The musical mind : the cognitive psychology of music / John A. Sloboda.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sloboda, John A.

Series:

Oxford psychology series ; no. 5.

Oxford psychology series ; no. 5

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Music--Psychological aspects.

Music.

Physical Description:

x, 291 pages : illustrations, music ; 24 cm.

Edition:

Reprinted with corrections.

Place of Publication:

Oxford [Oxfordshire] : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1987, c1985.

Summary:

What are the mental processes involved in listening to, performing, and composing music? What is involved in 'understanding' a piece of music? How are such skills acquired? Questions such as these form the basis of the cognitive psychology of music. The author addresses these questions by surveying the growing experimental literature on the subject. The topics covered will be of interest to psychologists as windows on to a human cognitive skill of some complexity that is only now beginning to receive the attention that has been given to such skills as language. The book will also be of relevance to musicians who are seeking to understand the psychological bases of their skills. The author does not simply review existing research, but takes a critical look at what has been achieved in the subject, introducing such topics as composition and musical skill in non-literate cultures. He draws freely on his own knowledge and experience as a practising musician as well as a psychologist to provide an overview that is scholarly and also accessible to the general reader.

Contents:

1. Music as a Cognitive Skill 1

2. Music, Language, and Meaning 11

2.2 Chomsky and Schenker 11

2.3 Other comparisons between language and music 17

2.4 Musical phonology 23

2.5 Musical syntax 32

2.6 Musical semantics 57

3. The Performance of Music 67

3.2 Sight reading 68

3.3 Rehearsal 90

3.4 Expert performance 93

4. Composition and Improvisation 102

4.2 Manuscript evidence 104

4.3 Composers' writings on their own compositional process 115

4.4 Observations of composers at work 123

4.5 Improvisation 138

5. Listening to Music

5.2 'Natural hearing': primitive grouping mechanisms in music 154

5.3 Attention in music listening 166

5.4 Memory in music listening 174

6. Musical Learning and Development

6.2 Musical enculturation 198

6.3 Training and skill acquisition 215

6.4 Assessing musical ability 233

7. The Musical Mind in Context: Culture and Biology

7.2 Culture and musical thinking 240

7.3 Biology and musical thinking 260.

Notes:

Includes indexes.

Bibliography: pages [269]-282.

ISBN:

0198521286

OCLC:

15554324