Dr. Elizabeth Marvin (Instructor)
Office: Meliora 322
E-mail:
- preferred mode of communication
Phone: 275-1812 [or at ESM: 274-1076]
Office Hours: Tuesday, 2-3 or by appointment (Meliora)
Downloads require NetID and password, and are only available for students registered for the course.
If you need learning assistance, please attend office hours and speak with me or any of the teaching assistants.
If you require assistance in learning to organize your time, take notes, or write the term paper, contact Learning
Assistance Services in Lattimore 107 (275-9049).
Course Goals
My goal is to introduce you to the discipine of music cognition—an area that brings together research from science and the humanities through music—to give you experience reading professional research in the field, and to inspire you to engage in further reading or research in future years. You will learn foundational concepts in music cognition by surveying articles and book chapters on diverse topics such as pitch perception and memory, music and evolution, psychoacoustics, music and the brain, musical development, memory and the effect of tonality, music and language, emotion in music, and studies of performance and expertise. You will gain basic knowledge of the principles behind experimental design and sufficient elementary statistics to understand and evaluate published research. (BCS students may be familiar with these concepts, but will apply them to musical contexts.) You will identify an area of specialized interest and learn to research relevant articles and to summarize, compare, and critique them. You will organize this research into a literature review in APA article style. By the end of the course, you will have gained a broad understanding of issues (and controversies) in music cognition, and will have explored published research in one area of the discipline on your own.
Expectations
I expect a lively and fruitful exchange of ideas centered around the topics/readings assigned. One of the joys of an interdisciplinary course is the interchange of ideas from students who come from very different backgrounds. To that end, I expect you to attend class regularly and to be an active participant in our discussions. I expect courteous and professional interaction with your peers and teaching personnel during these discussions. It is essential that you keep pace with the readings to ensure fruitful discussion.
I hope to build smaller learning groups within the context of this large class. The graduate TA and undergrad assistants will each be responsible for groups of about 20-25 students, interacting in an online discussion group, collecting reponses to the assigned readings, and being available for questions. Each week a question will be posted to an online discussion board; students will be required to participate in 5 (of 10) discussions as part of their class participation grade.
In advance of each examination, students will prepare a list of terms with definitions, for an in-class review, and will brain-storm possible essay questions. Participation in the review discussion is part of the class participation grade.
I expect the highest level of academic integrity. You may discuss readings with classmates and study together for exams. However:
Examinations are to be your own work, and are closed-book, closed-notes tests.
For the research project, you will not copy abstracts or portions of any paper without proper citation and attribution. Cutting-and-pasting from any online publication into any assignment with your name on it constitutes plagiarism.
Any evidence of cheating on an exam or copying materials into a paper without attribution will be referred to the Board on Academic Honesty for investigation.
If you do not understand the principles of academic integrity, visit this website and speak with one of the instructors if you have further questions.
Grading
Final grades will be averaged as follows:
Three non-cumulative "midterm" exams: 65%
February 14, March 22, May 1
Exams count 21%, 22%, and 22% of grade
Final research paper (literature review): 20%
Late papers not accepted.
Bibliographical research (on paper topic – APA style): 10%
Title and list of 4-8 potential articles
Outline of topics; list of final articles chosen (3 or 6) with a few sentences for each (summary, justify choice)
Class participation (discussion, term sheets, etc.): 5%
Paper
You will write a research paper that reviews the literature on a music-cognitive topic of your choice. Articles chosen for the research review should be primarily drawn from experimental studies published in professional journals. The paper will not only summarize the research, but will critique the strengths and weaknesses of publications, and hypothesize areas for future research.
The final paper will be completed in distinct stages, with grades assigned at various "check" points in the process. Because of the size of the class and the nature of individualized research, we must adhere to this schedule.
Title & article list: February 23
Outline, annotated article list: March 8 (or 27), your choice
Final paper due: April 17*
(ca. 4-5 pages for undergrads; 8-10 pages for grads)
*No late papers without permission.
More detail on the literature-review paper
APA-style citation format (don't use anything different):
Schellenberg, E.G., & Trehub, S.E. (2003). Good pitch memory is wide spread. Psychological Science, 14 (3), 262-266.
Levitin, D. J. (1999). Experimental design in psychoacoustic research. In P. Cook (Ed.), Music, cognition, and computerized sound (pp. 299-328). Cambridge: MIT Press.
Stage 1: Project title & article list – Due February 23
5 points: 1 for title; 2 for APA style; 2 for appropriate articles chosen.
Decide on a general area you wish to research. There are many search engines available electronically. One place to start is the UR library system --> click on "articles" and type some keywords, including the word "experiment." This word is crucial to find the right kind of article. Articles must come from scientific research journals (not books, not web).
Also from the library page, click "databases" and "Brain & Cognitive Sciences" and proceed with any of these links.
Also try Google Scholar: --> type keywords and "experiment." Don't pay for articles; go back to UR library site to download.
Find 4-8 articles that seem appropriate, and come up with a title for your project.
Stage 2: Title, outline, revised article list with 2-3 sentences describing each
(brief summary and justify your choice) – Due March 8 or 27
5 points: 2 for title and outline; 3 for articles in APA style & justification
Read each article you identified in Stage 1. Choose the best 3 (undergrads) or 6 (grads) on which to base your literature-review.
Read for "themes" or issues – what issues do the articles have in common? What research methods do they share? What flaws do you see? What remains to be done?
Write an outline that is organized by topic or issue, common themes that arose in the articles (do not simply recount the studies article-by-article).
Most outlines will begin with introduction/overview of issues, and will end with discussion of flaws in the studies and areas that still need to be explored.
End with references list in APA style. If you wish to include an article assigned for class, you may, but this is in addition to the 3 or 6 you find on your own.
Stage 3: Final paper (title page, abstract, body of paper, references list) – Due April 17
20 points: 5 for organization, intro/conclusion, clarity of writing; 10 for accurate
discussion of articles chosen; 5 for paper format, APA citations/references.
Your paper should set the articles chosen into a context. What are the primary issues in this field? How do these authors tackle the issues? Do the articles come to similar conclusions/results, or do they differ in their findings? Where do you see flaws or issues not resolved? Be sure that you are thorough in describing the studies (who are the subjects, how many, what tasks are they asked to complete, what are the findings), but don't limit your paper to article description.
Exams
Three "midterm" examinations will be given—a combination of terms (multiple choice, matching, fill-in-the-blank) and short essays that require you to synthesize information, compare and contrast articles, etc. Examinations are non-cumulative. Exams may not be taken at any time other than that scheduled, except for documented illness, disability, or family emergency. If you are ill, you must e-mail the graduate TA prior to the scheduled exam to arrange for a make-up exam. Make-up exams will differ from the regular exam by including fewer multiple choice and more essay questions.
Recitations
For those who find this line of research compelling, we provide an (optional) opportunity for additional reading and discussion. If there is sufficient interest, Keturah Bixby will organize recitations. Recitations closer to the examinations will focus on pulling information together across topical boundaries. Time/place TBA.
For questions on class assignments, readings, and concepts, attend office hours;