which, a moment ago, the music was being unfolded” (2002:257-258). Thomas Clifton states that
”the spaces formed by music are actually inhabited by my being there, in the space-time world of
that piece” (1983:138). Don Ihde reports that in his experience of music, ”auditory space surrounds
me and may, in the striking sound of a symphony, fill ny being” (2007:214)
The observations by phenomenologists suggest that the spatial experience of music can be inter-
subjectively validated. However, it can be supposed that the experience of a virtual musical space
is closely related to attentive listening, and does not occur in more casual listening. Furthermore,
the experience of spatiality in music may be highly individually variable and context-dependent. The
investigations in experimental listening show that it is possible deliberately to modify the spatial and
temporal focus of listening.
Relations to Neuroscience
Fields of exploration common to the investigation of listening dimensions and the findings of neuro-
science can be noted.
Identification and location of sound
Rees and Palmer, in their introduction to the auditory brain (2010:1) point out that hearing is impor-
tant for survival, and that essential processes of hearing serve the distinction and identification of
sounds, and the location of sound sources.
Experience of auditory space
Young (2010:94) describes two stages of representation in auditory perception. The first representa-
tion occurs in the cochlear nucleus. It depicts the spectrotemporal properties of sound. The second
representation occurs in the inferior colliculus. It includes information from both ears, and contains
spatial information alongside spectrotemporal information.^3 Due to the processing of auditory infor-
mation in the brain stem, the experience of auditory space is an integral component of listening.
Movement
Findings of neuroscience indicate close interactions between auditory and motor systems in the
brain (Griffiths et al. 1994,1998; Janata et al. 2002; Zatorre et al. 2007). Listening to music appears
to trigger activations of the premotor areas of the brain (Chen et al. NM III:15-34; Fadiga et al. NM
III:448-458).^4 Stevens and Byron (2009:20) propose that ”one universal process in music cognition
might be movement perception and its development.”^5
Pulse
The regularity of musical pulse is in the focus of studies of meter and rhythm (Thaut NM I:364-373;
Vuust 2005; Chen et al. 2008). Grahn (NM III:35-45) suggests that the basal ganglia are particularly
important for the perception and production of regular beat.
Pitch, timbre and timing
Kraus et al. (NM III:543-557) have investigated the auditory brain stem responses to the acoustic
properties of sound. Their findings indicate that pitch, timbre, and timing have distinct representati-
ons in the brain stem.
It can be concluded that it is possible to find support in neuroscience for the investigations of musical
space and the basic listening dimensions in music.
3 The stages of processing in the auditory pathway are described in chapter 6, pp. 125-129.
4 NM = The proceedings of the Neuroscience and Music conferences, see Chapter 3.
5 The composer Roger Sessions states a similar view; ”the essential medium of music (...) is time, made living for us
through its expressive essence, movement.” (19 41:105)