Music Psychology

[amanfang]

Can anyone offer some recommendations for books in this field?

[pianonut]

is that for the study of how one learns music, or how music can affect one's mind?  maybe both?

[amanfang]

either.  I was looking around at a couple books last night, but there are really many books on music and psychology, and I would rather go for something that people recommend rather than just picking a random book I haven't heard of.

[pianonut]

wonder if you google music therapy, if anything will come up.  it's an interesting field of study.  it seems that different music has different effects on people.  maybe hooking them up to a machine that can detect which part of the brain is affected would be interesting.  liszt/chopin - sensuality  brahms - sensitivity/lost love  scriabin - psychotics (just kidding) debussy/faure - lightness of being  mussorgsky/rachmaninov - heaviness of being  beethoven - letting it all out   mozart - manic

now, if you, for instance have a very depressed person, give them a cd of mozart.  next week, they're fine. 

someone comes in the office, can't find a love for themselves - feels alone.  give cd of liszt/chopin - turn into wildly passionate person after repeated listenings.

someone needs to feel that someone else understands.  brahms cd.  feel much better.

save the scriabin for those people that want to feel sexy again?  russian music for those who need to hear loud noises occasionally (especially with bells). 

debussy - for those that have already gone mad.

ps  you know, it's very interesting you bring this up.  i've said (several times) to my teacher, "you are better than a psychiatrist."  what i meant, is that the music he picks for me makes me feel much better.  if i don't like a choice, i sort of look down and hem and haw.  he seems agreeable to letting students play what they are interested in - yet give broader suggestions that they would know of (choices of music).

[amanfang]

I don't know that I really want to head down the music therapy path.  Maybe something about how we perceive music, or how it affects us, or something else.  More general than music therapy.

[BoliverAllmon]

music therapy is even a degree taught at my school.

[pianonut]

i had a brainstorm this morning.  what if you use music psychology (which many prof's probably already do) in teaching.  say, for instance you are trying to get students to learn something simple like major triad and minor triad.  if you repeatedly say "i love spinach" to the major and "i hate spinach" to the minor (word for every interval), perhaps they would remember this for a long time and every time they heard the chord they would associate it.  therefore LONG TERM memory.  maybe love and hate would be too much for  naming chords, since major and minor are equally necessary to composition - but you get the idea.  something verbal for those who are verbal.

for kinetic learners?  how would you teach intervals and chords?  i've seen those big piano keyboards you can step on (like twister) and hear the sounds.  would they remember the intervals by trying them physically?

for visual ?

for taste?   

[amanfang]

There are many interesting thougts about long-term memory and how we learn and the way we learn.  However, I am still looking for book recommendations.  Anyone have anything to recommend???

[pianonut]

just for you, i went to barnes and noble and looked only in the music section.  i found a book entitled:  'Music, physician for times to come'   which is an anthology compiled by Don Campbell.  He is also a best-selling author of 'The Mozart Effect'

Some of the contributing authors include Roberto Assagioli, MD was a psychiatrist in italy who developed a comprehensive psychology he called "psychosynthesis."

Barry T. Brodie, Ph.D. leads a drama group called the earthstage actors.

Swami Chentanananada who studies and practices meditation and spiritual life, and is an initiate of the ancient saraswati order of monks.

Manfred Clynes, D.Sc. an academic leader in the study of emotional responses to music.

these are just a few.

now, for a little insight as to how involved you can get in this subject..."there is a pronounced idealization of the pre-natal environment in tomatis' work, an image of the womb as an auditory paradise, a condition of 'super hearing' to which we aspire throughout our lives to return."  now, i don't really know how true this is since our ears are one of the last things to develop, but it sounds interesting!  then it goes on to say "zoologists know something else well, that the ear, the vibration sensor, serves to charge the organism with electrical potential.  it is thanks to the ear that external stimuli are able to charge the cortical battery."  i've always felt charged by music, but never quite knew how to express this.

the book's a good read.

[amanfang]

Thanks pianonut.  I'll look into that one.  I've been interested in how music affects emotions.  It is something specifically that I would like to read more about.  Speaking of which, are responses to music learned or are they innate?  Does music that "makes us feel sad" affect us that way because we "learn" responses through how that music is used or what people have told us it makes people feel, or is it merely the effect of the music that comes naturally through our perception?

[pianonut]

as i'm looking at this book, i can see that one thing leads to another.  i'll skip ahead and try to find a spot that talks about it, but you might want to buy this book.  it's interesting. 

seems that it's kind of complex and you have to read the book to get out of it what you are looking for.