Cognition and real music: The psychology of music comes of age

Abstract

It is argued that developments in the cognitive psychology of music have recently made it possible to claim that a genuine paradigmatic enterprise is now in existence. The features of this paradigm include an agreed set of central problems together with agreed methodological and theoretical perspectives. A particular sign of maturity is the increasing attention which psychologists are paying to the processes involved in the perception, creation, and performance of real music under conditions which have a high degree of naturalism. It is suggested that the theoretical contribution of Lerdahl and Jackendoff (1983) epitomises the concerns of this paradigm, and the move towards naturalism is illustrated through studies of normal and exceptional memory for real musical material.