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The prevalent approach to developing cognitive models of music perception and composition is to construct systems of symbolic rules and constraints on the basis of extensive music-theoretic and music-analytic knowledge. The thesis proposed in this dissertation is that statistical models which acquire knowledge through the induction of regularities in corpora of existing music can, if examined with appropriate methodologies, provide significant insights into the cognitive processing involved in music perception and composition. This claim is examined in three stages. First, a number of statistical modelling techniques drawn from the fields of data compression, statistical language modelling and machine learning are subjected to empirical evaluation in the context of sequential prediction of pitch structure in unseen melodies. This investigation results in a collection of modelling strategies which together yield significant performance improvements over existing methods. In the second stage, these statistical systems are used to examine observed patterns of expectation collected in previous psychological research on melody perception. In contrast to previous accounts of this data, the results demonstrate that these patterns of expectation can be accounted for in terms of the induction of statistical regularities acquired through exposure to music. In the final stage of the present research, the statistical systems developed in the first stage are used to examine the intrinsic computational demands of the task of composing a stylistically successful melody The results suggest that the systems lack the degree of expressive power needed to consistently meet the demands of the task. In contrast to previous research, however, the methodological framework developed for the evaluation of computational models of composition enables a detailed empirical examination and comparison of such models which facilitates the identification and resolution of their weaknesses.

In this thesis I show that groups can share token emotional states by performing music together. First I argue that emotions are perceptions, representing the self's dynamic relation with the world. This representation is achieved by patterns of bodily changes, functioning independently of conscious feeling. Moreover, emotional expressions should be included in this analysis because they contribute to the pattern of bodily changes. This entails that we can 'think through' our emotions by manipulating our behavioural expressions. I then argue that empathy relies on our tendency to neurally mirror the expressive behaviours of other people, resulting in a simulation of emotional arousal. Turning to music, I argue that music hijacks our simulative capacities and thus that recognising emotions in music is like recognising emotions in people. The fact that the brain processes patterns of sound, vision and touch intermodally as patterns of movement underlines this claim. All this allows me to argue that musicians can use music to physically extend the cognition of their emotions. Here the music may not just influence their bodily changes, but may be processed alongside those changes as an elaboration of the overall pattern. On some occasions, the music may even take the dominant role in this respect. Thus emotional representations are best described more neutrally, though bodily patterns remain the central case of emotions. I then analyse joint listening to music, arguing that our perceptual activities may be interdependently structured, mutually fixing the character of the object, as well as encouraging similar emotional responses. In order to show that the intrinsic content of mental states can be shared, I then look at the theory of collective intentions. This provides a model for embodying the content of a mental state in the agreement between individuals. I apply this model to ensemble musical performance. To listen to the music submitted with this thesis, go to; http://www.su.nottingham.ac.uk/~patterns/thesis/

This research study focuses on the role of kinaesthesis and motor response in promoting musical memory. The main questions addressed are: What is the nature of musical memory? How is it promoted? Is a kinaesthetic or muscular strategy a particularly effective means of promoting musical memory? The investigation which follows is mainly conceptual, yet reinforced by some empirical work. It falls into three parts: 1) Cognitive processes; 2) The potential role of kinaesthesis and movement as imagery strategies; 3) Empirical investigation. In part one a framework for the investigation is established. The study of general aspects of memory is linked to research in music cognition and memory. A chapter on representation and imagery is concerned with those techniques and strategies by which musical memory is developed. Part two examines the nature of kinaesthesis and its role in cognitive processes and musical cognition. Rhythmic experience is considered in relation to kinaesthesis and its overt manifestation in physical movement. The major contribution of Emile Jaques- Dalcroze is presented, as a study of kinaesthetic strategy in practice. The close correspondence between music and expressive movement is examined, before a chapter in which a conceptual framework is proposed. The third and final part presents the empirical work undertaken in testing the kinaesthetic principle: 'The stronger the muscular sensations, the clearer and more precise the images' (Jaques-Dalcroze) A replication experiment is described which forms the basis for an experiment on kinaesthetic strategy, the success of which lends support to the theoretical evidence presented. Conclusions are drawn and Dalcroze practice reviewed in the light of these findings and the preceding theoretical work.

Θεωρώντας ότι ένα από τα σημαντικότερα κομμάτια στο παζλ του πολιτισμού ενός λαού αποτελεί η μουσική, στην παρούσα έρευνα μελετώνται οι μουσικές προτιμήσεις Ελλήνων και αλλοδαπών μαθητών της Ε΄ και ΣΤ΄ τάξης του Δημοτικού σχολείου και η σχέση τους με την ελληνική μουσική. Ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον θεωρούμε ότι παρουσιάζει η εξέταση των μουσικών προτιμήσεων των αλλοδαπών μαθητών και του πως αυτές επηρεάζονται από τον πολιτισμό της χώρας υποδοχής. Το θέμα αυτό είναι πολυδιάστατο καθώς σχετίζεται με ποικίλους παράγοντες. Επιπλέον, η μουσική σε σχέση με τη διαπολιτισμική εκπαίδευση είναι ένα θέμα το οποίο συναντάται ελάχιστα στην ελληνική βιβλιογραφία και θεωρούμε ότι θα ήταν καλό να ερευνηθεί περαιτέρω το συγκεκριμένο ζήτημα. / Considering that one of the most important pieces in the puzzle of a certain people’s culture is music, in the current research we study the musical preferences of greek and foreign studends attending the 5th and 6th class of primary school and their relation to greek music. We consider of significant importance that we examine the musical preferences of foreign students and how they are affected by the culture of the host country. This issue is multifaceted since it is related to many factors. Moreover, music in relation to cross-cultural education is an issue that is found rarely in greek bibliography and we believe that further investigation would provide profitable results.

In many musical cultures, people synchronise their bodies to the rhythmic patterns of the music, and such embodied engagements are one of the most overtly enjoyable forms of musical appreciation. However, the ways in which rhythmic structure, body-movement and pleasure are related remains unclear. The present thesis directs a broadly psychological, yet multi-methodological and interdisciplinary, approach towards this relationship, centring on the rhythmic structure of syncopation in groove-based funk music. Through perceptual experiments, computational modelling, rating surveys, neuroimaging and motion-capture recording, syncopation was found to relate, in primarily negatively linear and inverted U-shaped ways, to finger-tapping performance, perceptions of stability, subjective desire to move and feelings of pleasure, neural activity in motor and reward areas, and force, synchrony and periodicity in body-movements. These relationships also depended on individuals’ musical training, dancing experience and groove familiarity. Ecological and embodied theories of perception and a phenomenology of groove provide a backdrop to the empirical findings, on the basis of which it is suggested that the different relationships between syncopation in groove and perceptual, subjective, neural and corporeal attributes interact in reciprocal ways. It is proposed that syncopation invites the body to physically enact the musical structure and directly participate in the rhythms of groove, due to the perceptual tension and ‘open spaces’ afforded by the perception of metric events in syncopation. In groove, body, mind and music extend into each other and this distributed musical process has affective significance. Since the physical pleasures of dancing to music are such a historically and culturally ubiquitous phenomenon, the empirical findings and theoretical proposals of this thesis make significant contributions towards a much-needed coupling of affective and embodied theories of music.