There has been a long-standing and mutually-informing association between psychoanalysis, literature and the arts. Surprisingly, given the oral/aural basis of the ‘talking cure’, music has largely been overlooked by psychoanalysis. On the other hand, neuroscientific research investigating music reception and production has been increasing steadily in range and scope over the years. However, in order to avoid confounding factors, empirical studies have focused primarily on non-vocal music. Operatic vocal music has not featured prominently in either field. Yet the multidimensional, multi-layered nature of opera, which fuses together a number of different arts, would appear to provide fertile soil for both disciplines. This thesis aims to fill that gap, providing a stepping stone for further research. The individual strengths of psychoanalysis and neuroscience are leveraged separately at first, according to a ‘complementarist’ approach, and then jointly as the inter-discipline of neuropsychoanalysis. By combining various theories of mind with current knowledge about music processing in the brain, a more comprehensive understanding of the reception experience can be achieved. As a result, a neuropsychoanalytic theory can be formulated to account for the operatic reception experience in subjective as well as objective terms. According to this theoretical formulation, the bittersweet enjoyment of operatic vocal music, which can literally move an operaphile to tears, lies in a numberof subjective dynamics that are unique to the reception of opera, rather than in any distinct objective neural processes, which are common to the reception of all music. These subjective dynamics, which are recruited during neural processing, are triggered by the equally unique features of the operatic voice, in combination with a number of auxiliary elements that are specific to opera.

Musical engagement can take many forms, from the lone pianist rehearsing in their study, to the headphone-wielding teenager on the bus, or even the orchestral musician on stage. Although much music research dissociates the performer from the listener (a differentiation starkly demonstrated in the layout of the concert hall), in this thesis I consider the performer and listener as two sides of the same coin. This thesis therefore empirically investigates musical prediction in the solo performer and the solo listener, then brings these together by investigating musical predictions in a turn-taking musical interaction. I begin by presenting a theoretical account of musical prediction. I propose a common mechanism to underlie predictions during both music performance and music listening, based on motor simulation of observed (seen or heard) music. This theory is developed from that of Pickering and Garrod (2013), and is suggested to span communicative joint action contexts. I then present three sets of experiments. In the first, I use eye-tracking to show that pianists incrementally process musical progressions during sight-reading. By measuring the rate of regression from an anomalous musical bar, I demonstrate that musicians look back to earlier portions of a melody more often when they read a bar that forms a less common musical progression than when they read a bar that forms a more common musical progression. This effect parallels that found for anomalous word reading in language, and provides a promising new paradigm through which to investigate music processing. In the second set of experiments, I use the timing of turn-end judgements to show that non-expert music listeners use tonality cues to predict the end of a musical solo. By presenting listeners with musical turns in two different styles: jazz improvisation or free improvisation, I show that the use of a tonal framework facilitates the accuracy of turn-end judgements. I confirm that this benefit is based on tonal information by filtering the extracts to either include or exclude pitch information. When pitch information is removed from the (tonal) jazz improvisations, turn-end accuracy falls. No such detriment is induced by removing pitch information for the (non-tonal) free improvisations, or by removing other spectral information. In the third set of experiments, I use transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to investigate turn-taking. Turn-taking involves listening to a partner, predicting when they will end and hence when to come in oneself, and finally entering for one’s own part accurately. In my first experiment I apply TMS to the primary motor cortex and suggest that the predictability of a partner’s part modulates the timecourse of one’s own motor preparation. In my second experiment I apply TMS to the dorsal premotor cortex (involved in motor simulation) and demonstrate that when a partner’s part is in one’s own motor repertoire, the dPMC plays a causal role in the accuracy of one’s own performance. This involvement of the dPMC is consistent with motor simulation being used to predict a partner’s ending in a turn-taking context. Together this set of experiments explores prediction in music production and comprehension. My studies of music reading and music listening indicate that prediction is similar across comprehension domains. My studies of interaction indicate that comprehension may depend on production processes. I suggest that together my findings therefore imply that predictions made by performers and listeners are based on similar processes, and more specifically, that prediction during comprehension may involve motor simulation.

