MUSI43060: Advanced Topics in Music and Science

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• To develop advanced knowledge of key aspects of current topics and theories in music and science (incorporating research in the sub-fields of music psychology, music neuroscience, and music information retrieval)
• To develop practical skills, appropriate to Level 4, in empirical research methods, analysis, and reporting of scientific results
• To engage critically with theoretical and methodological issues central to music and science research

• The seminars will be split equally between two content areas: Theory and Methods, which will run in an alternating manner throughout the teaching terms.
• The Theory content area will address core topics and theories in music and science research. Indicative topics include (but will not be limited to): emotional responses to music, musical memory, the psychology and physiology of music performance, cross-cultural music perception and cognition, and applications of music and science research. Topics are chosen to reflect the research expertise of the academic teaching staff, in order to facilitate research-led teaching and opportunities for students to collaborate on ongoing, world-leading research projects.
• The Methods content area will focus on developing practical skills for conducting music and science research. Indicative topics include (but will not be limited to): experimental design, qualitative analysis, inferential quantitative statistics, and computational modelling techniques. These techniques will be taught with an emphasis on developing students' skills in coding/programming and conducting reproducible and transparent research.
• Students will be directed at the start of the module to a range of sources on the subjects of the designated seminars.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Familiarity with key issues in music and science, and a representative and diverse selection of current scholarship concerning these issues
• A specialized understanding of a number of key theories in music and science
• Awareness and knowledge of relevant research methods (quantitative and qualitative) and their use in empirical music research

Subject-specific Skills:

• An advanced ability to write about current issues and theories in music and science research, in a way that demonstrates critical engagement with relevant scholarly literature
• Competence in integrating diverse research findings across a range of music and science literature, including critical interpretation of discrepant results
• Proficiency in formulating research questions and hypotheses that are informed by current theories and approaches in music and science research
• Refined skills in designing an empirical music research study, including choosing an appropriate methodology and analysis strategy
• An advanced ability to analyse empirical data for the purpose of answering research questions on music and science

Key Skills:

• An understanding of the scientific method, including its advantages and limitations
• Engagement in close readings of a wide range of challenging and interdisciplinary texts
• An ability to synthesize complex materials from a wide range of sources and to present them cogently in both written and oral formats
• An ability to critically interpret qualitative and quantitative research findings
• Competence in information technology skills to support MA learning and research (e.g. by means of: word-processing and music-processing software; databases; presentation software; statistical analysis software; graph- and image-processing; web-based resources)
• Demonstration of advanced knowledge of professional conduct in meeting academic standards, including appropriate use of relevant ethical codes of practice and correct referencing of sources
• Deployment of problem-solving skills
• Deployment of organisational skills, including time management

• In seminars students will benefit from a mix of lecturing, group discussions, practical activities, and student presentations, led by academic staff specialising in advanced music and science research. This will encourage a variety of modes of learning, including critical and practical engagement to facilitate knowledge acquisition and subject-specific skills development. Students will be expected to give occasional short presentations in seminars, as well as to contribute to discussions in those seminars in which they are not presenting.
• Typically, directed learning may include assigning student(s) an issue, theme or topic that can be independently or collectively explored within a framework and/or with additional materials provided by the tutor. This may function as preparatory work for presenting their ideas or findings (sometimes electronically) to their peers and tutor in the context of a seminar.

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