Course Content and Outcomes Guides (CCOG)

CCOG for MUS 292 archive revision 202504

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Effective Term:
Fall 2025

Course Number:
MUS 292
Course Title:
Introduction to Music Perception and Cognition
Credit Hours:
4
Lecture Hours:
40
Lecture/Lab Hours:
0
Lab Hours:
0

Course Description

Provides an introduction to the basic concepts and theories of music perception and cognition. Examines the sensory, perceptual, and cognitive foundations of listening, performing, and composing. Explores the relationship between acoustic phenomena and perceptual understanding through the lens of pitch, timbre, acoustic space, temporal cycles and proportions, harmony, melody, rhythm, etc. Audit available.

Addendum to Course Description

This course introduces students to a sophisticated and abstract topic. However, the course is not intended just for students with a diverse background in Music and/or Technology. The intent is that students will be provided an introduction to a wide subject area that they can explore more specifically according to their interests and apply in the final project.

Intended Outcomes for the course

Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to:

1. Define and explain key concepts and theories of music perception and cognition.

2. Describe the relationships between acoustic and cognitive processes involved in music perception, e.g., rhythm, melody, harmony, and timbre.

3. Explain the mechanisms of musical memory and recognition.

4. Describe how emotional responses to music relate to cognitive processes.

5. Identify and describe cross-cultural differences in music perception and cognition.

6. Discuss the relationship between music and the brain, and understand how humans process sonic stimuli.

Aspirational Goals

Students are empowered to approach ideas regarding Music and it's relation to Physics, Acoustics, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Biology, and Technology.

While given broad exposure to the course topics, specific ideas may be more relevant to each students' creative and academic goals.

Exposure to these topics will open up other possibilities for academic and career pursuits.

Course Activities and Design

  • Lectures
  • Readings
  • Discussion
  • Final Project which can take the form of research abstract, creative work, technological design, or combination of any and all
  • Sharing of individual projects with peers and peer discussion

Outcome Assessment Strategies

  • Instructor and peer evaluation of completed projects
  • class discussion

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)

  • Basics of Psychoacoustics (sound waves, amplitude, frequency, resonance)
  • Functions of the auditory system, ear vs. brain
  • Modes of listening and attention
  • Evolutionary development of sonic perception, Music and Language
  • Pitch perception and tuning systems
  • Spatialization and auditory scene analysis
  • Musical memory and recognition
  • Emotional responses to music
  • Sonic illusions (Shepherd’s tone, Risset effect, Wessel effect)
  • Technology and music perception, principles of synthesis
  • Timbral perception and the overtone series