Donald A. Hodges (2020)

Chapter 1 in Music in the Human Experience: An Introduction to Music Psychology

This is a great chapter for getting to grips with the scope of what is encompassed by the term ‘music psychology’.

• A Brief Tour of the Model of Music Psychology
• A Very Brief History of Music Psychology
• An Overview of the Literature in Music Psychology
• Conclusion
• Discussion Questions

Hodges begins by setting the scene, illustrating the importance of music in human life.

He then lists questions to get us thinking about relationships music psychologists might be interested in answering.

To show how broad a subject music psychology really is Hodges uses a model developed by Charles T. Eagle Jr., originally published in 1996 as a chapter in Handbook of Music Psychology (a book of which Hodges was the editor).

The key point in this chapter is:

music psychology is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary study of music in the human experience