Embodied Music Cognition is a recently developed theoretical and empirical framework which in the last eight years has been redefining the role of the body in music perception. However, to date there have been very few attempts to research embodied musical experiences in early childhood. The research reported in this thesis investigated 4- and 5-year-olds’ self-regulatory sensorimotor processes in response to music. Two video-based observation studies were conducted. The first, exploratory in nature, aimed to identify levels of musical self-regulation in children’s actions while ‘playing’ in a motion-based interactive environment (Sound=Space). The interactive element of this system provided an experiential platform for the young ‘players’ to explore and develop the ability to recognise themselves as controlling musical events, and to continuously adapt their behaviour according to expected auditory outcomes. Results showed that low-level experiences of musical self-regulation were associated with more random trajectories in space, often performed at a faster pace (e.g. running), while a higher degree of control corresponded to more organised spatial pathways usually involving slower actions and repetition. The second study focused on sensorimotor synchronisation. It aimed to identify children’s free and individual movement choices in response to rhythmic music with a salient and steady beat presented at different tempi. It also intended to find the similarities and differences between participants’ repertoire and their adjustments to tempo changes. The most prominent findings indicate that children’s movements exhibited a resilient periodicity which was not synchronised to the beat. Even though a great variety of body actions (mostly non-gestural) was found across the group, each child tended to use a more restricted repertoire and one specific dominant action that would be executed throughout the different tempi. Common features were also found in children’s performance, such as, the spatial preference for up/down directions and for movements done in place (e.g. vertical jump). The results of both studies highlight the great deal of variability in the way preschoolers regulate their own sensorimotor behaviour when interacting with music. This variety of responses can be interpreted as underlining the importance of the physical nature of the cognitive agent in the perception of music. If this is indeed the case, then it will be crucial to create and develop embodied music learning activities in early years education that encourage each child to self-monitor their own sensorimotor processes and, thus, to shape their experiences of linking sound and movement in a meaningful and fulfilling way.

This interdisciplinary thesis explores how music is used in the art of healing in two distinct ways in the early modern period: namely, through the use of performed music accompanying the healing process itself, and as ‘speculative music', the latter providing a philosophical model for understanding the interplay of music with body, mind and soul. Redefining an existing enquiry in a specific way, my research seeks to enhance an understanding of the construction of a therapeutic modality that revitalizes the ancient belief in the healing powers of music, manifest since antiquity through the classical legends of Orpheus and Pythagoras. The Pythagorean hypothesis – that earthly music reflected the celestial harmony of the spheres – was believed to govern the internal music of the human body, giving credence to the notion of the harmonious balancing of the four bodily humours. Tracing the tradition of healing music from antiquity, I argue that Marsilio Ficino's paradigmatic magico-musical philosophy refashions the Pythagorean and Neoplatonic explanations of music's curative potentiality, offering a new interpretat ion of music's effective power to heal the rift between body and soul. I examine how this Ficinian interpretation is discernible in the work of Robert Fludd, Michael Maier, William Shakespeare, Robert Burton and Thomas Campion. I analyse their observations of the body's physical and emotional response to music's healing power. Drawing on early modern models that appropriate the rhetoric of the music of the spheres, I argue that a cultural moment is established in which the motifs and tropes of Neoplatonic love and the healing power of music culminate in allegories of philosophical contemplation and spiritual fulfilment in the Jacobean court masques. In conclusion, my thesis's examination of music as a healing modality provides a historical framework to support the contemporary use of music as a recognized therapeutic intervention.

