Music and Cognition
- LAST REVIEWED: 31 March 2016
- LAST MODIFIED: 31 March 2016
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199757824-0169
- LAST REVIEWED: 31 March 2016
- LAST MODIFIED: 31 March 2016
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199757824-0169
Introduction
Music and cognition refers to the study of musical thinking. In basic terms, it seeks to understand the mental processes involved in listening to, creating, and performing music. Musical thinking is, however, a vast, complex issue that also implicates memory, emotion, language, culture, and the thinking body. To address such a highly interdisciplinary topic, articles in this entry draw mainly from music psychology, cognitive science, ethnomusicology, and music theory, complemented by work in related fields. Though publications in music psychology and neuroscience of music greatly outnumber contributions from the humanities, it is the intention of this article to present a balance of theoretical and methodological perspectives. Moreover, while scholarly methods, goals, and discourse often differ radically from one discipline to the next, there has been an increasing interest in cross-disciplinary dialogue in music and cognition research. Grouping scholarship by theme in this bibliography, as opposed to disciplinary approach, echoes that same intent. A bibliographic suite of sections follows this introduction, covering General Overviews, Reference Works, Review Articles, Journals, and popular works for a General Audience. The remaining sections take up a number of prominent research themes within music and cognition. Given music’s cognitive and social intricacies, rarely do scholars consider any single theme or aspect of music in total isolation. Instead, music-and-cognition research and theory often delights in productive pairings, such as emotion and perception, experience and meaning, movement and metaphor, and so on. Therefore, a recommended strategy in navigating this site is first to proceed to the desired headings, then conduct a keyword search, as topics will often appear under various headings. While not all themes find resonance across multiple disciplines, many do, indicating current or potentially new avenues for interdisciplinary investigation.
General Overviews
By way of an introduction to music and cognition, Grove’s entry “Psychology of Music” (Deutsch, et al. 2015) offers a fine entry point. The earliest book-length overviews come from music psychology as well. Dowling and Harwood 1986 and Sloboda 1985 are foundational textbooks, each written from a cognitive psychology perspective, with the former addressing many of the same topics in perception covered by Deutsch, et al. 2015. Zbikowski 2002 merits inclusion for addressing a central theme in cognitive music psychology—categorical organization in mental representation. Snyder 2000 presents the most comprehensive discussion of musical memory for a nontechnical audience. Thompson 2009 is among the most up-to-date of undergraduate-level music psychology textbooks. It is worth noting that, for the most part, the body of introductory and overview literature takes Western, tonal music as the basis of theory and experimentation. Cross-cultural efforts in music psychology, as well as ethnomusicological approaches, receive relatively scant attention in these works.
Deutsch, Diana, Alf Gabrielsson, John Sloboda, et al. “Psychology of Music.” In Grove Music Online. Edited by Deane Root, 2015.
Multiauthor overview by a collective of leading researchers, with sections devoted to main themes within 20th-century research. Though a single section, entitled “Perception and Cognition,” addresses cognitive research into pitch, rhythm, timbre, and memory, in truth all other sections of the article fall within the purview of music cognition scholarship. Available online by subscription.
Dowling, W. Jay, and Dane L. Harwood. Music Cognition. Orlando: Academic Press, 1986.
Equal parts textbook and reference work, covering key concepts in music perception. Oriented more toward listening than performance, reflective of the authors’ research interests. Originally included an audiocassette! No known electronic publication or later editions.
Sloboda, John A. The Musical Mind: The Cognitive Psychology of Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Landmark textbook in the early, foundational stages of cognitive psychology of music. Offers a highly readable narrative overview of linguistics-based and other conceptual theories of musical representation. Dated at this point, yet the topics—origins, music and language, performance, listening, development, cultural relativity—all remain quite relevant.
Sloboda, John A. Exploring the Musical Mind: Cognition, Emotion, Ability, Function. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198530121.001.0001
Single-author collection, with chapter-length discussions of theoretical and practical concerns in music psychology research, by a seminal figure in the field. Both a curated compendium of the author’s work and an ideological guide to the field.
Snyder, Bob. Music and Memory: An Introduction. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2000.
