The University of Sheffield
Department of Music

MA Psychology for Musicians/MA Music Psychology in Education

Preliminary Reading List

The books described here are intended to be useful to you throughout your course - there is no need to rush out and buy them all, or to try and read every text from cover to cover. Many of the concepts discussed in the books will make more sense once you have read the module materials, at which stage wider reading will be important to develop and broaden your understanding in preparation for the assessed essays.


Section 1 - Pre-course reading

Before you begin your course, these two recent books would help you to focus on some ideas that are central to music and psychology, and allow you to consider how the two fields of study are related.

Nunn, J. (Ed.: 1998) Laboratory Psychology: A Beginner´s Guide. Hove: Psychology Press.
At this stage of the course, the first chapter, `Why does psychology need methodology?´ by Peter Ayton) and the last chapter, `Making sense of a journal article´ (by John Gardiner) will be particularly useful. Other chapters will become relevant as you move through the course.

Cook, N. (1998) Music: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
An intriguing book that takes a close look at the relationship between music, perception and aesthetics, and helps to highlight some of the areas that are open to psychological investigation.

Whilst both these titles imply a simple approach, these books look very closely at ideas that are important to musicians and psychologists. They are widely available and reasonably priced, and it would be very helpful if you could have read at least some of each book before you come to the first residential.

Also useful is the following book, which considers the ways in which empirical (investigative) approaches are relevant to musicology.

Clarke, E. & Cook, N. (Eds) (2004) Empirical Musicology: Aims, Methods, Prospects. New York: Oxford University Press.
Chapters ranging from sociological and ethnographic approaches to studying musical behaviour, through to computer-assisted methods for analysing sound and musical events.

Section 2 - General music psychology texts

Having considered music and psychology separately, the following books start to bring the two disciplines together, addressing areas that will form an important part of your work for the course. Again, the list is neither comprehensive nor compulsory, but may form a useful starting point.

Sloboda, J. A. (1985). The Musical Mind. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
This book covers everything from listening and performing through to musical development, and will be relevant to your study of each of the taught components on the course. John Sloboda has worked on music reading, musical expression and emotion, and the development of musical skill. The most recent research is not included here, and the terminology can be complex , but this remains a clear introduction to the psychology of music.

Lehmann, A. C., Sloboda, J. & Woody, R. H. (2007) Psychology for Musicians: Understanding and Acquiring the Skills. Oxford: Oxford University Press

This introduction to psychological research for musicians explores the development of musical skills, involved in teaching, performing and listening to music, in relation to other skilled activities. The book includes discussion questions and exercises to help readers apply ideas to their own context.


Section 3 - Specific areas of music psychology

What follows is a selection of the more focused music psychology texts that are now widely available. Many will overlap across the taught modules of the course, but some have particular connections with the module materials.
Deliège, I. & Sloboda, J. A. (Eds.: 1996) Musical Beginnings: Origins and Development of Musical Competence. Oxford : Oxford University Press.
Papers are drawn together here from a recent international conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM). The book covers the stages of musical development from birth to adolescence, and represents some of the most recent research in the area. It is a useful reference work for locating significant ideas, authors and publications in this aspect of music psychology.

MacDonald, R., Hargreaves, D. & Miell, D. (Eds) (2002) Musical Identities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Includes chapters on topics relating to social and personal identity in musical behaviour, with a particular focus on music in education and therapy.

DeNora, T. (2000) Music in Everyday Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Written from a sociological rather than a psychological point of view, this book raises interesting questions about the uses of music in contemporary (Western) society, including discussion of music in advertising, in social settings, and as a `soundtrack to everyday life´.

Hargreaves, D. J. (1986) The Developmental Psychology of Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
This book remains the standard text on the development of musical ability in children, and is still a clear introduction to the research that has been published subsequently. Primarily of use for the Musical Development module, this book also highlights areas that may be of particular interest to music teachers, including creativity, the music curriculum and developmental theories.

Hargreaves, D. J. & North, A. C. (Eds.: 1997) The Social Psychology of Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
This more recent book draws together work which discusses psychology of music in its wider social context. The chapters cover a multitude of subjects from everyday experiences of music to the concept of performance anxiety, of particular relevance for the Psychology of Performance module.

Juslin, P. & Sloboda, J. (Eds) (2001) Music and Emotion: Theory and Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
An interdisciplinary review of research into the emotional aspects of music, looking at the deliberate attempts to create emotional communication in performance, and the reactions of listeners to musical events.

McPherson, G. E. (Ed) (2006) The Child as Musician: A Handbook of Musical Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press
An edited collection of articles on all aspects of musical learning and development, useful for the Musical Development module and for dissertations relating to aspects of teaching and learning.

North, A. C. & Hargreaves, D. J. (2008) The Social and Applied Psychology of Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
This book updates the two previously mentioned, offering a review of published research in music psychology particularly in relation to learning and development, and social contexts for music making.

Parncutt, R. & McPherson, G. E. (Eds) (2002) The Science and Psychology of Musical Performance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
An example of collaborative writing between music educators and psychologists, aiming to review recent research in a way that makes it accessible and relevant for instrumental teaching and learning.



Please let us – and your fellow students – know about other books that prove to be particularly useful or accessible during your time on the course!


Section 4 - Journals

Much of the more recent research in music psychology is published in the leading journals, a selection of which are available in the University of Sheffield library, online in electronic journals, and through inter-library loan. You are strongly advised to make use of the onsite library facilities when you are in Sheffield for residentials, and time will be allocated for you to do so. Between residentials, you may be able to use your local university library for reference, and you can become a borrower from university libraries which are members of the UK Libraries Plus scheme. See their website for a list of participating institutions:

SCONUL Access

Music psychology, education and therapy titles available in hard copy in the University of Sheffield library include the following:

*Psychology of Music is the journal of the Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research (SEMPRE), an organisation which also holds regular conferences in the UK. Student membership, for which you will be eligible, costs £12 a year, and includes two issues of the journal. You are encouraged to join, and registration forms will be available at the first residential. Further information about the journal and about forthcoming conferences is available on the SEMPRE website:

SEMPRE Website