One of my main goals while teaching MUS2640 – Sensing Sound and Music last semester was the integration of perspectives from musicology, psychology, and technology. The main point is to introduce the basics of music psychology and music technology, two disciplines that are quite distinct in most places, but which we at the University of Oslo have a tradition of combining. In this post, I explain the rationale.

Three “logies”

One of my main arguments is that we should consider the three “logies” involved in this course:

  • Musicology: The term “musicology” comes from the Greek words mousikē (music) and logia (study). It is the scholarly study of music, covering its history, theory, and cultural context.

  • Psychology: “Psychology” is derived from the Greek psyche (soul, mind) and logia (study). It is the scientific study of the mind and behaviour.

  • Technology: The word “technology” originates from the Greek techne (art, craft, skill) and logia (study). Technology refers to the tools, techniques, and systems humans create to solve problems or enhance capabilities.

Each of these disciplines brings its own theories and methods. Generally speaking, musicology uses analysis, historiography, and ethnography; psychology employs experiments and surveys; and technology relies on engineering and computational modelling. However, once you begin reading the research literature and tracing the historical developments of the fields, you realise they are intertwined.

Fundamentals of music psychology

Music psychology focuses on understanding how humans perceive, process, and respond to sound and music. This includes exploring topics such as:

  • Perception: How the auditory system and brain transform acoustic signals into musical attributes: pitch, loudness, timbre, rhythm, and spatial location.
  • Cognition: Higher‑level mental processes for understanding music: memory, expectation, pattern and structure recognition, attention, and segmentation.
  • Emotion: How music evokes, communicates, and regulates affective states, including physiological responses, appraisal, and mood modulation.
  • Action & Behaviour: Ways music drives movement and interaction, such as motor coordination, entrainment, performance practice, dance, and social bonding.
  • Development & Learning: Acquisition and change of musical abilities and preferences across the lifespan, from infant sensitivity to skilled expertise and cultural learning.

These principles help us understand the universal and individual ways in which music shapes human experience, offering insights into its psychological and cultural dimensions.

Music psychology is a thriving field internationally, with numerous conferences and communities:

These are some of the core journals in music psychology:

  • Music Perception: A leading journal that publishes research on the perception and cognition of music, including studies on auditory processing, musical memory, and emotional responses.
  • Journal of New Music Research: Explores the intersection of music psychology, technology, and theory, with an emphasis on computational and experimental approaches.
  • Empirical Musicology Review: Publishes empirical studies on music perception, cognition, and performance, as well as reviews of current research.
  • Psychology of Music: Covers a wide range of topics in music psychology, including music education, therapy, and cultural studies.
  • Frontiers in Psychology: A general-purpose journal with a section that focuses on auditory perception, music cognition, and related neuroscience.
  • Music & Science: An interdisciplinary journal that publishes research on the scientific study of music, including its psychological, cultural, and technological dimensions.
  • Musicae Scientiae: The journal of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music, publishing research on music psychology, cognition, perception, and interdisciplinary studies.

Given its interdisciplinary nature, music psychology researchers are typically working in either musicology or psychology departments, which also often “skews” the research in one or the other direction. Researchers employed in musicology departments tend to be more focused on real-world musical experiences, what is often termed “ecological validity,” and using (more) qualitative methods. Researchers in psychology departments typically work (more) on controlled experiments and use quantitative methods.

While many researchers in music psychology may often feel “alone” in their respective departments, there are a few larger, specialised departments or research centres that focus specifically on music psychology. In these institutions, one can often see the width of the field, covering many different theoretical and methodological perspectives. RITMO is one such example.

Fundamentals of music technology

Music technology involves both creating, using, and reflecting on tools and systems for creating, analysing, and manipulating sound. Key areas include:

  • Sound synthesis and analysis: Techniques for generating and modelling sound (additive, subtractive, FM, wavetable, granular) and for analysing its structure (time-domain, spectral analysis, resynthesis). Applied to instrument and timbre design, sound design, and research into perceptual attributes.

  • Digital audio recording and processing: Capture, edit, mix, and transform audio using DAWs and audio toolchains. Typical tasks include multitrack recording, editing, filtering, equalisation, dynamics processing (compression/limiting), time- and frequency-based effects (reverb, delay, pitch‑shift, time‑stretch), and mastering workflows.

  • Music Information Retrieval (MIR): Computational extraction of musical information from audio and symbolic data. Often implemented with machine learning and signal‑processing libraries for applications like recommendation systems, analysis, and musicology.

  • Interactive systems and new interfaces: Design and implementation of real‑time, responsive systems for performance and interaction. Covers sensors and controllers, expressive mappings, communication protocols (MIDI, OSC), and platforms/frameworks for prototyping. Used in digital instruments, live coding, installations, and adaptive performance systems.

Music technology researchers are typically employed in departments of musicology, engineering, or informatics. Many of them combine creative and artistic exploration with scientific inquiry.

There are also many international communities and conferences in music technology:

Because the field is more focused on arts, design, and engineering, there are few pure music technology journals. Still, music technologists publish in some of these:

Comparing music psychology and technology

When comparing them, there are some essential differences between music technology and music psychology as disciplines. Music psychology is primarily a scientific field of study, focused on understanding how humans perceive, process, and respond to music through empirical research and theoretical frameworks. Its methods are rooted in experimental design, data analysis, and psychological theory, aiming to uncover universal principles and individual variations in musical experience.

Music technology, on the other hand, spans several domains: science, art, design, and engineering. It encompasses scientific research into sound and audio processing, artistic exploration through composition and performance, design of musical instruments and interfaces, and engineering of hardware and software systems. Music technologists may work on developing new tools for music creation, analysing audio signals, designing interactive installations, or exploring creative possibilities in digital media. This diversity means that music technology is not limited to scientific inquiry but also includes creative practice, technical innovation, and user-centred design.

At the University of Oslo, we have a long tradition of combining music psychology and technology. The logic behind this is that advanced technologies can help psychological inquiry, and psychological insights can impact the development and use of new technologies. And both disciplines can help us better understand music as a whole.

This post was co-authored with CoPilot.