Music is a ubiquitous phenomenon and plays an integral part of any human culture. The enigmatic impact that music has on mankind has occupied intellectuals and scholars since the dawn of human civilization. Presently, the impact of music on the human brain is being intensively investigated, utilizing cutting-edge research methods. This interdisciplinary course will focus on the neural mechanisms underlying various aspects of music behavior such as perception, performance, emotion and expectation. The course is designated for students from The Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, The Sagol School of Neuroscience and The School of Psychological Science. The course aims at opening a window for approaching this novel and fascinating field.

The course will include several units, each focusing on one key aspects of music processing and its brain correlates. For example, we will examine the way the auditory system transforms the acoustic signal that reaches the ear into a multi-layered musical percept; we will additionally inspect how brain regions dedicated for language processing are involved in the encoding of musical syntax, etc.