MUSIC, EMOTIONS AND WELL-BEING:
HISTORICAL AND SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVES
QUEEN MARY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, 20 JUNE 2014
PROGRAMME
Louis Moritz, The Music Lesson (1808) - detail
8:30
Registration
9:00
Welcome (Penelope Gouk, James Kennaway, Jacomien Prins and Wiebke
Thormählen.
9:15 – 10:45
Panel 1: Rival Approaches to Music and Emotion
At a time when neuroscience is making bold claims to explain music and emotion, this panel will
examine the advantages and limitations of approaches to music in neurology, cultural history,
philosophy, and cognitive psychology, and how they relate to emotion and well-being.
9.15-9.30 Prof. Roger Scruton (St Andrews, Philosophy)
9.30-9.45 Dr. Alexandra Lamont (Keele, Psychology)
9.45-10.00 Marcus Pearce (Queen Mary, Electronic Engineering and Computer Science)
10.00-10.15 Dr. James Kennaway (Newcastle, History)
Session chair: Dr. Helen Thomas (Lancaster, Institute for the Contemporary Arts)
10:45
Coffee
11:00 – 12:30 Panel 2: Historical Thinking on Music and Emotion
How did people conceptualise music's effects before ‘emotions’ became objects of medical and
scientific study? How was music seen to alleviate or exacerbate pathological conditions? What
happened once the emotions came to the fore?
11.00-11.15 Dr. Jacomien Prins (Warwick, Philosophy, Music)
11.15-11.30 Dr. Penelope Gouk (Manchester, History)
11.30-11.45 Prof. Stanley Finger (Washington, Psychology)
‘Music, Emotions and Well-being: historical and scientific perspectives’, 20th of June 2014
11.45-12.00 Dr. Wiebke Thormählen (Royal College of Music)
Session chair: Dr. Miranda Stanyon (Cambridge, Languages)
12:30 - 1:30
Lunch
1:30 – 3:00
Panel 3: Culture and the Scientific Study of Music's Effects
To what extent is culture taken into account in scientific studies of music's effects? What
constitutes a scientific study in this context?
1.30-1.45 Dr. Cheryl Metcalf (Southampton, Health Sciences)
1.45-2.00 Dr. Daisy Fancourt (Royal College of Music)
2.00-2.15 Prof. Susanne Metzner (Magdeburg, Music Therapy)
2.15-2.30 Dr. Maria Witek (Aarhus, Neuroscience)
Session chair: Dr. Matthew Champion (Queen Mary, History)
3:00 – 4:30
Panel 4: Ways Forward
In future, how can knowledge of the historical contingency of emotional perceptions be
integrated with scientific approaches that seek to define and measure both music's effects and its
benefits?
3.00-3.15 Prof. Michael Bull (Sussex, Media and Film Studies)
3.15-3.30 Dr. Gary Ansdell (London, Music Therapy)
3.30-3.45 Dr. Andrea Korenjak (Salzburg, Music)
3.45. 4.00 Dr. Renee Timmers (Sheffield, Music)
Session Chair: Dr. Jules Evans (Queen Mary, Centre for the History of the Emotions)
4.30-5:00
Coffee
5:00 – 6:00
Round table: Music and Emotions in Medical Humanities
What role does music currently play in medical humanities? What implications do competing
scientific, cultural and historical approaches to music have for aesthetics, medicine and musical
practice. How does music rank in comparison to other arts in its impact on individuals and on
society?
Discussants: Dr. Thomas Dixon (Queen Mary, History), Prof. Peregrine Horden (Royal
Holloway, History), Prof. Jeanice Brooks (Southampton, Music), Prof. Ian Cross (Cambridge,
Music).
Session chair: Dr. James Kennaway
‘Music, Emotions and Well-being: historical and scientific perspectives’, 20th of June 2014