Dear Student,
            Welcome to Psychology of Music, an interdisciplinary course combining physics, music theory and neurology.  The majority of this class is taught from a biological viewpoint, of which most of the attention revolves around the auditory cortex.  If you are unfamiliar any of these areas, you will be stretched.  Each area is essential to begin understanding the mystery of music on the brain.   

While this will be challenging, it should not deter you from taking this class.  If you ask questions, go to office hours and read the material you will acquire a solid foundation needed for this class.  Personally, I had a very small basis for the majority of the aforementioned topics and was contemplating whether or not to drop this class.  However, I can attest that Professor Wehr will do all that he can to assist you.  I implore you to take this class, as you will not regret it.  You’ll learn about complex processing information systems of the brain, basics of music (Not to mention, I learned of great new artists!), and the mathematical side to music and the brain.  Algorithms used to make music, equations to make waves, the stimulation of certain sensations all from a mathematical standpoint was pretty cool. 

All in all, this was one of the best classes I’ve taken in my career at the University of Oregon.  While the class does not focus much on the emotional side of music or many psychological disorders pertaining to music, this class portrayed the not often seen scientific approaches of hard sciences applied to psychology.  Read the material before class and ask questions when you don’t understand something and you will get a ton out of this class. 

Take it!

Spring 2006

Dear future student,

This class is filled with information about music and the way that the brain deals with that sensation. The difficult part about this class is that it is bringing people who are stronger in music and people who are stronger in psychology together to learn about the way that music effects us. Since students stronger in Psychology are not necessarily music experts and vice versa for students with music strengths, the term begins with the difficult task of catching both sides up with each other. Myself being a Psychology student, I was very overwhelmed by the music language and principles that were used and that I was required to understand. I had to work hard to reach a level of understanding that could get me through class. My best advice for this dilemma is pair up with someone that can compliment your knowledge. If you understand the brain and it’s inner workings, pair up with someone that understand music better. Everyone can benefit from the knowledge of their fellow students, especially in this class.
As for the structure of the class, become friends with “black board.” All the quizzes and exams are submitted on black board along with readings and lecture notes. I visited black board daily to check for updates and to see if I had a quiz due I had forgotten about. It saved me a few times quizzes were due and I had forgotten about them (there are no make up quizzes!)
The readings are really thick and difficult! Because of this I chose to attend class every time because I had trouble getting a lot of the content from the reading and required a review in class. Every class follows the reading pretty close so it is a great review when the readings are difficult.
Lastly, be thinking about what you would like to write your term paper on. Due dates come quickly and having an idea of what you want to write about gives you a great head start to writing this paper. There are so many possibilities in music, pick something that interests you, due to the difficulty of this class, you have to plan that ahead on this.

Have a good term, I hope this has been helpful,
Sean :)

Dear Psychology of Music Student,

            In this course you will be looking at the many ways in which the brain processes music. And while this may sound fairly simplistic it is actually a very intricate process.  You will be looking closely at sound, how it is made, what form it takes, how it reaches the auditory system, and how our brain cognizes this type of information. This also includes looking at how exactly we experience music, and may consist of but is not limited to examining our perception of musical properties (melody, harmony, tonality, rhythm, ect.), how the auditory system is hierarchically organized in our brain, how our brain groups music, and what happens when a song gets stuck in your head!             

This course is a combination of several different fields of study including music, psychology, and some neuroscience. As a result of this you will most likely be encountering subjects which are new and unfamiliar and this may throw you a little off guard.  Therefore it is a good idea to pay close attention to all topics discussed in class and how they relate to one another. It is also a good idea to take good notes or tack some notes onto the professors printed off lecture slides; as these slides alone may not be all you need when the midterm or final rolls around. If anything becomes unclear make sure to ask questions! You can ask in or after class, e-mail the professor or G.T.F, or post it on the discussion board where other students may be able to help. In addition to this make sure to keep up with your weekly readings and complete each quiz as these points add up fast; not to mention that the readings will prepare you for what will be discussed in class. And due to the fact that these class meetings are so crucial it is not a good idea to skip.

This course contains some difficult concepts but as long as you follow all of the above advice you should be able to understand the course information and do well on both of the tests. Whatever you do, do not wait for the tests to roll around to learn the course material, keep up on it! If you are unsuccessful on a test or quiz there are a few extra credit options which may be given out that I strongly recommend you take advantage of just in case. Lots of luck on the class and have a great term.