This thesis concerns musical identities and how they affect health as young people make the transition to adulthood. The primary focus is on music listening, since this is widely reported to be a key feature of adolescents’ and young adults’ leisure time (Roe 1999; Tarrant, et al 2000). Previous studies have investigated the links between specific musical genres and problematic behaviour (Klein 1993), suicidal risk (Lacourse 2001), and emotional turmoil (Roberts 1998), however there is a lack of both longitudinal and qualitative evidence in support of these findings. A number of assumptions are made regarding ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ musical preferences although causal links between music and health are still not clear. Similarly, the extent to which musical behaviour is related to other demographic features (e.g. sex, social class, education) and whether this changes over the lifecourse have yet to be fully investigated. The principal aim of the thesis is therefore to identify how musical identities relate to health and wellbeing over the youth-adult transition. In order to meet this aim a number of objectives have been devised, these are; to trace the development of musical identities and investigate the structure of music preference; to highlight associations between musical identity and risky health behaviours; to study the relationship between musical identities and emotional wellbeing; and to address the significance of musical identities in transitions to adulthood. A dialectical methodology was adopted which synthesises quantitative and qualitative methods. The former involved statistical analysis of a large-scale longitudinal dataset (The West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study). The latter was a qualitative sub-study with 18 participants from the Twenty-07 Study, designed and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Combining methods in this way allowed for philosophical pluralism in the methodological design, as well as for different aspects of the research aims to be addressed. Musical preferences were found to change over the youth-adult transition for most people, and this affected the links between musical identity and health. The overriding distinction was between participants who perceived a strong musical self-identity, and those who claimed a more limited identity. This was evidenced in both quantitative and qualitative findings. The former group were more likely to engage in risky health behaviours, but also indicated a more sophisticated use of music for therapeutic purposes. The latter group were less likely to engage in risky health behaviours, but did not tend to use music as a well-being resource like their strong-identifying peers. Strong musical identities are associated with higher levels of risky health behaviours, but this is also largely limited to a specific period of youth. Many practices associated with maintaining a strong musical identity in youth are limited by the onset of adult responsibilities, and structural identities. The emotional benefits associated with a strong musical identity, however, remain alongside adult identities. Ultimately, the associations between music listening and health are mostly influenced by strength of identity, and the current academic literature highlighting ‘problematic’ genres should be considered with this in mind. The implication of this work is that common sense assumptions about the corrosive nature of certain musical identities and youth cultures should be tempered by an acknowledgement that music tastes, associations, and identities are subject to change, often over very short periods of time.

Varied academic accounts exist of the psychological and physiological benefits experienced through engagement with music. MacDonald, Kreutz and Mitchell (2012) state that there is an increasing amount of evidence to suggest that music has the ability to positively affect our feelings of health and wellbeing. Despite qualitative studies into the benefits of music on older people, in particular singing, (Hallam et al, 2013; Clift et al, 2008), there has been less focus on this retired generation. In a study by Pickles (2003) into music and the ‘third age’, a plea is made for a further understanding of the musical opportunities and needs for this age group. For the first time ever there are more than ten million people now aged over 65 within the UK (UK Parliament website, 2015) and their number exceeds those under 16 (McVeigh, 2009). Contemporary studies indicate a positive correlation between good health and wellbeing with productive pastimes (Stephens & Flick, 2010; Franklin & Tate, 2009), and further evidence shows a positive correlation between those who are married and lifespan longevity (Jaffe et al 2006). This supports the need to further research the function of music as a motivational activity and its position within couple relationships in the older generation. The aim of this investigation was to explore lifelong musical engagement and its role in the wellbeing of married couples in retirement. Five retired couples who were in good health and actively engaged in musical pursuits were interviewed individually utilising an idiographic methodology, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Seeking to offer new insights into the importance of music in this key area of health, identity and social relationships each participant offered meaningful perspectives on the phenomenon being investigated. Analysis of their narratives revealed three overarching themes: i) the centrality of music throughout the lifespan, ii) music as a therapeutic tool, and iii) music in the present and its role in future selves. Significant findings showed how the use of music within the dyadic relationship facilitates a joint identity through the lifespan which continues into old age, assists social reconstruction when agency is under threat, brings positivity and respect through matched musical preferences, enriches feelings of positivity for the future as musical engagement is still possible when mobility becomes an issue, enhances feelings of togetherness, and provides joy through the provision of a legacy to future generations. Recommendations are made for future research into expanding awareness of specific areas of musical engagement which enhance a sense of wellbeing in older age couples, and increasing knowledge of its role in other age group intimate partnerships.

