Music in the Human Experience

All human societies in every corner of the globe engage in music. For many, it occupies a primary role. Taken collectively, these musical experiences are widely varied, hugely complex affairs. How did human beings come to be musical creatures? How and why do our bodies respond to music? Why do people have emotional responses to music? This textbook seeks to understand and explain these phenomena that are at the core of what it means to be a human being.


Music in the Human Experience: An Introduction to Music Psychology is a textbook for college courses in music psychology, primarily geared to students of music.  It incorporates several other disciplines to provide an explanation for why and how we make sense of music and respond to it, cognitively, physically, and emotionally.


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Comprehensive Coverage--Includes philosophical issues, biomusic, anthropology, ethnomusicology, acoustics, hearing, music perception and cognition, psychophysiological responses to music, emotional responses, music and the brain, personality, identity, music performance, learning theories, music and health, and social aspects of music.
Media Tutorials—A series of 32 narrated media presentations incorporating photographs, drawings, animations, recordings of singers, instrumentalists, and ensembles, and several interactive media files that illustrate key concepts of the text.
Pedagogical Aids—Discussion questions at the end of each chapter provide teachers and students with an opportunity to reflect on key concepts presented in the text and to consider ideas, such as how information applies to their musical lives and careers. In addition, there is an extensive glossary and Companion Website with brief quizzes, flash cards of key terms, and supplemental reading lists.