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Entrainment in music research: network

This three-year collaborative project (initially funded between April 2004 and– March 2007) focused on the study of entrainment within a musicological context. Entrainment - roughly speaking, the synchronisation of autonomous rhythmic processes - is a well-established concept in disciplines from mathematics to neuroscience and social psychology, but has only recently begun to be applied in music research, where it has great potential. Through interdisciplinary collaboration we hope to make advances in the development of research methodologies, and contribute to the greater understanding of this important phenomenon. The network's programme was funded by a grant from the British Academy to this end.

The leaders of the project were Professor Martin Clayton (the of The Open University, UK), Professor Udo Will (Ohio State University, USA), and Dr Ian Cross (University of Cambridge, UK).

The scheme of research involved the project leaders, together with their research students working in this area, and a small group of professional colleagues, sharing knowledge and ideas and coordinating the development of methods for investigating entrainment. The emphasis is on the synthesis of current thinking in cognitive psychology and neurosciences with consideration of real-life musical behaviours in their social and cultural contexts. 

Meetings

The network held four meetings, which included presentations from scholars including Ed Large, Devin McAuley, Mari Riess Jones, Adam Kendon, Justin London, Elizabeth Tolbert, and Glaura Lucas, amongst many others. For more details see the documents below.