1. The art and science of music psychology

Abstract

Music can seem to be the human behavior that is least susceptible to explanation, but a long history exists of applying various frameworks to try to understand it. The cognitive science of music integrates ideas from philosophy, music theory, experimental psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, and computer modeling to answer questions about music’s role in people’s lives. The art of music psychology is to bring rigorous scientific methodologies to questions about the human musical capacity while applying sophisticated humanistic approaches to framing and interpreting the science.