SYLLABUS: Music Cognition Seminar

Current AssignmentsÊÊÊÊÊÊMishra readings

MUSI 6397, section 12355
MUSI 8394, section 12353

     10:00-11:30 MW, Room 116
University of Houston
Moores School of Music

Dr. Tim Koozin     office: 148      phone: 743-3318    office hours: TuTh 11:00 and by appointment
Ê                              email: tkoozin@uh.edu                  web page: http://www.uh.edu/~tkoozin/

Course Description and Learning Outcomes: The course will focus on readings and approaches to musical analysis that explore the perception and understanding of music. This graduate-level music theory elective will be of interest to performers, music educators, and teachers of music theory. Students will gain a foundation for understanding theoretical and empirical research in the psychology of perception relevant to music listening, performance, and analysis.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing in music
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Selected readings:

 ÊÊÊÊÊJustin London. Hearing in Time: Psychological Aspects of Musical Meter (Oxford, 2004). ML3832.L65 2004

 ÊÊÊÊÊGary S. Karpinski. Aural Skills Acquisition: The Development of Listening, Reading, and Performing Skills in College-Level Musicians (Oxford, 2000). MT35.K186 2000

 ÊÊÊÊÊEric F. Clarke. Ways of Listening (Oxford, 2005). ML3845.C494 2005

 ÊÊÊÊÊNicholas Cook. Music, Imagination, and Culture (Oxford, 1990). ML3845.C67 1990

 ÊÊÊÊÊDavid Butler. The Musician's Guide to Perception and Cognition (Schirmer Books, 1992). ML3830.B95 1992

Additional readings will be available through UH e-Reserve.
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Grading: Assignments, class participation, quizzes       40%
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ      First paper ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ                             30%    
                 Second paper (Due Nov 26)                        30%

Last day to drop without a grade: September 4           Last day to drop or withdraw: October 31

UH Policies on Academic Honesty can be found online at: http://www.uh.edu/provost/stu/stu_syllabsuppl.html.

Students with disabilities are asked to bring to the instructor's attention any special accommodations they may require.

Current Assignments: (Prepare to bring and discuss two sources cited in the following)

Matthew W. Butterfield. The Power of Anacrusis: Engendered Feeling in Groove-Based Musics. MTO 12.4 (2006)

Fernando Benadon. Commentary on Matthew W. Butterfield's ÒThe Power of AnacrusisÓ MTO 13.1 (2007)

Matthew W. Butterfield. Response to Fernando Benadon. MTO 13.3 (2007)

Fernando Benadon. A Circular Plot for Rhythm Visualization and Analysis. MTO 13.3 (2007)

Gary Karpinski. Aural Skills Acquisition , Ch 5 & 6. (Other Listening Skills; Basic Performing Skills) UH e-Reserve

MTO reading:ÊMignonÊÊÊ Gould ÊÊÊFinal texts:ÊMignonTextÊÊGouldTextÊÊÊÊAudio:ÊMignonAudio


Term Paper (Due Nov 26)

A research paper eight to ten pages in length on a focused topic related to our class readings and discussion. The paper will include:

(1) A section in the paper devoted to critical commentary on four readings related to your topic

(2) A section in which you more independently explore of your topic

(3) A bibliography of at least ten sources.

Possible topic areas:

Microtiming, meter, and tempo: Readings and performance analysis

Informing music theory pedagogy through cognition studies: Readings and teaching strategies

Studies in cognition and analysis of rhythm: Relating perception studies to musical analysis of hypermeter, phrasing, and articulation

Performance anxiety

Disability and music

Aural skills and improvisation

Modes of listening; differences among listeners; ÒDeep ListenersÓ

Guided Listening

Paper Research: Readings and Study Questions

(Nov 5)

Matthew Loudermilk

Paul M. Lehrer. "A Review of the Approaches to the Management of Tension and Stage Fright in Music Performance," Journal of Research in Music Education, vol. 35 no. 3, 143-152.

1) What three types of anxiety does the author identify?

2) What are the manifestations of each type of anxiety?

3) What possible forms of treatment does the author suggest for each type of anxiety?

Melissa Fife

Andrew Steptoe. Performance Anxiety. Recent Developments in Its Analysis and Management, The Musical Times, Vol. 123, No. 1674. (Aug., 1982), pp. 537-541

1. What differences does the author point out between professionals, music students, and other people in the situations in this article?

2. Do you think that any one method for controlling performance anxiety in this article are more effective than the others? Why?

3. Do you think that a class on methods for controlling performance anxiety should be a required part of the core curriculum for music students?

Joshua Ello

Lynn Harting. ÒLet Yourself Perform: Confidence Building Tips,Ó

Music Educators Journal , Vol. 72, No. 1. (Sep., 1985), pp. 46-48.

1.  What kind of ideas have cultivated the kind of anxiety that musicians experience during performance?

2,  What are the two things that musicians commonly rely on which create memory slips?

