Report of the International Summer School of Musical Understanding. Philosophical, psychological, and neuroscientific approaches (University of Sheffield, July 8–11, 2013).

Abstract

An Approach to Musical Understanding: Aims of ISSMUMusic research is at the crossroads between different disciplines. Within this rubric, areas such as historical musicology, ethnomusicology, music composition, or psychology of music display an interesting overlap with fields like history, anthropology, computer science, and cognitive neuroscience. The main aim of International Summer School on Musical Understanding (ISSMU) was to openly face the challenges of the interplay between different areas of study. ISSMU offered attendees an informal setting in which they could collaborate with people from different disciplinary backgrounds and leading academics to debate complex questions such as-* Which phenomenological experiences are connected to musical engagement and how do these experiences vary with background and listening context?* Which faculties underlie musical understanding and how are these reflected in neuroscientific and psychological findings?* What is the role of the body for musical comprehension?* To what extent do emotions shape our understanding of music?Other goals of ISSMU were-* To enable attendees to become more familiar with current research, as well as research in progress;* To encourage the development of useful research skills;* To promote the creation of a network of research students, whose collaboration will help to strengthen and invigorate the field of Music Psychology.Structure of the ISSMUTwenty-five postgraduate students from a number of international institutions1 and with a great diversity of backgrounds participated in ISSMU. The Summer School consisted of lectures, workshops, and group work. On the first day a poster session was organized where attendees disseminated their research. Invited speakers and academic advisors gave lectures relating to musical understanding from various perspectives, considering the increasing interdisciplinarity of research, and emotional, multisensory, and neuropsychological aspects of musical experience. Further to the lectures, each external speaker held a workshop, which introduced students to skills and knowledge needed for research in certain fields. This included modeling the relationship between musical features and emotional responses, assessing the role of mirror neurons in language and music comprehension and, designing a music training intervention program. Additionally, students conducted experiments to investigate a research question related to the interests of the invited speakers. The group work culminated with each group presenting their research within an oral presentation.Lectures and WorkshopsISSMU began with a lecture from Nicola Dibben titled Interdisciplinary approaches to musical Dibben's research interests include cross-modal perception of music, emotional experience of music, the influence of background music on human behavior, musical listening and subjectivity, and contemporary popular music. Her lecture introduced the concept of interdisciplinarity and cited the work of Jantsch (1970) who argued for different disciplines to be coordinated and able to cooperate. To encourage attendees to consider how engagement with interdisciplinary research may be of benefit to them, the lecture concluded with a panel discussion of the opportunities and challenges associated with this type of research. The discussion began with the invited speakers sharing their experiences of being involved with interdisciplinary research. Following this, a question and answer session was held that allowed attendees to seek advice from the panel about how to initiate collaborative research and work effectively with others. In sum, the lecture set the scene for ISSMU and inspired attendees to be more open-minded about interdisciplinary research benefitting their own research, other disciplines, and fields of study.Mirror Mechanism and SAME Model of Musical ExperienceThe central topic of the second and third presentations at the Summer School was the mirror mechanism and its possible role in musical understanding. …