The Trail, 2004-11-12

https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/thetrail_all/2855/thumbnail.jp

Memory for music and the implications of expertise for music recall: a review ; Memory for the recall of popular songs: a comparative study of musicians and nonmusicians

How people remember music is not only a practical concern for musicians, it also poses an interesting challenge for psychological theory (Wallace, 1994). One question that has often been overlooked is what occurs during the time that elapses between the stimulus onset (hearing music) and the generation of a response (an indication that the song has been remembered). While there is evidence to show that memory for song may be biased in a forward direction (Sibma, 2003), the role of expertise on memory for song may provide a deeper understanding of the nature of our memory for music. This review examined the literature regarding the processes and structures of memory as they relate to musical recall, specifically the role of long-term and auditory memory, chunking mechanisms, rhythm and the integration of text and melody as components of song, with special emphasis on examining the nature of expertise in general and how musical expertise may influence music recall in particular. How people remember music is not only a practical concern for musicians, it also poses an interesting challenge for psychological theory (Wallace, 1994). One question that has often been overlooked is what occurs during the time that elapses between the stimulus onset (hearing music) and the generation of a response (an indication that the song has been remembered). While there is some evidence to show that memory for song may be biased in a forward direction (Sibma, 2003), the role of expertise on memory for song may provide a deeper understanding of the nature of our memory for music. In the current experiment, 40 participants, 20 participants with musical expertise and 20 participants with no expertise (20 men, 20 women, mean age= 34.5 years), were asked to identify whether the second excerpt (test line) of a pair of excerpts taken from a popular song, came from \u27before\u27 or \u27after\u27 the first (probe line) in the normal course of the song. Seven pairs of excerpts, four pairs falling before the target line, and three pairs occurring after the target line, were presented for each of the eight songs heard earlier. Reaction time (RT) and accuracy of participant responses were measured. While it was predicted that RTs for identifying the test lines occurring \u27after\u27 the probe line would be shorter than those coming \u27before\u27 the target line, exploratory predictions were made regarding the effect of expe1iise a priori. While no significant differences in RT and accuracy were found between Musicians and Nonmusicians, results supported the first hypothesis with significantly shorter RTs in the \u27after\u27 condition than the \u27before\u27 condition, indicatingthat memory for music is biased in a forward direction

The Experience of Music Therapists Who Balance the Dual Professions of Music Therapist and Professional Musician

This phenomenological research explores the experiences of professionals who balance careers as both music therapists and professional musicians. Interviews with these participants provide new insights into the lives of music therapists who are also music performers outside of clinical work. This study aims to gain a better understanding of how music therapists describe the impacts of balancing the two professions. Four Board-Certified Music Therapists who simultaneously work as professional musicians participated in open-ended interviews regarding their experiences of balancing the two professions and how it has impacted their clinical work. Two main categories emerged during the analysis: (a) Performance had a positive impact on music therapy, and (b) Balancing the two professions impacted both. Five subcategories emerged during the analysis. The researcher’s own experiences as a music therapy student and professional musician are included in this study via reflexive journaling. The categories and subcategories are presented along with descriptions of the participants to illustrate the study’s findings? The implications of this research on clinical and educational training are also discussed