Music Perception and Cognition
Master in
Sound and Music Computing
Perfecto
Herrera-Boyer
Music Technology Group, UPF
First
trimester, Tuesdays and Thursdays (room 52S27), 18.00-19.30
Goals of the course
Competences to be acquired
Enrollment
requirements
Methodology
Grading
Calendar
Bibliography
Interesting links
Goals of the course
The course "Music
perception and cognition" will present, from an empirical and
computational point of view, the structural and functional principles
and structures that make possible humans to perceive and understand
sound and music. We will deal with the psychophisics of the
transduction, the neural encoding of the acoustic input, the perceptual
organization of audio streams, musical memory, melodic, rhythmic and
tonal cognition, emotion and music, and the development and learning of
musical abilities.
Competences
to be acquired
- General: Analytical skills; ability to find and use
information to solve a given problem; communication skills;
ability to work in a team.
- Specific: Scientific method; conceptual and methodological
rigourness; hypothesis evaluation and testing; experimental techniques
with human subjects; psychophysiology; cognitive processing; linking
physiological constraints to algorithms; exploiting knowledge from
perception and cognition to address music technology problems;
computational modelling.
ECTS
breakdown (1 ECTS = 25 hours of work)
Earning the 5 ECTS Credits for this subject will require,
approximately:
- 30 hours of
active participation in class
- 30 hours of
individual Reading activities
(10 hours reading, 20 hours writing reports)
- 20 hours of
individual Lab activites: 6 labs x 3 hours each
- 20 hours of group-based Experiment preparation and
realization
- 25 hours of
personal study and other activities
To take this course
it is desirable to have a scientific and musical background. Basic
knowledge on music, engineering, signal processing, mathematics,
statistics and physiology is desirable.
Methodology
- Sessions are either
"theory" or "discussion/labs".
- Theory sessions will present the most relevant concepts,
data, examples, experiments and papers related to the topics of the
course. A document with slides will be made available.
- In discussion/lab sessions we do:
- Present and comment assigned papers.
- Present and comment lab assignments and results.
- Other discussions on ongoing events, lab sessions, etc. will
also happen there.
- In experiment sessions we do:
- Preparation, realization and comment of an experiment on
music cognition. We will incrementally address a
research problem, elaborate hypothesis, propose an experiment, prepare
the instructions, stimuli and the setup, and comment the results once
it has been done.
- The course also includes lab sessions to be carried out
individually by each student at their own study time. They require
internet connection in order to download documents, play sounds and
answer questions. Every lab report is due in one week after the
assignment.
- The course may have
additional activity inside this private
wiki page. A moodle for the course will
probably be operational when the course is advanced.
Students will be graded according to:
- Lab reports (25%)
- Multiple-answer test on the
topics developed in the "theory" sessions to be taken by the end
of the trimester (30%)
- Participation
in the development and realization of an experiment proposed and
decided during the discussions in lab classes (20%)
- Reading reports
(25%)
- Bonus points for the Bring
Your Own Music (BYOM)
activity (see below)
Participation in ALL of them is
compulsory. Failure to on-time deliver the required reports or
assignments will automatically yield the grade "Suspens".
Calendar
- 22/09:
Presentation,
including listening examples.
- Please
answer and send me this initial
questionnaire as soon as you can.
- Reading
assignment 0: Levitin, D. (2000).
In search of the musical mind. Cerebrum, 2(4), pp. 1-24. Nothing to be
reported or delivered from these reading.
- 29/09:
Physiology
of music perception and cognition.
- 1/10:
Physiology
of music perception and cognition.
- Reading
assignment 1: You can select the complexity and detail of the reading
(choose one)
- Basic:
Moore,
B. (2003) Coding of sounds in the auditory system and its relevance to
signal processing and coding in cochlear implants. Otology
& Neurotology, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 243–254. Get
here the
paper
and the
questions to be answered. Delivery
deadline 15/10.
- In-depth: Moore, B. (2008) Basic
auditory processes involved in the analysis of speech sounds. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 363, pp.
947–963. Get
here the
paper and the
questions to be answered. Delivery deadline
15/10.
- 6/10:
Research
methods and techniques.
- Deadline
for delivering Lab assignment 1.
- 8/10:
Experiment preparation session 1. Presentation
of the problem.
