Program Overview

Master in Sound and Music Computing

The Master in Sound and Music Computing is a program that focuses on the computational, functional, and practical aspects of sound and music sensations.

Overview

This program adopts a unique perspective, combining engineering and computing problems with musical examples to organize and develop concepts.

Academic Program

The program includes a course on Music Perception and Cognition, which is offered over 12 weeks with 25 hours of lectures and seminars.

• The evaluation of students is based on:
  • Lab reports
  • A course project involving empirical research work
  • A final written test
  • Classroom and online activities
• Students' contributions, in various formats (music, links, class participation), also contribute to the final grade.

Course Details

• Most sessions are devoted to presenting and discussing relevant concepts, data, sound/music examples, experiments, and papers related to the course topics.
• A team-based empirical project is discussed, developed, and presented during the course.
• Lab sessions are carried out individually by each student, requiring an internet connection to download documents, play sounds, and answer questionnaires.

Topics Covered

• Physiology of music perception and cognition
• Research methods and techniques
• Psychophysics of the basic sound dimensions:
  • Frequency Resolution
  • Loudness
  • Pitch
  • Timbre
• Perceptual organization and musical illusions
• Music and Memory
• The What/When frameworks to make sense of music
• Music and Emotion

References

• Ball, P. (2010). The music instinct: how music works and why we can't do without it. London: The Bodley Head.
• Levitin, D. (2007) This is your brain on music: The Science of a Human Obsession. New York: Penguin.
• Lyon, R.E. (2017). Human and Machine Hearing: Extracting Meaning from Sound. Cambridge: CUP.
• Purves, D. (2017). Music as Biology : the Tones We Like and Why. Harvard: Harvard University Press.