Subtitled "The Relationship of Musical Tones," scales and tonality are discussed comprehensively and in great detail from a scientific standpoint. Part II of Helmholtz's treatise is closely related to what is generally considered to be one facet of the psychology of music. 5 The book is still a classic source in the area of acoustics. Originally published in 1862, Helmholtz's classic study On the Sensations of Tone went through four German editions before it was translated into English and revised by Alexander J. Some important research in acoustics, an area which is relevant to the psychology of music, was conducted by the nineteenth century German physicist Hermann L.F. Some of Seashore's protégés at the University of Iowa, who also championed the hereditarian philosophy, were Max Schoen and Jacob Kwalwasser, about whom more will be heard later. Hereditarians espoused the concept that musical talent or aptitude was innate and as such could not be improved by training. Seashore was the founder of a school of thought in music psychology which has become known as hereditarian or absolutistic. This test of musical aptitude, or capacity, was concerned with measurements of discrimination in six areas namely, pitch, intensity, time, rhythm, timbre, and consonance. The first standardized music test, as already noted, was Seashore's Measures of Musical Talents, which appeared in 1919, concurrent with the publication of The Psychology of Musical Talent. In it Seashore presents a detailed analysis of the development of his test for measuring musical aptitude or capacityan instrument which is still highly respected and widely used today. 2 In this landmark volume Seashore identifies the psychology of music as consisting of: "the psychology of musical talent, the psychology of art principles involved in music, and the psychology of musical training." 3 However, his treatise is concerned only with the psychology of musical talent or with the reaction of the musical mind to stimuli. He discusses the development of his Measures of Musical Talents in The Psychology of Musical Talent. Seashore, after a period of experimentation for about twenty years, published the first standardized music test in 1919. Seashore, probably more than any one individual, developed and codified the elements in the aggregate that has become known as the psychology of music.
This attention to scientific proof in the psychology of music has remained one of its strengths as compared to philosophical studies in music, for example, where the validity of a priori evidence, obtained largely through reflective thinking, is often questioned.Ĭarl E. One of the differences between psychological studies in music and those of a philosophical nature has been the emphasis in the former on obtaining objective, empirical, or a posteriori evidence through rigidly controlled experimentation. Since individuals or members of a group can react or respond differently to the same stimulus, behavioral research in the field of music has turned up some rather intriguing and fascinating results. The mind identifies the stimulus and the resultant behavior is determined by how the mind reacts to the stimulus. The concepts of "stimulus" and "response," which are fundamental to any psychological investigation, are important also in the psychology of music. Psychology may be defined as: "the study of mind and behavior in relation to a particular field of knowledge or activity." 1 The mind and behavior as they relate to music certainly are relevant to a study of the psychology of music. Since a delimitation is necessary, however, this report will relate primarily to materials which fall under the rubric "Psychology of Music." Other representative items which impinge on the psychology of music, although not labeled as such, will also be included. Each of these fields has a well developed and respected literature, any one of which could be the subject of a significant article. "Psychology of music" relates to musical behavior and includes a vast amount of literature in aesthetics, acoustics, measurement, performance, and therapy. Yet there are many behavioral research studies which can, if the results are applied, make a good musician or a good teacher a better musician or a better teacher.
Musicians frequently are leery of reading anything which smacks of behavior because they feel that behavioral studies are too deep, too involved, and unrelated to music.
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