About this course: The course will explore the tone combinations that humans consider consonant or dissonant, the scales we use, and the emotions music elicits, all of which provide a rich set of data for exploring music and auditory aesthetics in a biological framework. Analyses of speech and musical databases are consistent with the idea that the chromatic scale (the set of tones used by humans to create music), consonance and dissonance, worldwide preferences for a few dozen scales from the billions that are possible, and the emotions elicited by music in different cultures all stem from the relative similarity of musical tonalities and the characteristics of voiced (tonal) speech. Like the phenomenology of visual perception, these aspects of auditory perception appear to have arisen from the need to contend with sensory stimuli that are inherently unable to specify their physical sources, leading to the evolution of a common strategy to deal with this fundamental challenge.
Created by: Duke University
Taught by: Dale Purves, M.D.
Duke Institute for Brain Sciences
| Language | English, Subtitles: Spanish |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Course Introduction
Introduction to Music as Biology
1 video, 2 readings
- Reading: A Word About the Course
- Video: Welcome to Music as Biology
- Discussion Prompt: Music as Biology: In Your Own Words
- Reading: Feedback surveys
Sound Signals, Sound Stimuli, and the Human Auditory System
An overview of the organization of the human auditory system, and how sound signals are transformed into sound stimuli.
4 videos, 3 readings
- Reading: Module Resources
- Reading: An Overview of the Human Auditory System
- Video: Organization of the Auditory System
- Video: Sound Signals and Sound Stimuli
- Discussion Prompt: Distinction Between Sound Signal and Sound Stimuli
- Video: Tones versus Noise
- Discussion Prompt: Harmonic Series
- Video: Determining the Sources of Sound Stimuli
- Discussion Prompt: Auditory Perception
- Reading: Feedback survey
- Discussion Prompt: Thinking About Music as Biology: Week 1
Graded: Sound Signals, Sound Stimuli, and the Human Auditory System
WEEK 2
The Perception of Sound Stimuli
An introduction to the sound qualities we perceive, and how and why these qualities differ from the information in sound signals.
5 videos, 2 readings
- Reading: Module Resources
- Video: Loudness and Intensity
- Video: Pitch and Frequency
- Video: Timbre and its Causes
- Discussion Prompt: Correlates and How They Differ
- Video: Observation and Linguistics
- Video: Auditory Objects and Scenes
- Discussion Prompt: Thinking About Music as Biology: Week 2
- Reading: Feedback survey
Graded: The Perception of Sound Stimuli
WEEK 3
Vocalization and Vocal Tones
A discussion of the nature of vocal sound signals, their biological importance and their role in understanding music.
5 videos, 2 readings
- Reading: Module Resources
- Video: The Production of Vocal Sound Signals
- Discussion Prompt: Human Vocalization
- Video: The Perception of Vocal Sound Signals
- Video: The Perception of Intensity (Loudness) in Empirical Terms
- Video: The Perception of Frequency (Pitch) in Empirical Terms
- Discussion Prompt: Share Your Work!
- Video: Relationship of Vocalization to Music
- Discussion Prompt: Thinking About Music as Biology: Week 3
- Reading: Feedback survey
Graded: Vocalization and Vocal Tones
WEEK 4
Defining Music and Exploring Why We Like It
The tonal phenomena that need to be explained in any theory of music, and different approaches that have been take to provide answers.
9 videos, 2 readings
- Reading: Module Resources
- Discussion Prompt: Defining Music
- Video: Defining Music
- Video: The Chromatic Scale and Some More Musical Terminology
- Discussion Prompt: Share Your Work!
- Video: Consonance and Dissonance
- Video: Tonality vs. Atonality: Frequency of Consonant vs. Dissonant Intervals
- Video: Tension and Resolution
- Video: Cadences
- Discussion Prompt: Explanations of Consonance
- Video: Mathematical Explanations of Consonance
- Video: A Physical Explanation of Consonance
- Video: A Biological Explanation of Consonance
- Reading: Feedback survey
Graded: Defining Music and Exploring Why We Like It
WEEK 5
Musical Scales
Why a small number of basic scales are used in music worldwide, and how a biological framework explains this and related puzzles.
6 videos, 2 readings
- Reading: Module Resources
- Video: Defining Scales and Modes
- Discussion Prompt: Tuning Systems
- Video: The Small Number of Scales Used
- Discussion Prompt: Scales
- Video: Testing a Biological Explanation of Scale Preference
- Discussion Prompt: Biological Explanation of Scale Preference
- Video: Why Is the Number of Intervals in Scales So Limited?
- Video: The Status of the Chromatic Scale and the Semitone in Biological Terms
- Video: Is Music Uniquely Human?
- Reading: Feedback survey
Graded: Musical Scales
WEEK 6
Music, Emotion, and Cultural Differences
How emotion is conveyed by vocal similarity in music across cultures, and how the speech of a culture and its music are related. A summing up of the major points in the course follows.
7 videos, 4 readings
- Reading: Module Resources
- Video: Introduction to Emotion
- Discussion Prompt: Relevancy of Emotion
- Video: Emotions Elicited by Major versus Minor Scales
- Reading: Mozart Variation 8, "Minor"
- Reading: Mozart Variation 9, "Major"
- Video: Comparision of Major and Minor Music with Vocalization in Different Emotional States
- Video: Expression of Emotion in Eastern and Western Music
- Video: Language, Speech, and Cultural Differences in Music
- Video: Mbira Music: Background and Cyclical Structures
- Video: Mbria Music: Nonhamronic Frequencies
- Discussion Prompt: Culturally Different Music
- Discussion Prompt: Your Takeaway
- Discussion Prompt: Music as Biology: Summing Up
- Reading: Feedback survey
Graded: Music, Emotion, and Cultural Differences
Graded: Summing Up
Additional Resources
Additional demonstrations and commentaries by Ruby Froom on some of the musical issues considered in the course, as well as a glossary of terms and bibliography for references.
6 videos, 16 readings
- Video: Mozart: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
- Reading: Mozart Theme
- Reading: Mozart Variation 2, ornamentation
- Reading: Mozart Variation 5, rhythmic sync
- Reading: Mozart Variation 8, "Minor"
- Reading: Mozart Variation 9, "Major"
- Video: Derivations of the Harmonic and Melodic Minor Scales
- Reading: Minor Scale Analysis in BWV 002
- Video: Cadences
- Reading: Music Theory Rules
- Reading: BWV 002 Harmonic Analysis
- Reading: BWV 65.2 Harmonic Analysis
- Reading: BWV 133.6 Harmonic Analysis
- Video: Berg Lieder
- Reading: Schliesse Mir Die Augen Beide
- Reading: Tonal Version Sheet Music
- Reading: Atonal Version Sheet Music
- Video: Background and Cyclical Structure
- Video: Nonharmonic Frequencies
- Reading: Glossary A-O
- Reading: Glossary P-W
- Reading: Bibliography
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Ratings and Reviews
This is an exceptional course, with very intriguing information about why we like the music we like.
Para una persona que se dedica a la educación musical, este curso es de suma importancia , muestra las cuestiones biológicas que son el punto de partida para aprender sobre este maravilloso arte, esta completísimo y explicado de forma progresiva.
Very nice scheduled course!
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It's a really good curse to learn and discover different facts about, music,biology (sense of hearing) and emotions. How is the mood sense affected by music.