Bringing together humanities, sciences and practice within musicology and psychology

Richard ParncuttUniversity of Graz, Austria

25th anniversary conference of the German Society for Music Psychology, 12-14 September 2008

This file was revised and extended following the presentation.

Etymology

Musicology: the study of music any study of any music

Psychology: the study of soul, self or mind(e.g. via behavior and experience)

any study of any soul, self or mind

Which is more important?

Object of research• person• music

Context of object• society• history• culture

Alterity and the Other

The subject (speaker/writer)• tacitly assumes a superior position• perceives Other relative to that position

Examples:• gender alterity

women: the Other sex

• cultural alterity non-western: Other peoples

• academic alterityhumanities: Other disciplines

Music-Ology

• Object of research – music in different representations

• signal, experience, performance, memory, score…

systematic musicology (the Other musicology)

• Context of object– society, history, culture

historical musicology & ethnomusicology(the Real musicology)

Psych-Ology

• Object of research: – behavior/experience of individuals

psychology(the Real study of human behavior)

• Context of object:– human society, history, culture

anthropology (the Other study of human behavior)

and by the way:

“Science” is not Wissenschaft!

In modern British and American English, “science” implies “positivist” scholarship

natural sciencesdisciplines with similar methods (e.g. social sciences)

“Humanities” and “sciences” are mutually exclusive categories!

Wissenschaft = scholarship, research, academewissenschaftlich = scholarly, research-based, academic

HumanitiesSome slightly dangerous generalisations

• object of research – specific manifestations of culture (e.g. music performances, works)

• epistemology (knowledge acquisition, “truth”)– personal experience and observation– intuition and introspection– expert discussion (a kind of intersubjectivity)

• research methods– qualitative, analytic, critical, speculative, “subjective”

• researchers– institutionally qualified or well recognized– expected to come to different conclusions

Sciences (of culture)More slightly dangerous generalisations

• object of research – general issues (about culture, e.g. what is musical emotion?)

• epistemology– systematic observation– data analysis– comparison of hypotheses with evidence

• research methods– quantitative, data-orientiert, empirical, “objective”

• researchers– not necessarily institutionally qualified or well recognized– expected to come to similar conclusions (the implied “truth”)

Subjectivity, objectivityAmbiguous value judgments!

Three cases:1. the research object itself (Geist / Natur)

2. distance between researcher & research object3. agreement among researchers

Subjectivity is considered…• good in humanities• bad in sciences

Music (ology) according to Nicholas Cook Music: A very short introduction (Oxford, 1998)

Exposes musicological prejudices against: • popular and non-western musics (musical Others)• women and non-westerners (human Others)

Seems unaware of prejudice against:• musical sciences• non-Angloamerican musicology

Contents page could have included:• musical perception, cognition, emotion• music, rhythm and movement• music and personality; development of ability• music, the body and the brain• the nature, functions and origins of music

Academe: A very short introductionSome broad generalizations and idealisations

century

progress character of univer-sities

strong discip-lines

academic approach

role of indi-vidual

conflict main languages

17th scientific revolution

religious sciences (physics, medicine)

observation, deduction

search for truth

church Latin, national lan-guages

18th Enligh-tenment

religious humanities (history, arts, literature)

rational thinking

human rights, freedom of speech

royalty, aristo-cracy

national lan-guages

19th modern university (German model)

secular all - but mainly humanities

institution-alisation (expansion, structure)

as above colo-nialism, racism

German, national lan-guages

Academe: A very short introductionSome broad generalizations and idealisations

cent-ury

nature of uni-versities

main idea main dis-ciplines

role of individual

main languages

20th public technological explosion

sciences toward equal rights for women and foreigners

English and national languages

21st virtual? information explosion

all not knowledge, but ability to find and interpret information

English

Academe: A very short introduction Dominance of sciences in the 20th century

• scientific progress– physics: atom, universe; nuclear weapons (Einstein)– biology: evolutionary thinking (Darwin)

• explosion of technologies– positive impact on everyday life– exacerbation of international conflict

(Music) psychology becomes a scienceFechner, 1801-1887

Helmholtz, 1821-1894

Wundt, 1832-1920

Why?1. Introspective psychology is subjective

in all three waysa) research object = researcher

b) no distance between researcher and object

c) diverse findings and theories

2. Empirical methods are possiblee.g. psychophysics

(Music) history remains in humanities

Why?

1. History is less subjective than introspective psychology

a) research object not necessarily the researcherb) more distance between researcher and objectc) tolerable diversity of findings and theories

2. Empirical methods are impossiblea) composers and listeners mostly unavailableb) performance traditions lost or uncertain

German historical musicology and international music psychology today

A strained relationship

Two sources of long-term resentment:• English, the international academic language

– German, the Other language

• Sciences, the main form of scholarship– Humanities: the Other scholarship

Academe in the 21st centuryRevival of the humanities?

Technology

• quality of life– in industrialised countries

• self-destruction of humanity– exhaustion of resources– climate change– nuclear war

Culture• human identity

• interculturality

• means to prevent intercultural conflict?

The return of the humanities• create new institutions

– Islamic studies– intercultural studies

• improve finances– research (positions and support)– professorships

• improve quality control– peer review– teaching evaluation

• reward interdisciplinarity– especially with sciences

(natural, social, formal)

Categorization of disciplinesSome problems

• Psychology as science– power: obsession with methods and statistics – content: neglect of cultural, historical, political and

even social (!) contexts and implications– quality: obsession with peer review and English

• Musicology as humanities– power: domination by qualified/eminent researchers– content: neglect of research methods, which determine

content/validity of findings in any discipline– quality: rejection of peer-review and English

Categorization of disciplines

• good for administrators strengthens hierarchyfaster decisionsless conflict

• bad for academic creativity suppresses interdisciplinaritybiased answers to central questions myopic academic culture

Interdisciplinarity must be directly promoted!