Reading assignment (this one
will require group presentation of summary in the next experiment
preparation session). Choose one
among the following (they will have to
be group-presented on 29/10 (Experiment session 2):
- McAdams, S., Reynolds, R., Vieillard, S.,
Houix, O. (2004).
Perception
of Musical Similarity Among Contemporary Thematic
Materials in Two Instrumentations, Music
perception, Vol. 22, No.
2, pp. 207-237.
- Eerola, T., Järvinen, T., Louhivuori, L., Toiviainen
, P. (2001).
Statistical
Features and Perceived Similarity of Folk Melodies, Music
perception, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp 275–296.
- Berenzweig, A., Logan, B., Ellis, D.P.W., Whitman, B. (2004).
A
Large-Scale Evaluation of Acoustic and Subjective Music-Similarity
Measures, Computer Music Journal,
Vol. 28, Issue 2, pp. 63-76.
- Aucouturier, J.J., Pachet, F. (2002). Music Similarity Measures: What’s the Use?
Proceedings of the 3rd. International Conference on Music Information
Retrieval. Paris, France.
- Schulkind, M.D., Posner, R.J., Rubin,
D.C. (2003). Musical Features That
Facilitate Melody Identification: How Do You Know It’s “Your” Song When
They Finally Play It? Music
Perception, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp 217–249
- 13/10:
Psychophysics
of the basic sound dimensions: Frequency Resolution.
- 15/10
(missed): Psychophysics
of the basic sound dimensions: Loudness.
- Deadline
for delivering Reading assignment 1.
- 20/10: Psychophysics
of the basic sound dimensions: Loudness.
- Deadline
for delivering Lab assignment 2.
- Reading assignment 2:
Justus, T.C. & Bharucha,
J.J. (2002). Music perception and cognition. In S. Yantis (Volume Ed.)
and H. Pashler (Series Ed.), Stevens’
Handbook of Experimental Psychology, Volume 1: Sensation and Perception
(Third Edition, pp. 453-492). New York: Wiley. Get
here the paper and the
questions to be answered. Delivery deadline
10/11.
- 22/10:
Psychophysics
of the basic sound dimensions: Pitch.
- 27/10: Psychophysics
of the basic sound dimensions: Timbre.
- 29/10: Experiment
preparation session 2. Presentation of readings. Experiment definition:
task, stimuli, procedure, subjects, apparatus.
- 03/11:
Perceptual
organization
- 04/11: Extra class,
recovery of missing class (15/10): Perceptual
organization
- 05/11:
Perceptual
organization
- 10/11:
Music and
memory
- Deadline for reading
assignment 2.
- Reading assignment 3.
Select
one of the readings according to your main interests and motivation
(questions are included in the pack). Delivery
deadline 9/12.
- Juslin, P. and
Laukka, P. (2004). Expression,
Perception, and Induction of Musical Emotions: A Review and a
Questionnaire Study of Everyday Listening. Journal of New Music Research,
33(3), pp. 217–238.
- Palmer, C. (1997). Music Performance. Annual Review of
Psychology, 48, pp. 115–38.
- Shamma, S. (2001). On
the Role of Space and Time in Auditory Processing. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5(8),
pp. 340-348.
- Tillmann, B.,
Barucha, J., Bigand, E. (2000). Implicit
Learning of Tonality: A
Self-Organizing approach. Psychological
Review, 107(4), pp. 885-913.
- Bigand, E.,
Poulin-Charronnat, B. (2006). Are we
‘‘experienced
listeners’’? A review of the musical capacities
that do not depend on formal musical training. Cognition, 100, pp.100–130.
- 12/11:
Experiment preparation session
3. Stimuli. Task definition.
- 17/11: Music and
memory
- 19/11:
Music and
memory, Rhythm
- 24/11: Rhythm
- 26/11:
Experiment
preparation: assignment of annotations and further work. Melody
- 1/12: Melody
- 3/12:
Emotion
- 10/12: BYOM
(Bring Your Own Music): Every student has to bring at least one example
of a piece of music apparently challenging or illustrating some of our
perception/cognition mechanisms, and discuss that challenge or
illustration.
- 15/12:
Multiple-answer test.
- Experiment wrap-up.
Bibliography
Introductory level
-
Jourdain.
R. (1997). Music, the Brain, and
Ecstasy: How Music Captures Our Imagination. New York: William Morrow and Company.
