The Musical Human

Nowadays, the concept of musicality is often reduced to understandings of our ability to play an instrument and/or to actively engage in music making at a high level. But music has been something that has absorbed us ever since our species entered the stage 300,000 years ago. Several researchers from various disciplines argue that our ability to make music has in fact contributed to the survival of our species above other hominid species like the Neanderthals.
In this course we will thus address questions such as: Why are we musical? What do we use our musicality for and what makes it so important such that we have maintained this through our development? What can prevent us from making use of it and what consequences might this have? How can we make use of our musicality within different disciplines and subject areas?
This is an interdisciplinary course within musicology that involves music biology, music anthropology, music sociology, music education, music therapy and music psychology.

Knowledge:
A candidate who successfully completes the course will:
- have a critical understanding of the historical, social, cultural and political significance of the use and perception of the term "musicality".
- have knowledge of different disciplines that can be related to the term "musicality", including music psychology, education, sociology, biology, therapy and ethnology, and can thus relate knowledge to his or her own discipline.
- have a broad understanding of how and to what extent people engage with music in different ways across their lifespan, and what effect these engagements have on different aspects of our behavior, quality of life and life experience.

Skills:
A candidate who successfully completes the course:
- is able to critically analyse and discuss the importance of music in human life, also within disciplines outside of musicology.
- has the ability to reflect independently on and beyond the acquired knowledge.

Lectures and interaction/learning activities such as Kahoot!