Sincerely,

Dear Student,

            Welcome to Psychology Of Music! In this class you will learn about the neural processing of our perception of tonality, harmony, melody and rhythm.  You will look at complex patterns and experiments involving music and the human brain. This class is very interesting and can be quite intense at times. To understand his material you must have a strong hold on undergraduate psychology, mainly the different areas of the brain and the perceptual specifics of auditory perception.

            The best advice I have is come to class and ask a lot of questions! Some of the material may seem heavy at times but most of it can be explained. And even if it is a bit to dense, its important to at least get the general concept and then perhaps the specifics will be learned later on. Either way, a lot of the material relates to each other so its important to not just dismiss an experiment because its hard to understand.

            Another strategy I would suggest is searching PsychInfo homepage and try to find studies that are interesting to you. The class my not start out with all the cool experiments because it has to lay down the groundwork first, but if you find an experiment dealing with the psychology of music, you may see how it all ties together. I also felt that a review of my perception class was very helpful because without an understanding of the underlying mechanisms, its hard to understand the complexity of some things. And the same things goes for music, having a base of music knowledge is important or else you’ll be struggling with basic issues while the instructor will be explaining complex relationships.

            So basically my advice to you is to make sure you have an understanding of basic perception and brain psychology as well as a basic understanding of music. These two things paired with a high interest in this topic will make for a very enjoyable term!

Dear Student,

            So you've decided to take psychology of music, you are in for something special. In the first part of the term psychology of music focuses primarily on music. When I say music I don't mean 50 cent's most recent hit. What I am talking about is the fundamental components which music is made out of.  In this part of course you will learn about several topics such as the frequency domain, power spectrums, sound waves, pure tones, complex tones, overtones, consonance, dissonance and acoustics, just to name a few. This might sound confusing now, but with the help of the lectures you'll be able to better grasp these concepts. Later in the course, there will be discussions on how the brain interprets, and organizes music. Overall this course covers a wide range of topics in the field of psychology of music.

            To do well in this course many things are needed. Firstly you have to want to learn this information. If you the kind of individual who does not go to class, this course will not work for you. A major part of understanding this complex material, is going to lectures, and taking an active role in the learning process. Also this class uses very scientific readings to substitute a textbook.  It is very important to read the materials, because while the readings are completely confusing when you read them, the professor does the best job to lay the information out, and explain it. Without the prior confusion from the readings, lecture might turn out to be the confusing part. Lectures often reference material from the reading.

            So when I walked into this class, I knew it was going to be a difficult course. This was my first 400 level psychology course, and it is probably the most unique psychology course I have and will take. The curriculum that is studied in this course encompasses a wide variety of other fields such as, music theory, psychology, neurobiology, and even animal biology (you get to learn about bird songs). To do well in this course it is important to come to lecture, and do the readings. I also found it very helpful to bring a printed copy of the reading. This way you can make notes on the reading, and it will become more understandable to you. Take notes, don't just sit and listen. You might find your mind wandering off. Most importantly remain patient. Truth is, if you feel like your getting frustrated because you don't understand something, you are definitely not the only one.

06-06-06

To Whom It May Concern,

            This letter is concerning a class called Psychology of Music. I am currently enrolled in this class, which will qualify for my completion of a minor in music. I think after you read this letter you would want to take and succeed in this class. 

            In PSY 410, The Psychology of Music, we are learning what our perceptions of tonality, harmony, melody and rhythm are and how they relate to acoustics, auditory neurobiology, grouping mechanisms, brain damage, cortical plasticity and language (as specified in the syllabus). By examining the syllabus for the class, you can see that this class is unique in itself, in the way that it dissects music through the eye of a psychologist. I am obtaining a Bachelors in Psychology, and when I saw this course opening up for the spring, I jumped at the offer to take it because of the fact that it is all about the psychology of music.

             While taking this course I found that there are definite strategies that aided me in becoming successful in the course. First, the vocabulary was the hardest obstacle to over come. This course is a multi-discipline course, in which you will need some background in biology, music theory and psychology. I found that an on-line dictionary that was a tremendous help to me. One look dictionary was the best source for looking up definitions, this is there URL: http://www.onelook.com/. This sit was comprehensive in definitions in all fields of study. Another bonus of this site was that it led me to other sites that where relevant and in depth to the topic.

            My advice for becoming successful in this course and any other course as well, is not giving up and use all possible resources at your disposal. Ask for help and don't be afraid of asking “dumb” questions. I found that when a question was asked, there was more clarification on the topic. This is not a light course by any means, so do what you can to become successful. 

Sincerely,