Studying music psychology

This page contains links to help anybody interested in studying music psychology. Since my experience is confined to the UK I will initially comment on UK courses mostly, but as I learn more about worldwide courses (I’m going to ask around!) I will add the details here. I got a lot of info from SEMPREs website too. I have written blogs that answer frequent questions about studying music psychology:

1) How to prepare for a music psychology course,   

2) Possible career paths in music psychology

3) What is it like to be a music psychology lecturer?

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There is not much music psychology at UNDERGRADUATE degree level, as it is still a specialist discipline. Some exceptions include:

1) Goldsmiths, University of London runs an optional module in the third year of its psychology program called ‘Psychological Approaches to Music’, which is an excellent course which is run by the world expert Professor Pam Heaton.

2) Keele University has a number of options as part of its psychology degree including ‘Research in Music Psychology’, ‘Special Topics in Music Psychology’, ‘Music Technology’ and ‘Research in Music Psychology for MSc’. These courses are run by Dr Alex Lamont.

3) Musicology in Graz is a Bachelors and a Masters program that is offered jointly by the University of Graz (Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz) and the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz.. As well as the study of music this course offers modules in music psychology and acoustics, but be aware that the majority of this course is taught in German.

4) Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh has a psychology of music module in fourth year as part of their undergraduate (Applied) Psychology degree. It’s focused on the social and applied aspects of music psychology.

5) The University of Leeds: Level 2 BA Music students have the option of a 20 credit module entitled “Psychology of Listening and Performance”.
Level 3 BA Music students have the option of the 40 credit module “Music Psychology”, and are also able to conduct a psychological study in the area of music for their 40 credit dissertation if they wish. (Thanks to Charlie Heslon for this info)

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At MASTERS level your choice of dedicated courses increases considerably. There is enough choice now that you can afford to specialise depending on your interest, be it more in the study of music, cognition, acoustics or neuroscience, although most courses offer a mixture of all topics.

1) I will write about Goldsmiths first here, as this is the course I help to teach! This unique MSc programme focuses on both the biological and cognitive aspects of musical behaviour. The MSc is run by Dr Lauren Stewart. In 2011 it will be co-directed by Dr Daniel Mullensiefen and me! The program is highly interdisciplinary and draws on expertise from leading figures in the field, in areas ranging from music cognition, cognitive neuroscience, computational modelling, music education and music therapy. You can even follow us on Facebook!

2) The Schools of Human and Life Sciences (HALS) and Education at Roehampton University (UK) offer integrated MSc/MA and MA programmes in Applied Music Psychology and Applied Music Education, and MPhil/PhD degrees. The Masters courses cover a wide number of perspectives in music psychology, including developmental, social and cognitive.

3) The Department of Music in the University of Sheffield (UK) offers a site-based MA in the Psychology of Music (I did this course myself and it is brilliant!), two distance-taught programmes (MA Psychology for Musicians, and MA Music Psychology in Education), and a doctoral programme. Modules include ‘Music in Everyday Life’, ‘Psychology of Performance’ and ‘Research Methods in the Psychology of Music’. Contact Stephanie Pitts for details.

4) The University of Edinburgh recently launched a masters in ‘Music in the Community’ which is run by Dr Katie Overy. This programme provides a context and support for advanced development in personal creativity and community music skills. It brings together practical work in the community with new and relevant research in the biological, psychological and social sciences.

5) The University of Leeds now offers a Taught Postgraduate music psychology programme: MMus Applied Psychology of Music (Thanks to Charlie Heslop for this info)

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Postgraduate Modules/Doctoral Programs – the following courses are not dedicated to studying music psychology specifically but contain excellent specific modules that you can opt for as part of your wider study. Alternatively they offer doctoral programs thanks to the presence of leading music psychology academics on staff.

1) The Department of Music in the University of Leeds (United Kingdom) offers a doctoral programme in music psychology. The language of study is English. There are courses in ‘Music Perception’, ‘Music Performance’, ‘Ensemble Coordination’ and ‘Electroacoustic Music’ .

2) The Centre for Performance Science (CPS) at the Royal College of Music (UK) offers an MMus in Advanced Performance and a doctoral programme in Performance Science. The language of study is English. This course comes very much from a musicians perspective and covers areas such as ‘Music psychology and physiology’, ‘Musicians’ health and wellbeing’, and ‘Acoustics and psychoacoustics’

3) The Department of Psychology in Keele University (United Kingdom) offers an MSc in applied psychological research methods which features modules in music psychology, and PhDs in music psychology. The language of study is English. Courses include ‘Development of Musical Skills and Understanding, ‘Social Psychology of Music’ and ‘Music Teaching and learning’.

4) Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester has MPhil and PhD programs in music that contain modules in Music Psychology – including both quantitative and qualitative research in the fields of expert music performance and training; music education and pedagogy; music and health.

5) The Faculty of Music in the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) offers an MPhil in Musicology and a Doctoral program that contains options for modules in ‘Music Perception’ and ‘Music and Cognitive Development’.

To be continued…