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Readings for each Mini-Science 2014 talk
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Some of the readings below are articles in scholarly journals. You may enjoy reading just the abstract, or other portions of the article such as the conclusion or discussion, if you find the whole article too long or technical.
A few copies of these readings will be available on the evening of the lecture, but we are trying to "green" the Mini-Science series and minimize paper use.
February 26: “Playing well together: The science of temporal coordination among performing musicians”, Prof. Caroline Palmer
- “Temporal Control and Hand Movement Efficiency in Skilled Music Performance.”
Goebl W, Palmer C. PLoS ONE 8(1): e50901. 2013. (Alternative link.) - “Temporal coordination between performing Musicians.”
Janeen D. Loehr & Caroline Palmer. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64:11, 2153-2167, 2011. (Alternative link.) - “Music Performance: Movement and Coordination.”
Caroline Palmer. Chapter 10 in The Psychology of Music, Third Edition, Edited by Diana Deutsch. 2013.
March 5: “What we learn and when we learn it: sensitive periods for musical training”, Prof. Virginia Penhune
- “Early Musical Training Is Linked to Gray Matter Structure in the Ventral Premotor Cortex and Auditory–Motor Rhythm Synchronization Performance.”
Jennifer Anne Bailey, Robert J. Zatorre, and Virginia B. Penhune. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (early access; epub ahead of print). (Alternative link.) - “Sensitive periods in human development: Evidence from musical training.”
Virginia B. Penhune. Cortex, Volume 47, Issue 9, October 2011, Pages 1126–1137. (Alternative link.) - “Early Musical Training and White-Matter Plasticity in the Corpus Callosum: Evidence for a Sensitive Period.”
Christopher J. Steele, Jennifer A. Bailey, Robert J. Zatorre, and Virginia B. Penhune. The Journal of Neuroscience, January 16, 2013. 33(3):1282–1290. (Alternative link.)
March 12: “Nature’s chorus: Frog calls and bird songs”, Prof. David M. Green and Prof. Jon Sakata
- “Frogs and Bats Use Water Ripples to Eavesdrop on Frog Calls.”
Mary Bates. Part of Zoologic: Inside the minds of animals on Wired.com. January 23, 2014. - “Vocal Development”
from the “All About Birds” website (Cornell Lab for Ornithology) - “The Development of Birdsong.”
Wada, H. (2012). Nature Education Knowledge 3(10):86 - “Birds tune in to keep their songs note perfect.”
Roxanne Khamsi. New Scientist. September 19, 2006. - “Integrating perspectives on vocal performance and consistency.”
Jon T. Sakata, and Sandra L. Vehrencamp. January 15, 2012. J Exp Biol 215, 201-209. (Alternative link.)
March 19: “Why we love music: A neuroscience perspective”, Prof. Robert L. Zatorre
- “Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music.”
Salimpoor, V.N., Benovoy, M., Larcher, K., Dagher, A., and Zatorre, R.J. Nature Neuroscience 14, 257–262 (2011). (Alternative link.) - “Interactions between nucleus accumbens and auditory cortices predict music reward value.”
Salimpoor, V.N., Van Den Bosch, I., Kovacevic, N., Mcintosh, A.R., Dagher, A. and Zatorre, R.J. Science 12 April 2013: Vol. 340 no. 6129 pp. 216-219. (Alternative link.) - “From perception to pleasure: music and its neural substrates.”
Zatorre, R.J. and Salimpoor, V.N. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.A.), 110, suppl 2, 10430-10437. (Alternative link.) - “Why Music Makes our Brain Sing.”
Zatorre, R.J. and Salimpoor, V.N. New York Times, Sunday Review. June 8, 2013. - “Will we ever… understand why music makes us feel good?”
Philip Ball, BBC.com. April 19, 2013. (BBC story about the study by Zatorre on why we buy music.) - Horowitz plays Wagner-Liszt Isolde's Liebestod
(YouTube; mentioned by Prof. Zatorre during the March 19 lecture) - “Music doesn't move me” (Alternative link.)
Interview with Prof. Zatorre on Quirks and Quarks, CBC Radio, March 8, 2014 (Audio).
March 26: “Music and Molecules”, Prof. Joe Schwarcz
- “What Really Killed Mozart? Maybe Strep”
Nicholas Bakalar, August 17, 2009, New York Times. - “The Effect of Music on the Production of Neurotransmitters, Hormones, Cytokines, and Peptides. A Review”
Abhishek Gangrade. Music and Medicine January 2012 vol. 4 no. 1 40-43. - “Mozart's music does not make you smarter, study finds.”
University of Vienna. ScienceDaily. May 10, 2010.
April 2: “Your Brain on Music”, Prof. Daniel Levitin
- “My Favorite Thing: Why Do We Like the Music We Like?”
Daniel J. Levitin. Chapter 22 in The Jossey-Bass Reader on the Brain and Learning, edited by Jossey-Bass Publishers. 2007. - “I Love Music and I Love Science—Why Would I Want to Mix the Two?”
Introduction to This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin. 2006. - “What Does It Mean to Be Musical?”
Daniel J. Levitin. Neuron, Volume 73, Issue 4, 23 February 2012, Pages 633–637. (Alternative link.)
April 9: “Infectious music: How microbes have shaped our music”, Prof. Joaquin (Quim) Madrenas
- “How the mighty have fallen: fatal infectious diseases of divine composers.”
Rietschel ET, Rietschel M, Beutler B. Infect Dis Clin North Am. 2004; 18: 311- 339. - “Music and infectious diseases.”
Gomis M, Sánchez B. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2000; 6: 575-578. - “Seeing medicine through opera glasses.”
Mason RB. CMAJ. 1996; 154: 921-923. (Alternative link.)
General links
Here are some links to websites and electronic resources for Mini-Science participants.
- McGill Faculty of Science homepage and blog
- The McGill Office for Science and Society (OSS) disseminates up-to-date information in the areas of food, food issues, medications, cosmetics and health topics in general. This information is specifically directed towards the public, educators and students.
- Alumnilife, the McGill Alumni Online Community
- Science Outreach at McGill broadcasts our scientific expertise to a wider community through programs and activities such as talks, lab visits, family workshops, classroom presentations, and documentary films.
Library links
The Libraries homepage includes links to all library resources at McGill. Branch libraries of particular interest to Mini-Science include: