2024/25 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

MUSS2920 The Psychology of Listening and Performance

20 creditsClass Size: 40

Module manager: Dr Emily Payne
Email: e.l.payne@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2024/25

Pre-requisite qualifications

Normally MUSS1920. If you have not taken MUSS1920 please contact the module leader for advice (music@leeds.ac.uk) ; some previous Psychology and/or Music experience is essential.

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

This module builds on the methods and approaches introduced in the Psychology component of the level 1 ‘Introduction to the Sciences of Music’ module. It aims to help you explore how psychological research data, models and theories have been used to explain a range of musical behaviours including the development of musical ability and expertise, musical performance, emotional responses to music, and music listening behaviours.

Objectives

This module aims to help you explore how psychological research data, models and theories have been used to explain a range of musical behaviours including the development of musical ability and expertise, musical performance and music listening behaviours.

Learning outcomes
After completing this module you should be better able to:
- describe the psychological factors which affect the development of musical skills
- summarise theories of musical development
- give an account of the psychological processes thought to contribute to the ability to perform music
- describe the role of emotions in music listening and performance
- outline factors influencing musical preferences and everyday listening behaviour
- summarise, evaluate and discuss overall conceptual and methodological issues in the psychology of listening and performance
- relate these to general theories in cognitive, developmental and social psychology
- evaluate complementary or competing theories in the light of empirical evidence
- locate, summarise and review existing primary source material in peer-review journals
- develop the skills for critically evaluating primary and secondary sources
- demonstrate these outcomes in written form

Syllabus

The lectures will aim to provide students with basic knowledge regarding the key issues in music psychology and a conceptual framework within which to contextualise their independent study. The module is split into four broad sections. The first covers developmental psychology of music, and explores theories and research findings relating to the acquisition of musical skills in infants, children and young people. The second focuses on the psychology of performance and explores aspects such as planning performances, rehearsing and collaboration, body movement in performance and music performance anxiety. The third section focuses on music and emotion, and explores emotion and expression in musical performance, measuring emotional responses to music, and strong experiences with music. The final section focuses on everyday music listening behaviour including cognitive processes involved in music listening, listening practices and musical preferences.
- schemata and attention in listening;
- perception, categorisation and representation of musical structures; and
- emotion and meaning in music.

In addition, seminars and tutor-led discussion will be used to interrogate more global issues raised in the lectures.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	20	1.00	20.00
Private study hours			180.00
Total Contact hours			20.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

This module carries 20 Level 2 credits, which specifies 200 hour of student effort. These 200 hours are divided as follows:
Contact time:
20 hours (20 X 1hr lectures), 2 hour exam
Private study and independent learning:
• General reading (40 hours)
• Preparatory reading for lectures (40 hours)
• Database searching for 2,000 word essay (18 hours)
• Preparation for assessments (80 hours)

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Contribution to lecture-seminars

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1800-2200 words (evaluative)	40.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		40.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Exams

Exam type	Exam duration	% of formal assessment
Open Book exam	48 hr 00 mins	60.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)		60.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 29/04/2024 16:18:37

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