|
Theory Department
|
Chair: Jonathan Dunsby |
Admissions information
PhD
BM
MA ThPed
Student Handbooks
MA ThPed |
MA PhD
FINAL SYMPOSIUM of 2008-09:
SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1-4
MUSIC, CREATIVITY, AND THE BRAIN
1:00-4:00 p.m. In OSL 101 (Eastman School of Music)
Guests:
Robert Zatorre, Montreal Neurological Institute and McGill University
Co-Director, International Lab for Brain, Music, and Sound Research (BRAMS)
Charles Limb, MD. Associate Professor, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Faculty, Peabody Conservatory of Music
Alice Kay Kanack, Director of The Kanack School of Music, and Author of the Creative Ability Development series
AGENDA:
1:00 - Welcome and Introductions (Betsy Marvin)
1:15 - 2:00 - Auditory Cortical Processing of Tones and Melodies: Functional and Structural Correlates - Robert Zatorre
2:00 - 2:45 Neural Substrates of Spontaneous Musical Creativity: An fMRI Study of Jazz Improvisation - Charles Limb
2:45 - 3:15 Refreshments
3:15 - 4:00 Alice Kanack, respondent and discussion
ABSTRACTS: Auditory Cortical Processing of Tones and Melodies: Functional and Structural Correlates - Robert Zatorre Recently, neuroscience has begun to recognize that music provides us with a window into how the brain functions. In this lecture I will consider recent evidence from my laboratory dealing with the organization of the human brain for perceiving and manipulating musical information. Using functional and structural imaging techniques, our research has begun to identify some of the critical brain areas that are specialized for perceiving pitch. Once we begin to understand the function of these regions of the brain, we can also start to ask other critical questions such as: how does the function of these regions change with musical training? Are there any changes to the anatomy of the brain that can be seen with musical training? Do any of these brain anatomical features predict how well someone will perceive pitch, or how much they will benefit from musical training? Finally, once we understand more about how elemental properties of musical materials are processed, we can begin to probe more complex functions, such as those involved in processing melodies. One recent research theme deals with the manipulation of melodic information in the context of imagery. Such manipulations allow the nervous system to represent not only previously experienced information, but also to transform information into novel forms. Our recent data point to the recruitment of the parietal cortex for these transformation processes, which in turn may lead to the ability to create new patterns, hence giving us a new angle on creativity. Neural Substrates of Spontaneous Musical Creativity: An fMRI Study of Jazz Improvisation - Charles Limb A significant number of recent studies have used functional neuroimaging methods to investigate the perception of musical stimuli by the human brain. Fewer studies, however, have examined the central mechanisms that give rise to music performance or to the spontaneous production of novel musical material. To investigate the neural substrates that underlie spontaneous musical performance, we examined improvisation in professional jazz pianists using functional MRI. We sought to identify the neural substrates that give rise to spontaneous musical creativity, defined as the immediate, on-line improvisation of novel melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic musical elements within a relevant musical context. We hypothesized that spontaneous musical improvisation would be associated with discrete changes in prefrontal activity that provide a biological substrate for actions that are characterized by creative self-expression in the absence of conscious self-monitoring. By employing two paradigms that differed widely in musical complexity, we found that improvisation (compared to production of over-learned musical sequences) was consistently characterized by a dissociated pattern of activity in the prefrontal cortex: extensive deactivation of dorsolateral prefrontal and lateral orbital regions with focal activation of the medial prefrontal (frontal polar) cortex. Such a pattern may reflect a combination of psychological processes required for spontaneous creative behaviors such as improvisation, in which internally motivated, stimulus-independent behaviors unfold in the absence of central processes that typically mediate self-monitoring and conscious volitional control of ongoing performance
Welcome to our Alumni.
