Psychology for Musicians is presented as a sequel to John Sloboda's well-thumbed The Musical Mind (Sloboda, Reference SLOBODA1986), with ambitions to provide ‘a panoramic view of music making and listening based on cognitive theory in conjunction with the cultural context in which the music occurs’ (p. vi). As the title suggests, this book serves to introduce musicians to psychology. Accordingly, it avoids scientific terminology and addresses questions of practical concern to performing or teaching musicians in its three parts: ‘Musical Learning’, ‘Musical Skills’ and ‘Musical Roles’. ‘Musical Learning’ comprises an introductory chapter on science and musical skills, followed by chapters on musical development, motivation, and practice. ‘Musical Skills’ deals with expression and interpretation, reading or listening and remembering, composition and improvisation, and managing performance anxiety. Finally, ‘Musical Roles’ addresses in turn the performer, the teacher, the listener and the user.
In the Preface, the authors explain that the book was initially written for classroom teaching, hence a 12-chapter structure to align with a teaching term. The pedagogical thrust of the book is also manifest in the uniform structure to each chapter: a summary of the arguments to be developed is provided at the beginning, followed by a focus on one important study or typical methodology in detail, and ending with study questions. Other features of the chapter structure include what the authors term a ‘cross-cultural perspective’, where the chapter topic is addressed from an alternative point of view. Musicians are encouraged to reflect on their own musical practice in self-study exercises that usefully bridge hands-on experience with psychological research findings.
Despite its organisation into an appropriate number of chapters for a teaching term, this is not a textbook. Breadth of topic rather than depth of material is favoured. While the classroom situation might have originally motivated writing the book, it is difficult to know whether this classroom was university level, music conservatoire, or high school. In a bid to present a straightforward picture, critical analyses of the music psychology literature are lacking. Music students, while inexperienced in scientific enquiry, should still be encouraged to analyse research ideas and outcomes critically. At the same time, a danger of presenting the complexities of music psychology research can mean that the findings are simply never incorporated into music education. At least Psychology for Musicians simplifies the picture and provides music teachers with convenient take-home messages.
‘The topics covered here contain relevant information for musicians who perform or teach, for students of psychology who want to know more about music and the mind, and for musically inclined persons who seek personal growth and enrichment’ (p. v). While the topics might be relevant to such a wide-ranging readership, their presentation is less well suited. As is typical of cognitive accounts, discussion of the formation and utilisation of mental representations dominates, and as such the book is unlikely to appeal to ecological psychologists or readers with a primary interest in motor representations of performance. Indeed, psychologists hoping for an introduction to music would be disappointed, and it may be unrealistic to attempt to introduce musicians to psychology and psychologists to music in one coherent text. Elsewhere, the more specific intention to address performing musicians and music educators is apparent, as voiced by a desire to dispel common misconceptions in the music community. A laudable emphasis on science to inform an understanding of music undoubtedly led to the decision to begin the book with a chapter devoted to justifying this approach. While musicians might not see why they should be concerned with scientific method, it is probably safe to say that a reader who has decided to pick up such a book is already predisposed to exploring alternative approaches to music. The section devoted to the merits of science thus seems heavy-handed, with an element of ‘preaching to the converted’. Moreover, and more worryingly, by explicitly stating such a view from the outset, the authors imply a scientific authority to their writing that an uncritical reader may accept as objective fact.
Psychology for Musicians focuses on Western classical performing musicians, reflecting the backgrounds of the authors, the intended readership, and the trend in music psychology research. This inevitably limits efforts to incorporate a consideration of the cultural context in which music making takes place: the overt inclusion of a ‘cross-cultural perspective’ for each chapter is frustratingly biased by assumptions from Western classical music performance. A number of examples will illustrate the point. Firstly, the authors blithely assert that the most common activity of musicians is practice (p. 61). This may be the case for classical musicians, but the distinction between practice and performance is not so clear-cut in other musical cultures. Similarly, the authors write, ‘unlike classical performance, in which the aim is generally to spotlight the individuality and autonomy of the performer (or conductor) as interpreter, popular musicians very often try to be self-effacing’ (p. 102). Very often they do not, and such statements should be questioned. More might be said in the book about conductors, particularly given a readership of teachers and others who direct musical ensembles. A more open acknowledgement of gaps in the field would inform the reader and point to the complexity of the issues summarised.
