1. Music as a cognitive skill ‘Te aon that mot of ws takepart in musical activi be it composing, ‘foe, rlteing tat mi capable of arbetig nw oop ae igus! motions These enodons ean range trom the “pure asthe ‘ph in a sound cnsrctin, through entins ie oy or sorrow which ‘mute sretines eves or enhanc tothe pe rele rom monotony, boredom o epresion which everyday musa experiences can provide. “someone from a cvzation without music were to ask bs why OOF civliation supported $0 much musa actvty, our anew would suey ont co this capaci of music to Beghen emotional it OF course thee {eter reason fr individual or otis to nae te of me. Because ‘much musical evil i alo soil activity can come to have many soca meanings, fring a varety of oil rewards o those who pertain For instance, knowige abou certain types of man prereqanite for {all membership of parttarsbeutres The adoption of a for wen fomally deed sal stuaons allows people to earn Hvng though ros, Aspects of masa raining, sch asthe ned for dpe apd co- peraion, maybe aldo be generally worth wis, And on. Homer, tre may label thee soil motivations se sconday, only Bock they {re so lowe ted to partclreultres. The emotional ator, however, teancltural Itscens ull that music could have penetrated tothe core ‘fs many diferent cures unless there vere some fundamental hom ‘traction f organ sound which tansended call boundaries TT emotional factor are fundamental othe extence of mse then he fundamental question for psychological ivetition ito mai it how musics ale to ale people. Sen withthe cold ee of physics « mua ‘ret ijt collection of sounds wih varius pitches, datations, and other ‘measrale quale. Somehow the human mind endows these sounds with Slgibcance. They ome symbol for someting other than pore sound, Something which eables us to augh or ey ke or die, be moved o be Indieret “There are two retons why this iu eas us straight into the reals of cognitive peyhology. The ft that mort of ovr respons to muse ae eae This snot o deny the posit of some pene respomses 0 sms shared by the whole species: For instance, loos fast mui rousing, ‘thst sof slow muse is soothing. Certain pitch rages and titer sem Darteularyatractve to infants as do simple epetve ths. But hese Primiive tendencies cannot aerount forthe sable and mmliimensionl' 2 Masieasacopnive skit satre ofthe adult response to music nor can they acount for the many Sinicant cata ifrenoe in espns. ean a recall the surpie fat ‘when, fier hearing & rather jolly sounding Greek Tk song, my Grek ‘Companion inated that ths was a desperately sad pice of music. No ‘oud an understanding he wor was pal sponse or be diferent ‘ev ofthe muse; bu zeae that my own response was determined by {the major key, the simple and open harmonies, andthe geet shy ‘peta These qualities ae ia fact common io most Greek folk music. ‘More ste dilerences, undetected by me, are responsible for the com> ‘munication of fet "second pointe othe copie component of our emotions responses Inthe fat tha they are 0 ob explained simply in tens of condoning {Conditonng theory (amusingly called the ‘Dating, They're Paying Our ‘Tune’ theory by Davie. 1978) supposes that apiece of muse acquires the ‘motional sgicane of the ccumstanes in which t happened ob ear ‘On this theory, the orm and content ofthe mais ieevant oitsaguired ‘emolonalcharcter Only fs content is important. Although thie «ype of ‘ondioning may osc certain ceumstances, and may belp expla a ticular icrycrese of masala, thee are several oberatons which ‘how htt inadequate as a compete explanation for emovnal sponses: 1 Listeners within a musa clture generally agrr onthe emotional ‘haracier of en pies of mas even tough they may have never heard {Where Herne, 1936). Conditioning theory, In contres, wuld predict, ‘denna irene ccording to rounsuance of bearing. 