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Workshop 1: 10-11 March 2010

Shaping music in performance: Workshop 1

Performance shapes and the brain

King’s College London, 10-11 March 2010

Workshop timetable

The workshop heard from six leading figures concerned with music psychology who drew on their own research in cognition and neuroscience in order to shed light on links between music and shape. An audience of CMPCP team members, visiting scholars and postgraduate students contributed to the discussions.

Detailed notes on all the contributions, including an introduction by project director Daniel Leech-Wilkinson, together with main points from the discussions, were made by Helen Prior. (Notes: PDF file, 240Kb)

Brain bases of the generation of music and dance
Lawrence Parsons, University of Sheffield

Lawrence Parsons is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Sheffield. His research is primarily concerned with functional brain organisation, including the brain basis of piano performance, singing, harmonizing, conducting, improvising music, and dancing.

Synaesthesia
Jamie Ward, University of Sussex

Jamie Ward is a Reader in Psychology at the University of Sussex. His research in cognitive neuroscience is focussed particularly on synaesthesia and on how perception affects higher cognition such as memory and language. (Presentation: PDF file, 2.3Mb)

Sculpting musical sound
David Lee, University of Edinburgh

David Lee is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh. His research centred on Tau theory aims to discover fundamental principles underpinning the sensory guidance of purposeful movements. (Presentation: PPT file, 6.8Mb)

Music and shape
Helen Prior, King’s College London

Helen Prior is the lead research associate for the Shaping music in performance project. She gave a presentation of work in progress. (Presentation: PDF file, 900Kb)

Shapes of sound in music that tell stories: how communicative musicality moves us
Colwyn Trevarthen, University of Edinburgh

Colwyn Trevarthen is Professor (Emeritus) of Child Psychology and Psychobiology at the University of Edinburgh. His recent research develops a theory of the innate foundations of ‘communicative musicality’. (Presentation: PPT file, 16Mb)

Shaping music in performance: structure, memory and shape
Jane Ginsborg, Royal Northern College of Music

Jane Ginsborg is Director of the Centre for Music Performance Research at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. Her current research interests include expert musicians’ preparation for performance, collaborative music making and musicians’ health. (Presentation: PPT file, 5Mb)

Music and shape in the mind
Adam Ockelford, Roehampton University

Adam Ockelford is a Professor in the School of Education at Roehampton University, London. His research focuses on special educational needs and the development of exceptional abilities; learning, memory and creativity; the cognition of musical structure and the construction of musical meaning. (Presentation: PPT file, 8.8Mb)