Music, Thought, and Feeling: Understanding the Psychology of Music - Hardcover

Thompson, William Forde

4.07

54 ratings by Goodreads

9780195140859: Music, Thought, and Feeling: Understanding the Psychology of Music

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195140850 ISBN 13: 9780195140859

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2008

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Examining the intersection of music, psychology, and neuroscience, Music, Thought, and Feeling surveys the rapidly growing field of music cognition and explores its most interesting questions. Written in clear, engaging language that balances scientific and artistic perspectives, this book provides an excellent introduction to--and critical analysis of--the major issues in music cognition, making it ideal for courses in psychology of music.

Assuming minimal background in music or psychology, the book begins with an overview of the major theories on how and when music became a widespread aspect of human behavior. It also covers:

* How humans perceive music
* Links between music and emotion
* Modern neuroimaging techniques and what they tell us about music's effect on the brain
* Psychological processes involved in imagining, composing, and performing music
* Potential cognitive benefits of musical engagement

Music, Thought, and Feeling references numerous "Sound Examples" and is supplemented by a companion website (www.oup.com/us/Thompson) containing an extensive collection of music sample audio files, most created specifically for this book. In addition, the website provides a link to iTunes, where readers can access an iMix created to accompany the book.

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About the Author:

William Forde Thompson is Professor of Psychology at Macquarie University, where he conducts research on music, emotion, and performance. He is President of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition (2006-2008), Associate Editor at Music Perception, and Editor of Empirical Musicology Review.

Review:

"Music, Thought, and Feeling is an important pedagogical contribution to the field as it not only manages to pull together the strings of the last thirty years of research from a broad range of topics within music cognition, but it performs this in a highly accessible format, and written in an enthusiastic and analytic style."--Tuomas Eerola, University of Jyv"askyl"a, Finland, from a review in Musica Scientiea, vol. XIII(2), Fall 2009"[Music, Thought, and Feeling introduces] a number of select but important questions that face music cognition researchers and then [evaluates] key contributing studies. . . . All the major topic areas are covered with the same degree of care and attention, making this the most successful 'general' textbook in the field that I have come across. . . . It is an [excellent resource] for anyone who is planning a course on music cognition, either at the undergraduate or graduate level [...] thanks to [its] accessible and engaging language, clear structure, and relevant and illustrative resources. [The book] assumes no specific artistic or scientific background: Just a desire to engage with the modern issues of music cognition."--Victoria Williamson, Goldsmiths University of London, from a review in Psychology of Music, vol. 37, July 2009"I had a chance to use this book in the classroom and was hooked. It is the best music cognition textbook on the market, is up to date, and a real joy to read. It is well-explained enough to be used as independent reading for anyone who wants to learn more about the field (not just college students enrolled in a course). The author, William Forde Thompson, is widely regarded as one of the leading researchers in the field, a world class scholar whose own research has covered a range of topics from The Mozart Effect, to the neural basis for musical behaviors, to musical memory, musical emotion, music & film, and musical structure."--Daniel Levitin, McGill University I love this book an

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