2, The emotional character ofa pice of muse ot unitary and an changing. On the contrary, experienced tener to some types of msc are Seto senly awe of dieing emotions whic are evoked bythe deta Sequence of events, and which become mere finely diferente the beter {he muse is Known. Conitining theory, in contra, wold led one 10 txpext that pice of muse wold always be dominied by 2 snge Bem trae emotion! tne aeuied fom the condoning context 3. Our emotional respon tothe very sae music ean vay considenbly ftom hearing to earng For isance, tere have been eccasions when he last movement of Tehakovay's Sith Symphony bas moved me to tats of ‘ye and oterson which has ef me completly unmoved Whal mained ‘hesame aboot my mental state onthe ferent ocasons was my Knowledge ‘het ts wes ec eres exer gre, egos of my emia response fof "An snlogy whic id epi that between musi and humour. Whe | bearing joke the Tsiener mist fst understand i; he must preie and ‘dent tbe constiunt words, recognise tem as sentences, orm a mental ‘epreselation ofthe peoposton that te setenes ase, and then de {ermine the ature of the incongraty, double meaning. or whatever that Imakes the joke. That 10 “pet the joke” voles lage set of conve C Mask ara cognitive sil 3 process, drawing upon knowledge of language andthe world. After thi {he liear may, depending on his mood and ute, experince a emotional reaction height So there both copie td an active tage to is eaponse. The cogale stages necessary preciso ofthe active age stener camo nda joke fney unless be understands it. Homeer, {healt stage Coes not mecesardy fallow the cognitive sage. A person tay understand ke precy wel widout bing moted to laughter yi So ti with muse A person may understand the music he hears without tring moved by i Ihe moved byt then he mast have ped through ‘he copie sage whic avlves forming an abstract or symbole eal repreretton of he mos. The nate of thi internal representation, tnd the things sllowssperon todo with msi, the central subject mater ‘ofthe cogstiepycbology of music “The way in which people represent music to themaches determines bow well they can remember abd perform it Compoation ad improvisation ‘eure the generation of sch representations, and perception involves the Teer constroctig them, These representations, andthe prose which create hem, ae nt iret observable We have to fr tha existence and fare fom obseraons ofthe way ia which people ste Lo, memovin, perform cele ab ec Lo musi Because such ais ar eave they may be viewed as skied be Ivous, lthoughcomposing and performing are universally acknowledged {o te sls of som: complex, ope mut alo remember that moe com> ‘mooplce ace sacha the bit to whist flat mlody 10 deta "wrong sounding” tote in an unfamiliar melody, ae alo compet Slils which are cpabl of shedding Highton the nature of intra rop ‘esetslont in muse. What makes the composer or performer special Bis ranity rather tan anything fname aierem about his mental ‘suipment “To state this pin, et ws take two contrasting examples of msi shill andes what copie prchologt might make of thom. The Bs it the much quoted insdet inte ie of he young Mecat who, doled aces tothe sor of Allegis Mure, ited to two church performances snd ‘hen wrt it ut fam memory. ‘The primary sou or the authenticiy of {his incdent ea leer frm Mozart father dated 14 Apel 770 (Anderon, 1966), Soh an scmpliment, although by no means ug, wel beyond the capacity of mot people, and hus become one of x hand of legends Shout the apparenty superhuman povers of great muidans. I dicaning {his example tbe pcelopst Farnsworth (190) came that Moca (ei? meyer spol for bs. Sd memory ea pearly ‘og, amt hallinta, ral wbich alleged to be preset in some ‘hildren, On this iw, the unsoal accomplishment isthe es of posesing ‘nasal mental powers, since moe people do not poses eet memory "An alereauve epanation ls that Mozart was more adept, toughfe 4 Mase a coptive sil experience, at doing something we all do when ig to memoria complex ‘Rreal that to entiy pater nthe meri, Ceeby remembering (poops es sage unite or ‘hunks 1s fic to dee betwen these 40 ‘Temas with reget fo Mosars emory, sce we cannot test Kim Tarte, There is however, contemporary evidence wich tends to avour the later explanation. For instance, there he been euch cca interest nthe bso gue player th various levels of expert fo remember me Prskions Chase and Simon (1973) asked ches players of varying standards {examine boards taken rom actual ames for ve seconds and the ater {o repro the boards frm memory. Payer i the category of chest {aster wee abet reprodoe the boards lost prey, wheres novices ‘Ba ver poor. Ths pepe unsurprising, and sma esutshave ben ‘Sblained when micas and non micas ae asked to reproduce the Dostion of afew notes Spay beey on a save (Halpern and Bower "5; Sloboda 1976. The ely emportant rests tha wen ches players vere asked to reproduce