Alumni Lists
Alumni Placement
Student Colloquium
2008-09
2007-08
2006-07
2005-06
2004-05
Lecture Series
2008-2009
2007-2008
2006-2007
Student Colloquium
2008-09
2007-08
Music Cognition Symposium
2008-2009
2007-2008
2006-2007
Music Cognition Symposium
2008-2009
2007-2008
2006-2007
2005-2006
2004-2005
2003-2004
We are happy to announce our newest faculty member, ROBERT HASEGAWA. Robert received his Ph.D. in 2008 from Harvard.
His interests include the music of György Ligeti, the French "spectralist" composers, and the American experimentalists.
We are pleased to announce that Peter Schubert (McGill University) will be visiting in Fall 2009, and Ruth Tatlow will visit in Spring 2010.
Student Handbooks
MA ThPed
MA PhD
Student Research
List of current students
Dissertation List
Jonathan Dunsby has lectured recently at Bowling Green State University, Nanyang University in Singapore, and SUNY University at Buffalo, as well as giving the keynote address at the 2008 annual meeting of the Music Theory Society of New York State.
Dave Headlam, in collaboration with Mark Bocko of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UR, has been involved in developing a method of representing sound, using physical modelling, that is a 1/1000 the size of an mp3.
Ciro Scotto presented at the Disability Session at SMT 2008 in Nashville.
Steve Laitz has recently delivered presentations at the Juilliard School, and has more in the near future at St. Olaf College, SUNY Geneseo, and Florida Gulf Coast University. He has been appointed Editor of the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy.
The second edition of his textbook, The Complete Musician, appeared in 2008, and his newest one, "Graduate Review of Tonal Theory: A Recasting of Common-Practice Harmony, Form, and Counterpoint," 
co-authored with Christopher Bartlette and published by OUP, will appear in March 2009.
In May, his web course "Music Theory Fundamentals in Four Weeks" will be launched on Eastman's website.
John Covach
Matthew Brown
David Temperley
Robert Wason
Dariusz Terefenko authored a poster session "Phrase Models and Prototypes of Form in Standard Tunes" at SMT 2008 in Nashville
Betsy Marvin's recent research has centered around her continuing work on perfect pitch (see this link) and the new Music and Sound Initiative at Eastman/University of Rochester.
Seth Monahan presented papers on Mahler (MTS Mid Atlantic and Yale Graduate Music Symposium). A third paper on Tristan was presented at the NECMT in April and will be read in a revised version at the 2008 AMS/SMT Conference.
In June, Jeannie Guerrero will present a paper at "Beyond 50 years of Ars Nova Studies at Certaldo: 1959-2009" in Certaldo, Italy; the paper will be published in the book series, L'Ars Nova Italiana del Trecento.
José Martins will present "Harmonic modulation and periodic pitch space in Lutosławski's works from the second half of the 1950s" at the conference Polish Music Since 1945, in April 30-May 3, 09 at the Canterbury Christ Church U, in Canterbury, UK.
and about the Musical Expression of 'saudade' in Portuguese Fado, at the conference Encompassing the Globe: Portuguese Contact, Exchange, and Heritage, April 12, 2008, at the University of Iowa.
Marie Rolf recently delivered a paper at the SMT '08 Lyrica Society Session: "New Perspectives on Debussy" entitled "Debussy's Rites of Spring"
Click HERE for a report on Eastman at SMT 2008 in Nashville.
William Marvin's extended review, "A Comparison of Four Sight-Singing and Aural-Skills Textbooks: Two New Approaches and Two Classic Texts in New Editions" appears in Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy 22.
Matt BaileyShea is currently writing a book on the topic of agency in music. He has recent articles on Wagner and Wolf in 19th-Century Music, Music Analysis, and Music Theory Online. He also has an article on Wolf forthcoming in the Journal of Music Theory.
Copyright 2008 by the Music Theory Department, the Eastman School of Music, the University of Rochester.
All rights reserved. This document and all portions thereof are protected by U.S. and International Copyright Laws. Material contained herein may be copied and/or distributed for research purposes only.
Last revised 11/08.
