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In these lessons from Berklee Online’s Music and Neuroscience course, Susan Rogers explores how your brain processes music—and why it sparks powerful emotional responses. By understanding how music evokes emotion, musicians can connect more meaningfully with their audience while also enriching their own appreciation of the craft. Our brains have different structures that receive signals from the nervous system, identifying speech, sound, and rhythm. Rogers explains how when we sing or listen to a song we like, the chemical reactions in our brain release dopamine, encouraging us to keep listening. The 26 videos of this course reveal why we like certain songs by analyzing perception across musicians and non-musicians, cultural influences, metrical structures, and tonality. All of these factors show that every emotional response is unique, as it also depends on internal and external conditions such as when (and with whom!) you are listening.
Rogers tells musicians that our nervous system enjoys a balance between familiarity and novelty, explaining that pop music and hit songs tend to be liked the most because they generally contain a familiar aspect along with an innovative element. Music not only causes emotional reactions, but also automatic physiological responses such as chills, which are often correlated with unexpected elements inside a song. Rogers says that we are most likely to like a song when it meets our expectations, as our brains like to anticipate melodies or rhythms based on our memory of past songs. When we like a song, our brain creates a template of the type of music we tend to like, which we remember each time we listen to something new. This course emphasizes that music is used for bonding and can be an identification of culture and identity, providing a sense of belonging. With these teachings, Rogers hopes to help musicians deepen their appreciation for music and inspire them to innovate.
Watch All of the Videos in This Series: https://berkonl.in/3UBLBMh
ABOUT SUSAN ROGERS:
Susan Rogers holds a Doctorate in Psychology from McGill University (2010), where she studied music cognition and psychoacoustics under researchers Daniel Levitin and Stephen McAdams. Her research focuses on auditory memory, the perception of musical signals, and the influence of musical training on auditory development. For two decades prior to her science career, Susan was one of the world’s few women known for her work as a record producer, engineer, mixer, and audio electronics technician. Career highlights include five years (1983-1987) as staff engineer for Prince, producing hit singles for diverse artists such as Barenaked Ladies, David Byrne, Robben Ford, Jeff Black, and Rusted Root, mixing hit singles for an equally eclectic list including Tricky, Michael Penn, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and Tevin Campbell, and engineering for a host more. Susan is a professor at Berklee College of Music in the departments of Music Production & Engineering and Liberal Arts, and is the director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory. In 2012, she was awarded the Distinguished Faculty Award, Professional Writing and Music Technology Division. In tandem with business partner and former student Matthew McArthur (Berklee ’10), Susan launched Boston’s first not-for-profit recording studio, The Record Company, to offer low-cost recording facilities to area musicians and free music technology instruction to area teens.
About Berklee Online:
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Music and Neuroscience | Musical Taste | Dopamine Reward System | Anhedonia | Emotional Responses to Music | Listener Profile | Cultural Differences in Music | Tonality | Metrical Structure | Rhythm and Groove | Prediction and Anticipation | Expectancy Violation | Sad Songs | Reminiscence Bump | Mind Wandering | Default Network | Emotional Contagion | Chills Response | Musical Memory | Familiarity and Novelty | Authenticity in Music | Realism vs. Abstraction | Consonance and Dissonance | Susan Rogers | Berklee Online | Berklee College of Music | Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory | Daniel Levitin | Stephen McAdams | Prince | Barenaked Ladies | David Byrne | Robben Ford | Jeff Black | Rusted Root | Tricky | Michael Penn | Toad the Wet Sprocket | Tevin Campbell | The Record Company | Matthew McArthur