Courses

Music is pervasive in our lives, and not just for trained musicians. Consider some of the contexts in which we encounter music: ceremonies and rituals, social gatherings, private listening, formal performances, and multimedia (e.g., films). Perhaps you can think of more. Consider some of the functions of music: social bonding, mood regulation, emotional expression, artistic expression, and identity formation. Again, perhaps you can think of more. The ubiquity of music, and its diverse functions, signals its importance in our mental and social experiences as human beings. How do you study that!? One way is through introspection. What do you use music for, and how does it affect you? Another way is through developing ways to describe the structure of musical sounds using acoustics and music theory (think “consonance,” “chords,” “harmony,” “melody,” “rhythm,” etc.). Yet another way is using scientific methods that examine the mind.   In this course, we will explain musical experiences and behaviors using cognitive science: an interdisciplinary science that aims to explain thought processes. When we apply cognitive science to music, we get the field called “music cognition.” This is a music cognition course—it is not just for people with musical training, but rather for people interested in the mental workings of music. 

One of the exciting things about music cognition is that when we learn about it, we must synthesize many perspectives on music, including our introspections, our knowledge of the musical sounds themselves, theories of the mind, and our scientific research skills. Studying music cognition also encourages us to think about how science can be applied to something artistic and humanistic. This is a complicated and subtle issue, and many of our discussions will concern whether it is possible to do this, and how to do it in a way that is sensitive to culturally-relative views on music. 

To be specific, in the course we will work through music cognition explanations of many musical capacities and behaviors, including how music expresses emotions, creativity in music, whether different species produce music, the relationship between music and language, how music communicates meaning, and more (see the syllabus for more details). You will also gain some technical and practical understanding of the methods of music cognition, including learning about how researchers create controlled experiments on music (you will work in groups to design your own for your final project), how they measure and interpret brain activity (we will visit the Music and Mind Lab to record some brain signals!), and even a bit of computer coding. 

This course is eligible for honors credit through the Hutton Honors College. 

Catalog Information: COLL-S 105  FRESHMAN SEMINAR IN N&M

Instructor:

Andrew Goldman

Email:

angoldm@iu.edu

Department:

Jacobs School of Music

Andrew Goldman is a music theorist and cognitive scientist, and is currently Assistant Professor in Music Theory and Cognitive Science at Indiana University, where he also co-directs the Music and Mind Lab. He received his PhD in 2015 at the Centre for Music and Science at the University of Cambridge. He was in the inaugural cohort of Presidential Scholars in Society and Neuroscience at Columbia University, and also held a postdoctoral position with the Music, Cognition, and the Brain initiative at Western University before joining the faculty at Indiana University. His research considers how we can use scientific methods to learn about musical perception and cognition in principle, and he also designs and conducts behavioral and neuroscientific experiments with musicians. Goldman's research has mostly focused on improvisation in music and dance, but he has also worked on projects concerning the perception of musical form, and embodiment in music. His work has been published in both music and psychology journals, and has been presented at national and international conferences including the Society for Music Theory, the International Conference for Music Perception and Cognition, and the American Psychological Association. Goldman is also a pianist and composer. His original musical, "Science! The Musical" provides an alternate platform to explore the worlds of music and science. Musical numbers include "The Interdisciplinary Rag," "The Real World," "Publish or Perish," and more! 

GenEd Information: Approved for the Natural & Mathematical Sciences - Natural Sciences requirement of the IU Bloomington General Education program.