Abstracts at ICMPC10Sapporo, Japan, 2008

Other = methods, pedagogy, software development, analysis…

Subjective classification based on main content

of abstract

International music psychologyToo much data-oriented empiricism!

We need a better balance of:• empirical and theoretical papers• pure and applied research

German music psychologyNo problem

• institutionalisation of music psychology – Germany: mp is a musicological Other (“systematic”)– USA: mp is officially external to “musicology”

• recent German texts on music psychology– Oerter & Stoffer– de la Motte & Rötter– Bruhn, Kopiez & Lehmann

Needed: English translation of the best chapters

Expansion and specialisation

• typical duration of study and doctorate– 10 years or 10 000 hours (Ericsson)

• expansion of research literature specialisation, subdisciplines, sub-subdisciplinesexperts no longer know their own discipline!

Plausible expertise in both humanities and sciences is no longer possible!

Collaboration is inevitable!

Collaboration humanitiessciencesWhy is it so difficult?

• very different concepts of “truth”– nature– acquisition– application

• political dominance of sciences– sciences: deep-seated arrogance– humanities: deep-seated resentment

Discrimination in psychology, musicology

• increasing power of dominant subdisciplinesdemocratic professorial selection procedures tend to– squeeze out disciplinary minorities– sharpen disciplinary categorizations– reduce interdisciplinary collaboration– increase dependency of “truth” on power (Foucault)

• solution: complex, sensitive democracynot only one person, one vote but also explicit promotion of minorities & interdisciplinarity

(“explicit” = financial!)

Collegiality & academic productivity20th-century contexts

If interdisciplinary collaboration is necessary, collegiality is also necessary! But we cannot take it for granted:

• social and historical context– schools: decline of religion and moral education– undergraduate study: no training in academic collegiality– research, teaching: collegiality within, not between disciplines– politics and economics: neo-liberalism, Geiz ist geil

• academic context– cold war between humanities and sciences– multiple distinctions between Real and Other disciplines– evolutionary psychology: harassment is “natural”

Achieving academic collegialitySome general strategies

• clarity– non-overlapping job descriptions– mission statements, transparency

• supportive atmosphere– recognition of achievement– mutual constructive criticism– solidarity

• objective quality control– teaching: student and expert evaluation– research: peer review

• fair competition– common goal: academic quality mutual trust and respect

Achieving academic collegialitySome specific strategies

• awareness raising, discussion– discrimination of Others (sexual, racial, academic)– definitions of collegiality– strategy development– guidelines to promote collegial culture

• research– publication of objective performance indices– effect of diversity on creativity and productivity?

• selection procedures – professors, administrators– statements on collegiality, affirmative action…

• rewards for good practice– ceremonies, awards, financial incentives

History of collegiality

Sharing of responsibility in• Roman republic

• Catholic church

Reformation universities (16th C.) trained humanism:• civilised behavior

• social responsibility

• promotion of culture

Walter Rüegg (Ed., 1992). A history of the university in Europe, Vol. 1: Universities in the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press.

Collegiality and the 19th-Century German university model

• Humboldt’s educational ideal– combination of arts and specialised academic discipline– unity of research and teaching– academic freedom through independence from private sector

• Teachers and learners are:– autonomous citizens of the world – concerned with global issues such as peace, justice, cultural

exchange, natural environment

common goals and supportive atmospherecollegiality

Antifascism in global scholarshipFascism (especially Nazism) is based on:• belief in the fundamental superiority of one’s own group

…and involves:• institutionalised victim mentality, intolerance, envy, marginalisation• authoritarian rule, violence, instability, destruction

Historical, sociological, evolutionary evidence:Fascism is latent in all cultural groups incl. countries & disciplines*Antifascism is necessary in all countries & disciplines

Antifascism is based on:• fundamental respect for both Own and Other groups

…and involves:• institutionalised empowerment, acceptance, collegiality, solidarity• democracy, peace, stability, abundance

* cf. Kenneth Westhues: academic mobbing

Spinoffs of academic collegialityin conjunction with performance orientation

• job satisfactionpsychological identification with institution

• conflict-free environmentopenness; diversity of opinions/approaches

• intrinsic and extrinsic motivationwillingness to perform and serve risk taking and entrepreneural attitude

academic creativity!

Collegiality and performance orientationA spiral of positive reinforcement?

improved research and teachingrecognition of university and its members attractivity for external academics and students good job applicants; good students

even better research and teachingeven more recognitioneven better staff and students…

Tips for scientists Take humanities seriously!

• investigate, teach and report the historical, social and cultural background and implications of research

• present sciences as dangerous, humanities as a solution

• expose and reduce arrogance

in (music) psychology:• more logic, speculation, reflection• cultural turn (Allesch)

Tips for humanities scholarsOpen up!

• develop / publish methodologies for specific purposes

• integrate scientific / computational methods

• be more international (not necessarily in English)

• create / support peer-review conferences and journals

• collaborate!

Tips for both humanities and sciences

• study, apply, develop qualitative methods– Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

– systematic exposure of researcher bias

• explicity promote collegiality at all levels