The measurement of meaning

While the study of psychology has offered little in the way of explaining the creative process, Koestler examines the idea that we are at our most creative when rational thought is suspended--for example, in dreams and trancelike states. All who read The Act of Creation will find it a compelling and illuminating book.

The Act of Creation

Research indicates that people value music primarily because of the emotions it evokes. Yet, the notion of musical emotions remains controversial, and researchers have so far been unable to offer a satisfactory account of such emotions. We argue that the study of musical emotions has suffered from a neglect of underlying mechanisms. Specifically, researchers have studied musical emotions without regard to how they were evoked, or have assumed that the emotions must be based on the "default" mechanism for emotion induction, a cognitive appraisal. Here, we present a novel theoretical framework featuring six additional mechanisms through which music listening may induce emotions: (1) brain stem reflexes, (2) evaluative conditioning, (3) emotional contagion, (4) visual imagery, (5) episodic memory, and (6) musical expectancy. We propose that these mechanisms differ regarding such characteristics as their information focus, ontogenetic development, key brain regions, cultural impact, induction speed, degree of volitional influence, modularity, and dependence on musical structure. By synthesizing theory and findings from different domains, we are able to provide the first set of hypotheses that can help researchers to distinguish among the mechanisms. We show that failure to control for the underlying mechanism may lead to inconsistent or non-interpretable findings. Thus, we argue that the new framework may guide future research and help to resolve previous disagreements in the field. We conclude that music evokes emotions through mechanisms that are not unique to music, and that the study of musical emotions could benefit the emotion field as a whole by providing novel paradigms for emotion induction.

/pdf/emotional-responses-to-music-the-need-to-consider-underlying-592kszluvl.pdf

Emotional responses to music: The need to consider underlying mechanisms

https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/1/5125/836.2.full.pdf

Dictionary of psychology

That music affects human beings in various ways has probably been presumed as long as people have played music. Many marketing practitioners already accept this notion, given that music is increasi...

Music, Mood, and Marketing:

The Developmental Psychology of Music

A musical development sequence is proposed based on the psycho-logical concepts of mastery, imitation, imaginative play and meta-cognition, drawing on the work of Moog, Piaget and the observations of British writers. An interpretation of over seven hundred children's compositions is undertaken yielding an eight-mode spiral of development that may have consequences for music teaching; for overall music curriculum planning, for appropriate responses to individuals, for generating progression in a session or project.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0265051700000814

The Sequence of Musical Development: A Study of Children's Composition

Designed for all music teachers, this book provides a careful and clear examination and analysis of the fundamental concepts involved in music. Professor Swanwick investigates questions such as: What is music? Is music meaningful? Does music refine our feelings and emotions? If so, how? The discussion of these questions forms a conceptual framework which will motivate further thinking and development in music education. This book should be of interest to /OREAD.

A basis for music education

1. Musical value 2. Music as culture: the space between 3. Principles of music education 4. Why and how of musical assessment 5. What of the future?

Teaching music musically

Introduction Part One Musical knowledge and Value 1. The Nature of Musical Knowledge 2. Intuition, Analysis and Symbolic Forms 3. Musical Knowledge in Action Part Two Researching Musical Experience 4. Research and the Magic of Music 5. The Development of Musical Knowledge 6. Assessing Musical Knowledge Part Three Musical Learning and Musical Teaching 7. Teaching for Musical Knowledge 8. Instrumental Teaching as Music Teaching 9. Curriculum and Community

Keith Swanwick

Papers

The Developmental Psychology of Music

The Sequence of Musical Development: A Study of Children's Composition

A basis for music education

Teaching music musically

Musical Knowledge: Intuition, analysis and music education