Really two books in one. The first half offers an overview of how memory conditions acoustic perception and perceptual organization. Sections on grouping, short- and long-term memory, and especially schema theory are highly valuable in understanding mental representation in music cognition. The second half reflects more of the author’s own application of these concepts, exploring ideas about memory’s role in processing rhythm and melody, and in understanding large-scale form. Available online by subscription or purchase.
Thompson, William Forde. Music, Thought, and Feeling: Understanding the Psychology of Music. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Highly readable textbook for a college course in music psychology, intended for the uninitiated. Wide coverage of major themes in music psychology, with one chapter on music and the brain. Companion website with audio examples.
Zbikowski, Lawrence M. Conceptualizing Music: Cognitive Structure, Theory, and Analysis. AMS Studies in Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195140231.001.0001
Comprehensive overview applying linguistic and cognitive science-based theories of categorical thinking to Western tonal music, with examples from Western classical music and jazz. Appeals most directly to music theorists, cognitive scientists, and musicians, yet generally accessible for nonspecialists in each of these fields.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Adams, John
- Afghanistan, Music in
- Air de Cour
- Albéniz, Isaac
- American Minstrel Music
- American Music Theory, 1955–2017
- Analysis
- Anikulapo-Kuti, Fela
- Armstrong, Louis
- Asia, Southeast
- Babbitt, Milton
- Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel
- Bach, Johann Christian
- Bach, Johann Sebastian
- Ballet Music
- Barber, Samuel
- Baroque Music
- Bartók, Béla
- Beatles, The
- Beethoven, Ludwig van
- Bellini, Vincenzo
- Berg, Alban
- Berio, Luciano
- Berlioz, Louis-Hector
- Bernstein, Leonard
- Biber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz
- Boccherini, Luigi (Ridolfo)
- Boulez, Pierre
- Brahms, Johannes
- Brass Instruments
- Brazil
- Britten, Benjamin
- Bruckner, Anton
- Buddhist Music
- Buxtehude, Dieterich
- Byrd, William
- Cage, John
- Canada
- Cantus Firmus
- Canzonetta
- Carter, Elliott
- Castrato, The
- Cello
- Central Asia
- Chaconne and Passacaglia
- Chamber Music
- Chausson, Ernest
- Chile, Music in
- China
- Christian Hymnody
- Chávez, Carlos
- Classical Era
- Clementi, Muzio
- Cold War Music
- Concerto
- Conductors and Conducting
- Continuo
- Copyright and Licensing in Music
- Corelli, Arcangelo
- Counterpoint
- Country Music, American
- Couperin, François
- Cuba
- Cuba, Classical Music in
- Dance
- Davis, Miles
- de Lassus, Orlande
- des Prez, Josquin
- Diaspora
- Digital World, Music in the
- d’Indy, Vincent
- Disability and Music
- Doctrine of Affections
- Donizetti, Gaetano
- Double Bass
- Dowland, John
- Du Fay, Guillaume
- Dunstaple, John
- Dvořák, Antonín
- Early Modern British Metrical Psalmody (1535-1700)
- East and West Africa
- Electronic and Computer Music Instruments
- Elgar, Edward
- Ellington, Edward Kennedy "Duke"
- England
- English Catholic Music after the Reformation to 1750
- English-Speaking Caribbean
- E. T. A. Hoffmann
- Ethnomusicology
- Exoticism
- Falla, Manuel de
- Fauré, Gabriel
- Field, John
- Film Music
- Folk Music
- Foster, Stephen
- Franck, César
- Francophone Caribbean, Music in the
- French-American Colonial Music
- Frescobaldi, Girolamo
- Fugue
- Gabrieli, Giovanni
- Gender and Sexuality in Music
- Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, Carlo
- Gibbons, Orlando
