Brains and Music , Whales and Apes , Hearing and Learning

This article is about whalesongs, hearing, musical brains, and a number of other topics explored over the past 35 years. Previous research is reviewed briefly, and more attention is given to recent efforts with an emphasis on collaborative research conducted with many wonderful colleagues. First is a brief account of the Institute for Music Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio, followed by more details on current projects at the Music Research Institute (MRi) at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Research at the MRi is divided into six topics: BioMusic, Music-Related Hearing Loss, Music Education, Music Performance, Ethnomusicology and Ecocriticism, and Neuromusical Research. The second half of the article is devoted to neuromusical research. This line of research includes earlier studies of pianists, conductors, and singers and more recent work on multisensory processing in musicians.