The present thesis is an enquiry into the nature and consistency of the idea of music as a metaphor throughout the works of the English philosopher and physician Robert Fludd (1573/4-1637). Fludd was very fond of a view of the world in which man is made of the same elements and the same proportions of the cosmos. Though this idea was slowly losing credit amongst the intellectuals of the time, Fluddean thought made some impact in the British Isles, and even more so on the continent: Johannes Kepler, for instance, wrote extensively about Fludd’s use of numerical symbolism, and stressed the differences between his own idea of harmony of the spheres and Fludd’s. After Fludd’s death, his ideas were still taken seriously amongst certain intellectual circles, e.g. in England (John Webster) and Poland (John Amos Comenius), and Fluddean thought influenced German musico-theoretical writers such as Athanasius Kircher, Andreas Werckmeister, and Johann Walther. But the subsequent centuries witnessed a general obliviousness towards Fludd. His figure began to re- emerge only in the second half of the 20th century in an increasing number of essays, papers, articles and a few books dedicated to him. What is still lacking, though, is a reassessment relying upon a more organic approach, which takes into account the entirety of Fludd’s publications and the wide range of topics covered in them. My work attempts to address this issue. The musical metaphor is one of the strongest leitmotifs in Fluddean publications, thanks to its being fit for representing man, the cosmos, and their interrelationship. Indeed the monochord, which well before Fludd was the preeminent practical and philosophical demonstration of the Pythagorean ‘divine’ proportions, rules the pages of Fludd’s earlier volumes. In later volumes, though, a new instrument takes its place: the more up-to-date weather-glass, surprisingly also linked to musical proportions. I argue that the new scientific instrument retains some of the monochord’s traits, thus representing an original re-arrangement of ‘ancient’ music; in fact, Fludd even applies it to the human pulse – an under-studied topic that I survey in detail. Following the whole Fluddean opera omnia is a task that gives one a glimpse of Fludd’s reactions to the deep changes that the intellectual and scientific world was undergoing from a perspective that has been, so far, largely neglected. This opens up to new fascinating outlooks on music, medicine and science at the beginning of the seventeenth century.

Text in German / The study at hand proceeds from the assumption that there is a catechetical as well as a music pedagogical teaching tradition for young children. The touch points of the two disciplines emerge rather by chance than by design because one discipline uses the other as an approach. This study raises the key question if a music catechetics is possible. The term music catechetics is used to describe a learning process based on an equal balance of both music pedagogy and catechetics. The debate of this question requires interdisciplinary conversations. The answers can be found in developmental psychology as well as music psychology, music sociology, anthropology and ecclesiastical history. In the end this gives rise to practical theological criteria which can be used to answer and justify the question of music catechetics. / Die vorliegende Untersuchung geht von der Tatsache aus, dass es für Kleinkinder sowohl eine katechetische wie ein musikpädagogische Lehrtradition gibt. Die Berührungspunkte beider Disziplinen ergeben sich eher zufällig, indem sich die eine Disziplin der anderen Disziplin als Methode bedient. Diese Untersuchung stellt nun die zentrale Frage, ob eine Musikkatechese möglich ist. Unter einer Musikkatechese wird ein gleichberechtigter Lernvorgang verstanden, der sowohl Musikpädagogik als auch Katechetik erfasst. Um diese Frage zu erörtern werden interdisziplinäre Gespräche nötig. Sowohl die Entwicklungspsychologie, als auch Musikpsychologie, Musiksoziologie, Anthropologie und Kirchengeschichte werden befragt. Schließlich werden praktisch theologische Kriterien erhoben, aus denen heraus die Frage nach einer möglichen Musikkatechese beantwortet und begründet wird. / Practical Theology / M.Th. (Practical Theology)

Text in German / The study at hand proceeds from the assumption that there is a catechetical as well as a music pedagogical teaching tradition for young children. The touch points of the two disciplines emerge rather by chance than by design because one discipline uses the other as an approach. This study raises the key question if a music catechetics is possible. The term music catechetics is used to describe a learning process based on an equal balance of both music pedagogy and catechetics. The debate of this question requires interdisciplinary conversations. The answers can be found in developmental psychology as well as music psychology, music sociology, anthropology and ecclesiastical history. In the end this gives rise to practical theological criteria which can be used to answer and justify the question of music catechetics. / Die vorliegende Untersuchung geht von der Tatsache aus, dass es für Kleinkinder sowohl eine katechetische wie ein musikpädagogische Lehrtradition gibt. Die Berührungspunkte beider Disziplinen ergeben sich eher zufällig, indem sich die eine Disziplin der anderen Disziplin als Methode bedient. Diese Untersuchung stellt nun die zentrale Frage, ob eine Musikkatechese möglich ist. Unter einer Musikkatechese wird ein gleichberechtigter Lernvorgang verstanden, der sowohl Musikpädagogik als auch Katechetik erfasst. Um diese Frage zu erörtern werden interdisziplinäre Gespräche nötig. Sowohl die Entwicklungspsychologie, als auch Musikpsychologie, Musiksoziologie, Anthropologie und Kirchengeschichte werden befragt. Schließlich werden praktisch theologische Kriterien erhoben, aus denen heraus die Frage nach einer möglichen Musikkatechese beantwortet und begründet wird. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Practical Theology)