ONLINE: Using three comprehensive explorations of the world of music, this course will cover the neuroanatomical and neurophysiological bases for how we interpret musical features such as melody, harmony, rhythm, pitch and timbre. The books we will use — 1) "Musicophilia" by Oliver Sacks, 2) "This Is Your Brain on Music" by Daniel Levitin and 3) "Music and the Brain" by Macdonald Critchley — will help demonstrate how the human nervous system processes music. With these books and the lectures, we will consider the roles that memory, emotion and intellect all play in our appreciation of music. Essentially the course is designed to look at the intersection of the neurological sciences and the art of music. Students will gain an understanding of the neurobiological basis for the perception and enjoyment of music. | Lecture + Q&A.
Max enrollment: 200.
Class sessions are recorded.
Steven Freedman was born and raised in Philadelphia, received a B.A. from Haverford College in 1968, an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972, and neurology training at Duke from 1973 to 1976. After serving in the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg, he began the practice of neurology in Raleigh in 1978, co-founding Raleigh Neurology Associates in 1983, from which he retired in 2021. He is an adjunct professor of neurology at UNC-Chapel Hill. He continues to enjoy teaching in his retirement.