The Developmental Psychology Of Music

This book sets out the psychological basis of musical development in children and adults. The study has two major objectives: to review the research findings, theories and methodologies relevant to the developmental study of music; and to offer a framework within which these can be organised so as to pave the way for future research. It describes the relationship between thinking and music, and discusses the relationship between thinking and music in pre-schoolers and schoolchildren in areas such as singing, aesthetic appreciation, rhythmic and melodic development, and the acquisition of harmony and tonality. The book describes the development of musical taste, and discusses the questions of musical creativity, and of the social psychology of musical taste and fashion. As a comprehensive study of the links between developmental psychology and music education, Hargreaves' work demonstrates the practical and theoretical importance of psychological research on the process underlying children's musical perception, cognition and performance.

A comprehensive, up-to-date introduction to the psychology of musical development in children and adults, from theory to research and applications.

The Psychology of Music draws together the diverse and scattered literature on the psychology of music. It explores the way music is processed by the listener and the performer and considers several issues that are of importance both to perceptual psychology and to contemporary music, such as the way the sound of an instrument is identified regardless of its pitch or loudness, or the types of information that can be discarded in the synthetic replication of a sound without distorting perceived timbre. Comprised of 18 chapters, this book begins with a review of the classical psychoacoustical literature on tone perception, focusing on characteristics of particular relevance to music. The attributes of pitch, loudness, and timbre are examined, and a summary of research methods in psychoacoustics is presented. Subsequent chapters deal with timbre perception; the subjective effects of different sound fields; temporal aspects of music; abstract structures formed by pitch relationships in music; different tests of musical ability; and the importance of abstract structural representation in understanding how music is performed. The final chapter evaluates the relationship between new music and psychology. This monograph should be a valuable resource for psychologists and musicians.

Comprehensive introduction by noted musicologist covers physical and physiological bases of sound and hearing, elements of tone, pitch, musical ability, origins of music, psychology of music, much more.

Music plays an important role in all our lives, and is a channel through which we can express emotions, thoughts, political statements, and social relationships. However, just as music can be a channel through which we express ourselves, it can also have a profound influence on our own developing sense of identity. This is the first book to explore the powerful effect that music can have as we develop our sense of identity, from adolescence through to adulthood. Bringing together leading experts from psychology and music, it will be a valuable addition to the music psychology literature, and essential for music psychologists, social and developmental psychologists, and educational psychologists.

This book deals with the complex cognitive processes involved in understanding two "horizontal" aspects of music perception, melody and rhythm, both separately and together. Focusing on the tonal framework for pitch material in melodies, the first section provides evidence that mere exposure to music organized in a particular way is sufficient to induce the auditory system to prepare itself to receive further input conforming to the patterns already experienced. Its chapters also offer evidence concerning elaborations of those basic schemes that come about through specialized training in music. Continuing themes from the first section -- such as the hypothesis that melodies must be treated as integral wholes and not mere collections of elements -- the second section discusses the integration of melody and rhythm. In these chapters there is an underlying concern for clarifying the relation -- central to aesthetic questions -- between physical patterns of sound energy in the world and our psychological experience of them. The chapters in the third section provide excellent examples of the new, scientific literature that attempts to objectively study early musical abilities. Their data establish that infants and young children are far more perceptive and skilled appreciators of music than was thought a decade ago.

In Psychology of Music: From Sound to Significance (2nd edition), the authors consider music on a broad scale, from its beginning as an acoustical signal to its different manifestations across cultures. In their second edition, the authors apply the same richness of depth and scope that was a hallmark of the first edition of this text. In addition, having laid out the topography of the field in the original book, the second edition puts greater emphasis on linking academic learning to real-world contexts, and on including compelling topics that appeal to students’ natural curiosity. Chapters have been updated with approximately 500 new citations to reflect advances in the field. The organization of the book remains the same as the first edition, while chapters have been updated and often expanded with new topics. 'Part I: Foundations' explores the acoustics of sound, the auditory system, and responses to music in the brain. 'Part II: The Perception and Cognition of Music' focuses on how we process pitch, melody, meter, rhythm, and musical structure. 'Part III: Development, Learning, and Performance' describes how musical capacities and skills unfold, beginning before birth and extending to the advanced and expert musician. And finally, 'Part IV: The Meaning and Significance of Music' explores social, emotional, philosophical and cultural dimensions of music and meaning. This book will be invaluable to undergraduates and postgraduate students in psychology and music, and will appeal to anyone who is interested in the vital and expanding field of psychology of music.