The Science-Music Borderlands: Reckoning with the Past and Imagining the Future

Interdisciplinary essays on music psychology that integrate scientific, humanistic, and artistic ways of knowing in transformative ways.

Researchers using scientific methods and approaches to advance our understanding of music and musicality have not yet grappled with some of the perils that humanistic fields concentrating on music have long articulated. In this edited volume, established and emerging researchers-neuroscientists and cognitive scientists, musicians, historical musicologists, and ethnomusicologists-build bridges between humanistic and scientific approaches to music studies, particularly music psychology. Deftly edited by Elizabeth H. Margulis, Psyche Loui, and Deirdre Loughridge, The Science-Music Borderlands embodies how sustained interaction among disciplines can lead to a richer understanding of musical life.

The essays in this volume provide the scientific study of music with its first major reckoning, exploring the intellectual history of the field and its central debates, while charting a path forward. The Science-Music Borderlands is essential reading for people studying music from any disciplinary background. It will also interest those working at the intersection of music and science, such as music teachers, performers, composers, and music therapists.