Description
Musicians do amazing things. The wonders aren’t limited to the sounds they create. The wonders are also found in their brains. Music and the Brain for Musicians is a gateway for musicians to learn about the cognition and neuroscience that enables them to be outstanding performers. The book is situated in current theory and research but written for an audience who is less familiar with research jargon. The audience for Music and the Brain for Musicians is musicians of all kinds, music teachers, graduate and undergraduate students in music and psychology, and anyone who wants to learn how to apply research to practice.
The book is in three parts. Part I introduces music cognition: how people perceive and understand musical aspects such as pitch, rhythm, memory, performing, and emotion. Each chapter summarizes key theoretical viewpoints and findings, while highlighting studies relevant to performing musicians. Part II revisits these topics from the perspective of neuroscience: which parts of the brain are involved in specific musical behaviors and how these regions work together. Part III is a call to action for musicians to make meaningful contributions to research about music performance, learning, neuroscience, and health. A sample of a project from a collaborative team of musicians shows how to manage roles and responsibilities for successful research study.
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Jessica Nápoles –
So often, research on music and performance science is made unnecessarily complicated. In Music and the Brain for Musicians, Stambaugh uses a user-friendly approach to understanding important topics related to perception and cognition, psychology of music, and the benefits of music study. I highly recommend it for music students looking to learn more about their craft!
Jessica Nápoles, Professor, Choral Music Education, Conductor, Concert Choir
University of North Texas
College and Community Choirs Vice President, Texas Choral Directors Association
Timothy Salzman –
Professional musicians often prepare for their entry into the world of music-making with a particularly single-minded focus on their craft which typically doesn’t afford opportunities for the investigation of the intersection of neuroscience and music performance. In this volume Stambaugh has carefully opened this important portal for the performer and, in the process, reveals a journey well worth taking.
Timothy Salzman, Professor of Music
Conductor, University of Washington Wind Ensemble
Robert A. Duke –
Laura Stambaugh is a fine musician and a wonderful scholar who in her own life has deftly combined her skills and interests in music performance, music teaching, and psychology. In Music and the Brain for Musicians, she shares with us what it means and what it takes to make music beautifully, explaining the underlying features of perception, cognition, motor control, and emotion that allow us to do so. Her curiosity and enthusiasm for sharing interesting ideas about how music is perceived, learned, and performed animate this ambitious and highly successful book, and it is a pleasure to experience her palpable joy in illuminating what we know about music in the human experience and explaining how we have come to know it. I am confident that this book will engage musicians who want to know more about the fundamental principles of human functioning and inspire them to forge collaborations with psychologists and neuroscientists, collaborations that promise to not only deepen their own understanding but also further the research enterprise in ways that elucidate what makes music such a defining feature of what it means to be human.
Robert A. Duke, PhD
Marlene & Morton Meyerson Centennial Professor and Head of Music and Human Learning
University of Texas System Distinguished Teaching Professor
Affiliate Faculty, Dell Medical School, Director of the Center for Music Learning
Sarah & Ernest Butler School of Music
The University of Texas at Austin
Jamal J. Rossi –
Years ago, a colleague stated, “The mind of a musician can imagine, learn, practice, and succeed at anything. We have a brain that can absorb and process vast amounts of information.” Laura Stambaugh’s “Music and the Brain for Musicians” provides evidentiary proof in support of this statement. It also unfolds areas of music cognition, neuroscience, and performance science for musicians to grow as performers, teachers, scholars, researchers, and communicators.
Jamal J. Rossi
Joan and Martin Messinger Dean
Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester
Cecilia Kang –
This book addresses the mysterious link between seemingly effortless technique and musical artistry. Stambaugh illuminates just how elite the musician’s brain is, while also providing connections to improve teaching, learning, and performance. As a clarinetist and professor of clarinet, I am excited to incorporate this material to examine the cognitive functions of the brain to enhance music literacy in applied lessons, chamber music coachings and pedagogy courses. This is truly a phenomenal resource for all musicians!
Cecilia Kang
Associate Professor of Clarinet
Louisiana State University