MUS 20: Exploring the Musical Mind
About This Course
This course introduces research from psychologists, cognitive scientists, neuroscientists, evolutionary biologists, philosophers, ethnomusicologists, and more, to illuminate how we hear and how we become musical.
This course is offered by the Music Department at UC San Diego.
What You Will Learn
Students are exposed to a diverse array of musical practices and cultures and are encouraged to listen to new music in new ways.
The course examines the physical and physiological dimensions of hearing, the fundamentals of music perception, and the cognitive constraints and affordances inherent to musical systems around the world.
It explores a range of related topics, including:
- The evolutionary significance of music;
- The relationship of music to language, emotion, and identity;
- How music engages other cognitive functions, such as attention, memory, expectation, executive function, and more.
The course also asks compelling sociological questions, such as the role music plays in our everyday lives, if music participation throughout the lifespan correlates with positive learning and health outcomes, and if music can enhance intercultural competence. At its core, the course insists on a bio-cultural understanding of our fundamental musicality.
What You Will Do
By the end of the course, students will:
- Understand the origins and function of music
- Understand how we hear and how we become musical
- Understand the role that biology and culture play in shaping our fundamental musicality
- Understand the physical and physiological dimensions of hearing, including sound waves, the ear, the cochlea, the auditory cortex, and the brain
- Understand the fundamentals of music perception, including loudness, pitch, tuning, timbre, and rhythm
- Understand the cognitive constraints and affordances inherent to musical scales, melodies, rhythms, harmonies, timbres, and textures from around the world
- Understand the role that memory and expectation play in dynamically shaping musical meanings and in forming musical tastes
- Understand the relationship between music, language, motion, and emotions
- Understand the role that music can play during infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, including its potential effects on how we socialize, work, exercise, consume, and more
- Understand research on the cognitive and health benefits of music education and music therapy
- Understand musical practices around the world and future directions in musical research
Prerequisites
None.
This course assumes no prior knowledge.
Course Meeting Details
Required Live Sessions: None.
Course content (video lectures, discussion prompts, readings, etc.) is delivered asynchronously.
All assignments and exams will be submitted online.
The instructional staff will hold scheduled (synchronous) weekly instructor office hours, which are optional and also available by appointment.
Course Topics
- The Art and Science of Music
- A Brief History of Music Psychology
- What is Music? Ethnomusicology?
- Music in the Context of Evolution
- Music and Language
- Music, Motion, and Play
- Audition and Vision
- The Auditory Process
- The Processing of Music
- Music and Emotion
- Music in Childhood
- Music in Adolescence
- Music in Adulthood
- Music and Work
- Music, Commerce, and Advertising
- Music, Health, and Wellness
- Beyond Ethnocentrism?
- Beyond Anthropocentrism?
- Future Avenues for Research and Creativity