- Glass, Philip
- Glinka, Mikhail Ivanovich
- Global Music History
- Gluck, Christoph Willibald Ritter Von
- Gounod, Charles
- Granados, Enrique
- Greece, Music in
- Grétry, André
- Guido of Arezzo
- Hancock, Herbie
- Hanslick, Eduard
- Haydn, Joseph
- Hensel, Fanny
- Hildegard of Bingen
- Hindemith, Paul
- History of Music Theory
- Holst, Gustav
- Honegger, Arthur
- Ichiyanagi, Toshi
- Iconography, Early Modern European
- Ifukube, Akira
- India, Music in
- Indigenous Musics of the Arctic
- Indonesia
- Instrumentation and Orchestration
- Instruments, Musical
- Iran, Music in
- Ireland
- Isaac, Heinrich
- Israeli Art Music
- Ives, Charles (Edward)
- Janáček, Leoš
- Japan
- Jazz
- Jewish Music
- Joachim, Joseph
- Joplin, Scott
- Karłowicz, Mieczysław
- Keyboard Instruments
- Keyboard Music
- Korea
- Liedekens, 15th- and 16th-Century Dutch Polyphonic Songs
- Ligeti, György
- Liszt, Franz
- Locatelli, Pietro Antonio
- Lully, Jean-Baptiste
- Lusophone Africa, Music and
- Lute, Vihuela, and Early Guitar
- Luther, Martin
- Machaut, Guillaume de
- Madrigal
- Mahler, Gustav
- Makeba, Miriam
- Mass
- Massenet, Jules
- Medieval Music
- Medievalism and Music
- Mendelssohn, Felix
- Messiaen, Olivier
- Mexico
- Milhaud, Darius
- Minimalism
- Monteverdi, Claudio
- Motet
- Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
- Music and Asian America
- Music and Cognition
- Music and Mysticism
- Music in Colonial Hispanic America
- Music in the Balkans
- Musica Ficta
- Musical
- Musical Instruments, Classification of
- Musorgsky, Modest Petrovich
- Nationalism in Western Art Music
- N’Dour, Youssou
- Nketia, J.H. Kwabena
- North Africa
- Notation
- Oboe
- Operetta
- Orchestral Music
- Organum
- Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da
- Paraguay, Music in
- Parton, Dolly
- Peking Opera (Beijing Opera, jingju)
- Penderecki, Krzysztof
- Performance Practice in Western Art Music
- Philosophy of Music
- Piazzolla, Astor
- Ponce, Manuel
- Popular Song in the Age of Louis XIV
- Post-Colonialism
- Poulenc, Francis
- Printing and Publishing of Music
- Program Music
- Prokofiev, Sergey
- Puccini, Giacomo
- Puerto Rico, Music of
- Purcell, Henry
- Queer Musicology
- Rameau, Jean-Philippe
- Rap/Hip-Hop
- Ravel, Maurice
- Recitative
- Recorder
- Reich, Steve
- Renaissance
- Resources for Musical Research
- Revueltas, Silvestre
- Rodrigo, Joaquin
- Romanticism
- Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
- Roussel, Albert
- Rumba
- Saint-Saëns, Camille
- Salsa
- Satie, Erik
- Scarlatti, Alessandro
- Scarlatti, Domenico
- Schenkerian Analysis
- Schnittke, Alfred
- Schoenberg, Arnold
- Schütz, Heinrich
- Schumann, Clara
- Schumann, Robert
- Serialism
- Shostakovich, Dmitry
- Sibelius, Jean
- Soler, Antonio
- Solo Secular Vocal Music
- Sonata
- Sonata Form
- Sound Art
- Sound Studies
- Strauss, Richard
- Stravinsky, Igor
- Street Music
- String Quartet
- Suite
- Sustainability, Music
- Symphony
- Tailleferre, Germaine
- Tallis, Thomas
- Talma, Louise
- Tango
- Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich
- Technology, Music
- Telemann, Georg Philipp
- Thailand
- Thomas “Mukanya” Mapfumo and Songs of Protest in Colonial ...
- Tonality
- Troubadours and Trouvères
- Umm Kulthūm
- Variation Form
- Vaughan Williams, Ralph
- Verdi, Giuseppe
- Victoria, Tomás Luis de
- Video Game Music
- Villa-Lobos, Heitor
- Viol
- Viotti, Giovanni Battista
- Virtuosity/Virtuoso
- Vivaldi, Antonio
- von Weber, Carl Maria
- Wagner, Richard
- Webern, Anton
- West Asia
- Western European Music Criticism, c. 1700-1970
- Wind Bands
- Women in Music
- Woodwind Instruments
- Yuasa, Jōji
- Zarzuela