The authors do not refrain from offering subjective advice. For instance, they hope to dispel beliefs that it is unwise for performers to listen to the performances of others, describing this approach as an ‘irrational fear’, and hoping that teachers and students ‘will generally reject such self-defeating attitudes and behaviours’ (p. 101). Their strong motivation to express such a view precludes a more considered analysis of the possible advantages conferred by structuring and imagining a personal rendition of a work before listening to other performances of it. Surely neither approach is ‘correct’, as performance goals shape appropriate performance preparation. Assertions are made that might seem obvious to the authors but require further explanation, and at times justification. For instance, we are told, ‘skilled music listening is a solely mental activity’ (p. 19). Such a divorce of the mental from the physical in skilled listening is a Western construct, open to challenge. As another example, teachers and diligent students may wish to know why it is that ‘more regularity is generally advisable’ (p. 77) when it comes to the time and procedure of a practice session. A number of surprisingly unsubstantiated claims are made in relation to musical memory. For instance, it seems highly unlikely that ‘when the performer is also the composer – for example, Beethoven performing his own works – memory is not an issue’ (p. 108). Composers performing their own music still need to reconstruct this from long-term memory. Later, we are told: ‘as we know from general psychology, memory is context-specific; that is, we not only learn a specific content but also remember the learning environment, physiological state, and so forth, associated with it’ (p. 123). Qualification is required here: for instance, do such associations operate consciously, do they apply to memory for specific note patterns? It seems important to know, since the authors promote memorisation as a performance strategy. Music teachers might be discouraged to read that ‘becoming a great teacher likely requires diminishing loyalty to one's own musicianship’ (p. 202), and last but by no means least, scientific claims to empirical rigour are forgotten when it is argued that ‘everybody has at one point or other experienced strong physiological experiences when listening to music’ (p. 222). Is this really so? For all ages and all musical cultures? How do we know?
Other criticisms are minor, and chiefly concern proofing oversights (e.g. Reisberg (Reference REISBERG1992) is cited as Weisberg throughout). Definitions are lacking at times, and it would be important to know what was intended by expressions such as ‘skilled music listening’, ‘expert’ and ‘universal capacity’. On the whole the literature is pertinent and recent, though exceptions include only one 15-year-old reference in the section on synaesthesia, which is a research area that has grown considerably since then. Similarly, the topic of ‘tunes in the head’ or musical imagery has developed in recent years (Bailes, Reference BAILES2007), particularly concerning auditory hallucinations (Aleman et al., Reference ALEMAN, BÖCKER, HIJMAN, DE HAAN and KAHN2003). Finally, in addressing the function of music, the authors appear dismissive of the contribution of sociologists by neglecting to mention important work (e.g. DeNora, Reference DENORA2000).
In spite of its shortcomings, Psychology for Musicians might meet a musician's requirements particularly well in two respects. Firstly, a serious attempt is made to bridge the apparent gap between scientific and artistic concerns, with the philosophy that ‘we believe that knowledge and understanding do not preclude amazement, surprise, and admiration’ (p. 11). For instance, care is taken to explain that understanding the rules that govern expressive performance should be viewed as a means to creative freedom, rather than its antithesis. Secondly, the book is structured in such a way as to provide quick, understandable summary material, and thought-provoking study questions. The authors engage with the interested musician by encouraging self-reflection, for example through a challenging invitation to music teachers to analyse their own teaching practices.
Strengths of Psychology for Musicians include a helpful emphasis on developing mental representations through practice, and not merely physical repetition. Also, a musical skills pyramid neatly puts into perspective the tiny proportion of elite musicians in relation to the more common musical experiences of the average population, with a reminder of the considerable individual differences in musical skills we might expect to find. The chapter devoted to ‘The Listener’ deserves a special mention for its discussion of some of the least understood, but most interesting musical phenomena. These include amusia, synaesthesia, prenatal perception, having a tune ‘stuck in the head’ and remembering biographically important songs. While such a chapter can barely scratch the surface, its breadth reminds the reader that there are many ways of listening to music. The chapter on ‘The User’ is also a welcome step back from the traditional focus in musicology on musical works, in favour of ‘person-focused’ approaches to musical function.
Psychology for Musicians is a well-intentioned book that will surely interest inquisitive musicians. Moreover, it surpasses the role of commentary to provide advice to practitioners. The authors’ desire to unambiguously deliver practical information is palpable, with the unfortunate side effect that there is little room for critical depth. Consequently, the book is not as scholarly as other work by these reputable authors. This is problematic in view of an introduction that argues the case for scientific rigour, apparently endowing the authors with an objective authority. Nevertheless, the breadth of the book provides a convenient overview of a number of fascinating questions in music psychology. It may raise awareness of the myriad issues concerning musical learning, musical skills and musical roles, to promote further exploration.
