simply a useful additional skill for a musician to have, it is, in a sense, necessary for full membership of the musical community. The book shows that the psychological study of music reading is an important area of the psychology of music which nevertheless has bearing on central theoretical and practical issues in music. It offers one important route to a better understanding of the nature of musical cognition itself. Music and Worship: A Psychologists Perspective acprof:oso/ The role of music in worship is not a topic that has greatly exercised psychologists. Both the psychology of music and the psychology of religion are very much fringe topics in contemporary psychology. The number of psychologists interested in both must be tiny. This chapter takes a phenomenological approach to worship. That is to say, the chapter concentrates on what it understands people to be doing or feeling in worship, and tries to describe this in theologically neutral language. Where it has seemed necessary, for ease of expression, to use terms like God, the chapter is neither claiming to be theologically precise nor attempting to use any particular set of dogmatic assumptions, whether Christian or otherwise, to support the arguments. It further shows that one has choices about the mental processes one engages in a musical context, and discusses musical ineffability. Page 4 of 6

5 Emotional Response to Music: A Review acprof:oso/ The reason that many people engage with music, as performers or listeners, is that it has power to evoke or enhance valued emotional states. Studies supporting this general assertion are reviewed in this chapter. In the light of this one might have expected the study of emotion to be central to the psychology of music. This has not been the case. This chapter discusses conceptual issues, including the inherent variability of emotional response. It also addresses some of the methodological issues arising primarily from difficulties of measurement. Notwithstanding the difficulties inherent in research on this topic, some progress has been made, and the chapter outlines some major findings, including some evidence that a major subset of emotional responses are cued by confirmations and violations of expectancy within the musical structure, in line with the predictions arising from the theoretical proposals first articulated by L. B. Meyer. Empirical Studies of Emotional Response to Music acprof:oso/ There is a general consensus that music is capable of arousing deep and significant emotion in those who interact with it. These experiences deserves a more central position in the psychology of music than it currently enjoys because such experiences are widespread and seem to be important motivators for engagement with music. This chapter explores how empirical science may study this type of phenomenon and to summarise some of what is known about it. In a previously unpublished study, regular listeners to music described in their own words the nature of their most valued emotional experiences of music. Although every account was different in detail, some common themes emerged. The most commonly mentioned concept was that of music as change agent. Common to these examples is the characterisation Page 5 of 6

6 of music as offering an alternative perspective on a person's situation, allowing him or her to construe things differently. Music Learning Theory: A Theoretical Framework in Action Cynthia Crump Taggart in Teaching General Music: Approaches, Issues, and Viewpoints Published in print: 2016 Published Online: March 2016 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ Music learning theory (MLT), which was developed by Edwin Gordon, provides a theoretical framework for teaching music. At its core is the goal of developing audiation skills so that students can become musically independent. MLT is built upon research focusing on the similarities between the music and language learning processes; acquiring a sense of syntactical structure is central to both. This focus on syntax differentiates MLT from most other music learning approaches. The two primary components of MLT instruction are learning sequence activities (i.e., tonal and rhythm pattern instruction) and classroom activities. These combine to form a whole-part-whole approach to teaching music, with classroom activities serving as the wholes, and pattern instruction serving as the part. Individualizing instruction to meet the musical needs of each child is fundamental to MLT. This chapter explores the theoretical underpinnings of MLT, how it unfolds in practice, and its strengths and weaknesses. Page 6 of 6