The course will be comprised of seven units
- Introduction to Neuroscience
- Dream in Music and Neuroscience
- Fear in Music and Neuroscience
- The Sublime in Music and Neuroscience
- The Beautiful in Music and Neuroscience
- Trauma in Music and Neuroscience
- Chaos in Music and Neuroscience
Here is how I shall assess your work:
- daily attendance and participation 20%
- in-class presentation(s) 20%
- seminar paper 60%
I require daily attendance; each unexcused absence will lower your final grade 1/3. The essence of this seminar is to explore in open discussion and inquiry what is at stake in associating music and neuroscience; and this exploration requires listening, thinking, questioning, together.
We will read and study the following books:
- Frank Amthor, Neuroscience for Dummies Third Edition. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Press, 2023)
- Robert Zatorre, From Perception to Pleasure (New York and London: Oxford University Press, 2023)
- Aniruddh D. Patel, Music, Language, and the Brain (New York and London: Oxford University Press, 2007)
- Daniel J. Levitin, This is your Brain on Music (New York: Penguin Books, 2006)
And we will read and study the following periodical publications
- Scientific American Summer 2017. Mysteries of the Mind
- National Library of Medicine
- Psychology Central
- Psychology Today
Introduction to the Course
- What are we looking for in a study of neuroscience and music?
- Is Neuroscience more "real" than musical discourses such as musicology, theory?
- What would you most like to learn here?
- What is your relationship between emotion and knowledge?
- Can our study of music and neuroscience affect your answer(s) to the previous question?
- Often (if not always) in classes we ask questions and expect, deserve, have paid to expect--answers. In this class, the number of questions is likely to vastly exceed the number of answers.
Dream and Music
Vivaldi, Autumn, from The Seasons (YouTube)
Vivaldi, Autumn, from The Seasons (pdf)
Amthor, Chapter 1
Dream and Music
Schoenberg, Verklaerte Nacht (YouTube)
Schoenberg, Verklaerte Nacht (pdf)
Zatorre, Chapters 1 and 2
Amthor, Chapter 2
Dream and Music
Schumann, "Ich hab' im Traum geweinet" (YouTube)
Schumann, "Ich hab im Traum geweinet" (pdf)
Zatorre, Chapter 3
Amthor, Chapter 3
Fear and Music
Schoenberg, Erwartung (YouTube)
Zatorre, Chapter 4
Amthor, Chapter 4
Amthor, Chapter 5
Amthor, Chapter 6
Amthor, Chapter 7
Amthor, Chapter 8
Amthor, Chapter 9
Amthor, Chapter 10
Amthor, Chapter 11
Amthor, Chapter 12
Amthor, Chapter 13
Amthor, Chapter 14
Amthor, Chapter 15
Amthor, Chapter 16
Amthor, Chapter 17
Amthor, Chapter 18
Amthor, Chapter 19
Amthor, Chapter 20