3.  Do you agree with the author that Òverbal directions should be replaced with purely musical thoughtsÓ? How do you interpret this statement, and what goes on in your own mind when facilitating the performing process?

(Nov 7)

Daniel Alexander

1) The author's main argument in the article "Emotive Transforms" is that in order for singers to sing expressively (as opposed to neutrally or uncommunicatively) they must apply two basic principles:
-Grouping (ie marking of the hierarchical structure; and
-Differentiation (ie enhancing the difference between tone categories).

Do you agree? Are there any other principles - basic principles - that could contribute to an expressive performance?

2) Imagine you had one or two instrumental students at graduate level who were technically very proficient but whose performances were neutral and lacking in emotive power. Based on this article and on your other musical activities, what exercises would you suggest to help them to gain expressivity?

3) If, for example from your answer to 2), you ask them to sing their music vocally and/or add text to the music, why and how could this be beneficial?

Zachary Wilder

Timothy L. Hubbard . ÒSynesthesia-like Mappings of Lightness, Pitch, and Melodic Interval,Ó   The American Journal of Psychology , Vol. 109, No. 2. (Summer, 1996), pp. 219-238.

1. what purposes these associations might serve.

2. how this would apply mechanically to an instrument and to singing.

3. could the origins of these associations come from acoustics? Vowels have pitch and and the darker vowels have their centers at lower pitches, vesus the brighter vowels which have their centers on higher pitches--could this be related?

Nov 12

Trevor Braselton

Carol MacKnight. ÒMusic Reading Ability of Beginning Wind Instrumentalists after Melodic Instruction,Ó Journal of Research in Music Education, vol. 23, No. 1 (Spring 1995), pp.23-34.

1. After reading this article, discuss any problems you found in the process or conclusions of the expirement.

2. What do the results of this expirement tell us about the tonal patterning versus note-by-note learning procedures?

John Alstrin: How Many Music Centers Are in the Brain?

•  What are brain substrates?  

•  What is a module, and how does it relate to brain function?

•  According to the studies cited in the article what are the findings about sound perception in the different hemispheres of the brain?   Briefly, how were these discovered?   

•  In looking at Figure 1 on p. 277, what do the brain maps tell us about the difference between ÒDeclarativeÓ and ÒProceduralÓ learning groups as compared to the ÒControlÓ group?

•  In looking at Figure 2 on p. 279, what does this graph tell us about the interdependency between auditory information processing (x-axis) and increasing complexity of neuronal networks (y-axis) in relation to the training of the listener and their symbolic, visual, auditory and sensory-motor representations.  

Tim Duhr: Eric Johnson and Edward Klonoski. "Connecting the Inner Ear and the Voice," Choral Journal 44:3 (Oct 2003) 35-40.

(No class Nov 14)

Nov 19: Jennifer Mishra

Nov 26:

Jeff Munger. Review Essay on Christopher Hasty's Meter as Rhythm (1997)

Focus onÊpages 265-267 in the review. In the article London reviews many broad theories formed by Hasty about meter and its relationship to rhythm. Hasty believes that meter is a subspecies of rhythm. London argues that meter is a kind of listening behavior. Something that we impose in order to comprehend..."A mode of attending."
1. What is it that binds a measure together?
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ London--is it strong vs. weak beats
ÊÊÊ ÊÊÊ Hasty--is it durational hierarchy
2. What informs the structuring of subordinate events?
3. Do you agree with the idea that "larger durations are potentials for action and smaller durations are opportunities for gaining accuracy?

Miranda Murphy

Jack Benson

Littlefield, Richard C. ÒThe Silence of the Frame,Ó Music Theory Online 2.1 (January 1996).

1. Within this article, Littlefield begins by expanding on Cone's analogy of the silence before and after a musical performance is likened to a frame around a picture. What is Littlefield's actual purpose of this paper in respect to Cone and his analogy?

2. Do you feel that music is in fact framed by silence?

3. Other than the obvious (i.e. rests, pausesÉ) what functions can silence serve within music in respect to musical structure, phrasing, articulation or any other significant element within music? Or, can silent devices be described in such a way?

Study these readings for our guest lecture by Dr. Jennifer Mishra on Monday, November 19.

Mishra, J. (2002). Context-dependent memory: Implications for musical performance. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 20(2), 27-31. FULL ARTICLE

Mishra, J. & Backlin, W. (2007). The effects of altering environmental and instrumental context on the performance of memorized music. Psychology of Music, 35(3), 453-472. FULL ARTICLE

Nov 28, FINAL CLASS MEETING:

1) Select a reading introduced by one of your classmates, as listed above. Prepare to lead a five-minute discussion on one aspect of the reading.

2) Read "The Picture and the Frame: The Nature of Musical Form," from Edward T. Cone, Musical Form and Musical Performance. This is located in the "Additional Readings" of our UH e-Reserve. Be ready to discuss Cone's essay in relation to the Littlefield MTO reading that Jack introduced last time.

3) Read selection from Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia, "Music on the Brain: Imagery and Imagination." UH e-Reserve