My hope is that this first lecture will convey some of the flavor for what people do in the discipline, and why it might matter to other music scholars, musicians, and music-lovers. In the second lecture I will address the question of music's origins. The archeological evidence suggests that music is at least 50,000 years old, and perhaps a quarter of a million years old. The motivation for Lecture 2 is not to convince you that there are genes for music. Rather, what I hope to do is show that the evidence for music as an evolutionary adaptation is at least as strong as comparable evidence that has been advanced supporting the idea that language is an evolutionary adaptation.
Cognitive musicology lies at the intersection between the sciences and the arts.
In my third lecture , on methodology, I will attempt to explain contemporary empiricism to humanities scholars and to explain post-modernism to scientists. I will then re-interpret both of these methodological currents in a way that shows they are different sides of the coin we call skepticism. I will also attempt to identify the circumstances when scholars should choose one or another method in the course of their investigations. In talking about musical works, musical styles, and musical cultures, it is essential to consider the descriptive languages we use. I will illustrate my lecture by analyzing a movement from the first string quartet by Johannes Brahms.