-
Levitin, D. (2007) This is your brain on music: The Science of a Human Obsession. Penguin. Book
website with sound examples.
-
Sacks, O. (2007). Musicophilia: tales of music and the brain.
Knopf Publishing Group. Book
website with videos and related links.
-
Storr, A. (1992). Music
and the Mind. New York:
The Free Press, 1992.
Technical
level
-
Butler,
D. (1992). The Musician's Guide to
Perception and Cognition. New York:
Schirmer Books.
- Bregman, A S (1990) Auditory Scene Analysis:
the perceptual organisation of sound. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
-
Cook, P.
R. (Ed.) (1999). Music, Cognition, & Computerized Sound: An
Introduction
to Psychoacoustics. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.
-
Deliège, I. & Sloboda, J. (eds.) (1996) Musical Beginnings: Origins and
Development of Musical Competence. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
-
Deutsch D.
(editor). (1999). The
Psychology of Music.
Second edition. San Diego: Academic Press.
-
Dowling,
W. J. & Harwood, D. L. (1986). Music Cognition. Orlando,
FL: Academic Pr.
-
Fiske, H. E.
(1996). Selected theories of music
perception. Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press.
-
Fiske, H. E.
(2008). Understanding
Musical Understanding: The Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology of the
Musical Experience . Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press.
-
Handel,
S. (1989). Listening:
An introduction to the perception of auditory
events. Cambridge,
MA:
MIT Press.
-
Hargreaves, D. J. & North, A. C. (Eds.) (1997). The
Social Psychology of Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
-
Howard,
D. & Angus, J. (2000). Acoustics
and
psychoacoustics, 2nd edition. London: Focal Press.
-
Huron, D. (2006). Sweet anticipation:
Music and the Psychology of Expectation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
-
Juslin, P. & Sloboda, J.
(2001). Music and Emotion. New York: Oxford University Press.
-
McAdams,
S. & Deliège, I. (1990). Music
and the Cognitive Sciences. Orlando: Harwood Academic Publishers.
-
Moore,
B. (2003). An Introduction to the
Psychology of Hearing, 5th edition. London:Academic Press Ltd.
-
Patel,
A. (2007). Music,
Language and the
Brain. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. Book
website with sound examples.
-
Peretz, I.
& Zatorre R.J. (Eds.). (2003). The
Cognitive Neuroscience of Music. New York: Oxford University
Press.
-
Plack,
C.J. (2005). The sense of hearing. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
-
Sloboda,
J. (1986). The Musical Mind: The Cognitive Psychology of Music.
New York: Oxford
University Press.
-
Snyder
B. (2000). Music and Memory: An
Introduction. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
-
Zwicker,
E., Fastl, H., i Frater, H. (2007) Psychoacoustics:
Facts and Models, 3rd edition. Berlin: Springer.
Interesting
links
An ongoing study on personality and music
preferences
The EMCAP (Emergent
Cognition throuogh active perception) showcase
A
series of short articles on Music and Science published by the journal
"Nature"
The
Human Ear, animations from the book "Principles of
Cognitive Neuroscience" by Purves et al.; see also here.
Auditory
demonstrations by the University of Sheffield
Music Cognition
website by the University of Amsterdam (Henkjan Honing)
Henkjan Honing's blog on music cognition
David
Huron, Music
Cognition @ Ohio State University, Music
Cognition Resource Center and the Music
Cognition Handbook are probably very good pages to search
about this topic.
Elaine Chew
David Meredith
Roger
Kendall
Richard
Parncutt
Institute for Music and Brain Science
Cerebro,
Música y Lenguaje (in Spanish): Una introducción al
Procesamiento
Auditivo Cerebral en Músicos y en No-músicos
European Society for the
Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM): They issue a
news bulletin and a journal with articles in different languages:
MUSICAE SCIENTIAE.
Society
of Music Perception and Cognition. ç
Video lectures on
music topics (including psychoacoustics, music cognition, music
content processing, etc.)
Tests
Distorted
melodies
Musical skills,
based on Isabelle Peretz's research
Journals:
Journal
of the Acoustical
Society of America
Music Perception
Psychology of Music
CAIRSS for Music This is a
search engine for articles in the area of research on music,
particularly the psychology of music.
Conferences:
Page
http://mtg.upf.edu/~perfe/cursos/mpc
created and maintained by Perfecto Herrera.