Music Moves: Why Does Music Make You Move?

Learn about why and how music makes you move.

Music is movement—a bold statement that we will explore together in this free online course.

Together we will study music through different types of body motion. This includes everything from sound-producing keyboard actions to energetic dance moves.

You will learn about the theoretical foundations of embodied music cognition and why the body is crucial for how we experience the emotional moods in music. We will also explore different research methods, including advanced motion capture systems and sound analysis methods.

You will be guided by a group of music researchers from the University of Oslo, with musical examples from four professional musicians. The course is rich in high-quality text, images, video, audio and interactive elements.

Join us to learn more about terms such as entrainment and musical metaphors and why it is challenging to sit still when you experience a good groove.

This course is open to everyone. No technical knowledge of music or dance is required.

No specific tools necessary.

• Introduction & History
• Welcome to Music Moves
• Historical Overview
• Music-Related Body Movement
• Introduction to Research Methods
• A wrap-up of Week 1
• Perception & Performers
• Welcome to Week 2
• Perception & Cognition
• Sound-Producing Actions
• Sound and Movement Analysis
• A wrap-up of Week 2
• Multimodality & Mocap
• Welcome to Week 3
• Multimodality
• More music-related movements
• Motion Capture
• A wrap-up of Week 3
• Pulse & Perceivers
• Welcome to Week 4
• Pulse and Entrainment
• Perceivers
• Mobile Motion Capture
• Peer review
• A wrap-up of Week 4
• Groove & Gestures
• Welcome to Week 5
• Groove
• Gestures and Coarticulation
• Video Analysis
• A wrap-up of Week 5
• Emotion & Motion
• Welcome to Week 6
• Bodily Metaphors
• Biosensors and NIME
• A wrap-up of Week 6