random bode which could no have ocued in| Thy sllnal game, the master and nvies performed qual and ¥y otly. This hows hat masers do nt have beter visual (dei) memory an nove, They ae superior only when the atrial 0 be remembered Ital tome sete and can be prouped into state chUMK (ep 2 Paw ‘hana fork, concealed chest). This is confirmed by detailed observation tthe way mater cary ut the reproction task. They tend to reall ‘he members of chunk togetor, with pases between separate chunk. or ches master the mental representation of «ches postion snot 2 copy of be pyscal board ra moe sbiac tract desorption te tmetningfl lationship Between group of pieces. Tough many Years of ‘perience bas sogied automate perceptual mechanisms which api ‘ok ut fequenty czaring strate paters rom teint Tt has een tneted that the master tut be able f9recogive ever thousands of ‘term in thi a. ‘Mort musical mei as jos emo tering and strctre asa ches postion. Witla partclar ome tereare many regularly ocurng pater (Ge chords, sealer and arpeegi) abd someone exposed to anim wil {piy become fara with hem, Patterning ao oor 8 ager sale “Thematic repton ia cornerstone of most mus, ean harmonic pro ‘tess are sbigitout, and 40 on. The mater can make ue o al this ‘aterming nen bulding up a representation ofa pee of muse. ‘My sosond example ie commoaplace. Neary everybody is capable of| ideniping wel known melodie, of recling them pre thet ‘Yankee Doodle, "Prére Jaoquer "God Save the Que). What makes tht ‘hucration partic inporaat Inthe crrent contri ha a presse Dich, sped, or medium i ot ercal for Metcaton, nor wll a person ‘pcessarly reproduce a meody a 2 pitch he has ever heard befor. For [Exiane,Aticave and Oto (1971 asked people sing the NBC chines ( Male as cope sil $ from various ven starting notes, The chimes ate broadcast several times tach day a4 satan iene forthe American National Broadcasting {Carporation, ot they are sways played at the same pitch, The experiment fubjes wer ble tramspoe the chimes to ay starting note within thee ange inatanty and flores. Thi one of several demonseations that rope do 000 remember simple melodies ia tems of precise pitches and {arntionr tn tem of pattern and relationships. The NBC chimes remain ‘eniiaby these so fog a the pitch and duration rae between the tots remain constant This simple domonsttion of mia memory a ‘eady demonstrate how ite abeacton fom tbe pl simul ‘Sequential srr so ffs uatined musians. Por stance, msc is tonal harmony ie such eae for muse which eke these re Some (ofthe most imporant demonstrations of ths ae reviewed in Chapter 5 ‘hich examines the process involved in Ksiening to muse Here I wish (0 Fires the caress of the analogy to the ches experiments, Muse which ‘doer ot ont fen alters and sirsctre cant easly be represented Ina tineners meme. expert and commonplace mua achievements aretobeexpsied inthe same srt of way, bow are wet asrout forthe diferncs between exper ‘Sod novo? The most important factor is probaly the mumber and ‘mpl of he ewctral eturerin temo which be istene scape of Tepreseting msi The “rdnay” tener probably aware ony of the ‘musa foreground nding al ates whch are ade up Tom afew ‘jcea notes The Mowat of tbe word probebly share thi level of ‘eprosetaion, but have ovetald it with higher-order grouping processes ‘ic form sing ackgroe” omits from group of Torepround’ wis The ‘me process could be repented on the ne units o form even larger wits, ‘ling wpa Nerarcial schema wich could spa a pee of muse lasing several mists. ‘Asccond difereroe betwen tne and entrain musical memoret may lin the degree of wrens that the meovar ha ofthe strctres be ‘ing, Commonly, muse! training ivaiesacquiing the Vocabulary in lermiof which o dace the suucar of muse. Elements f this voabulry (Ga: cadeatal segues, tone chord, passing 0) often function as meant {orextendng memory capacity. A muncan canbe concousl oong out for iatnees of such structures. Tis doesnot imply that sh stoctares ae not available wotaied peopl. The evidence suggest ater, that irsined masa have kplct Kaowldge ofthat which munisans can {al about exp. In this respect msc sim to Inguape. Ordioary ‘rope ek her rataralanguage scoring othe sme grammatical rt 13 profesional ings even thoueh they may have very lined conaous nowiadge of those rls ‘The representation of musa structs a uihing concept for the