What do we mean by 'music'? Talk by Professor Ian Cross

Duration: 1 hour 11 mins

Share this media item:

Embed this media item:

<iframe width="_width_" height="_height_" src="https://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1767483/embed" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Choose size:

About this item

Available Formats

About this item

What do we mean by 'music'? Talk by Professor Ian Cross's image

Description:	Professor Ian Cross, Director of the Centre for Music and Science at the University of Cambridge, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 6 May 2014. Since 1980 Prof Cross has been involved in experimental investigations of the perception of tonal structures as well as of the role of culture and formal education in shaping musical cognition. He has explored the general limits and constraints on scientific accounts of music and is particularly involved in research into the relation between music and evolutionary theory. He is the author of over a hundred papers and book chapters, and was co-editor of Musical Structure and Cognition (1985) and Representing Musical Structure (1991), both published by Academic Press. More recently, he has co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology and the volume Language and Music as Cognitive Systems (2011), both published by OUP. Ian Cross is also a guitarist. The lecture is chaired by Professor John Rallison, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at Cambridge, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 03:25 minute point in the video.

Description:

Professor Ian Cross, Director of the Centre for Music and Science at the University of Cambridge, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 6 May 2014.

Since 1980 Prof Cross has been involved in experimental investigations of the perception of tonal structures as well as of the role of culture and formal education in shaping musical cognition. He has explored the general limits and constraints on scientific accounts of music and is particularly involved in research into the relation between music and evolutionary theory.

He is the author of over a hundred papers and book chapters, and was co-editor of Musical Structure and Cognition (1985) and Representing Musical Structure (1991), both published by Academic Press. More recently, he has co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology and the volume Language and Music as Cognitive Systems (2011), both published by OUP. Ian Cross is also a guitarist.

The lecture is chaired by Professor John Rallison, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at Cambridge, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education.

Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 03:25 minute point in the video.

Created:

2014-07-29 13:52

Collection:

Madingley Lectures
Madingley Lectures

Publisher:

University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education

Professor Ian Cross

Language:

eng (English)

Distribution:

World

(downloadable)

Keywords:

music; music analysis; cognitive process; musical cognition;

Credits:

Author:	Professor Ian Cross
Performer:	Professor Ian Cross

Explicit content:

Aspect Ratio:

16:9

Screencast:

Bumper:

UCS Default

Trailer:

UCS Default


Abstract:	This talk asks the questions “what do we mean by music?” and “how can we make sense of it?”. Prof Cross starts by exploring the ways in which we conventionally might think about, and understand, music. He then shows that we need to expand our orthodox ideas in order to make sense of the complex web of social facts, acts and artefacts that constitute music. We are encouraged to look – and listen – beyond Western societies to show how other culture’s musics, and ideas about music, can broaden and deepen our own understandings of music. Prof Cross concludes by discussing some recent research that demonstrates that music has significant effects on how we interact with others, and briefly presents some ongoing research in Cambridge which suggests that speech and music are underpinned by many of the same social and cognitive processes.

Abstract:

This talk asks the questions “what do we mean by music?” and “how can we make sense of it?”. Prof Cross starts by exploring the ways in which we conventionally might think about, and understand, music. He then shows that we need to expand our orthodox ideas in order to make sense of the complex web of social facts, acts and artefacts that constitute music. We are encouraged to look – and listen – beyond Western societies to show how other culture’s musics, and ideas about music, can broaden and deepen our own understandings of music. Prof Cross concludes by discussing some recent research that demonstrates that music has significant effects on how we interact with others, and briefly presents some ongoing research in Cambridge which suggests that speech and music are underpinned by many of the same social and cognitive processes.

Available Formats

Format	Quality	Bitrate	Size
MPEG-4 Video	640x360	1.94 Mbits/sec	1.01 GB	View	Download
WebM	640x360	761.96 kbits/sec	396.24 MB	View	Download
iPod Video	480x270	510.04 kbits/sec	265.23 MB	View	Download
MP3	44100 Hz	253.21 kbits/sec	131.68 MB	Listen	Download
Auto *	(Allows browser to choose a format it supports)

Streaming Media Service Upload

What do we mean by 'music'? Talk by Professor Ian Cross