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Explore the distinction between music and musicality. While musical styles change, musicality is the stable array of mental processes that underlie our ability to appreciate and produce music. Begin by looking at our capacity for relative p
31 min
Darwin believed that musical behavior arose because it gave our early ancestors a biological advantage. But what advantage? Investigate Darwin's theory and other adaptationist explanations for the evolution of music. Then look at two altern
31 min
Follow two lines of research that have put ideas about music's origins to the test. Start with studies of music perception monkeys. Then turn to an ingenious experiment with young children, designed to evaluate the theory that musical behav
30 min
What makes a piece of music sound sad? Or joyful? Why does music have expressive power beyond the words? Explore the different ways that music conveys emotion. Test your own responses to musical passages composed especially for the courses.
32 min
Delve deeper into the emotional reactions that people have to music. Feel the chills induced by certain musical passages and study the theories about where these powerful feelings come from. Then look at eight distinct psychological mechani
32 min
Focus on two processes that are fundamental to musicality: the perception of pitch and timbre. pitch allows us to order sounds from low to high. Timbre lets us distinguish two sounds with the same pitch, loudness, and duration. Both pitch a
31 min
What brain processes lead people to hear certain intervals as more consonant and others as more dissonant? Evaluate the major theories, one which traces the phenomenon to the acoustic quality of the human voice. Then examine the structure o
31 min
Melodies and harmonies combine pitches according to rules that we have internalized through experience. Listen to musical examples that demonstrate unresolved and resolved expectations. Consider the analogy to grammar in language, and searc
31 min
Begin your study of musical rhythm by distinguishing periodic from non-periodic rhythmic pattern. Periodicity can be thought of as beat; non-periodicity involves expressive techniques such as timing variations and phrasing. Close by asking
32 min
Look beneath the surface of a seemingly simple feature of music: beat. Discover that beat perception in humans is exceedingly complex and incorporates six distinct criteria. Then survey animal studies to see if other species share our talen
29 min
Use neuroimaging to investigate the ways that brains of musicians differ from those of non-musicians, asking whether the differences are due to nature or nurture - whether they are inborn or the result of experience. Pinpoint brain structur
31 min
Probe the ongoing research into the effects of musical training on the microstructure of the brain, which points to cognitive benefits in areas such as speech processing. Focus on how learning to play musical instrument influences language
30 min
Not all aspects of musicality mature in the brain at the same rate. Trace the developing music faculty in infants, who have already learned to recognize their mother's speech patterns and singing while in the womb. Examine research showing
28 min
Turn to cases where music cognition breaks down in disorders such as dystimbria and amusia. General Ulysses S. Grant and novelist Vladimir Nabokov appear to have been affected by amusia. Investigate what they and others with similar deficit
29 min
Consider how the biological effects of listening to music might affect people with a wide range of medical conditions, from those undergoing surgery to premature infants, stroke victims, and Alzheimer's patients. Search for the biological m
29 min
See how actively engaging in music can enhance communication and movement in patients with a variety of neurological disorders, including aphasia, Parkinson's disease, motor disorders, and autism. Music's connection to multiple brain system
31 min
We may be the only animal that uses words, but we are not the only animal that sings. Survey music-making among other species, from fruit flies to gibbons, whales, parrots, and songbirds. Analyze the sound structure of their song to learn h
28 min
Conclude the course by examining the biological significance of music though the lens of neuroscience. Look at five aspects of language that point to biological specialization in humans, and ask whether the same evidence also applies to mus
31 min
Speech and instrumental music are very ancient, with the earliest known instruments dating to at least 40,000 years ago. These two forms of expression have many salient differences, including their acoustic structure, the way in which they
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