Canadian Music Research Centre
Understanding Sound in Human Experience
 
The Canadian Music Research Centre (CMRC) is a synergistic and collaborative group of researchers exploring connections of sound to human experience. The most evident form of sound is music but the interests of this centre extend to the scientific study of sound connections in the broad areas of neurology, physiology, medicine, education, and performance, and narrow applications like semiotics, acoustics, digital representation, biophysical pulsation, and neurological response. Research in CMRC is organized into five spheres: (1) Sound (2) Health, Therapy, and Medicine; (3) Body, Brain, and Mind; (4) Culture and Society; and (5). Teaching, Learning, and Performing

    Sphere 1:  Health, Therapy, and Medicine
    Sphere 2:  Body, Brain, and Mind
    Sphere 3:  Culture and Society
    Sphere 4:  Teaching, Learning and Performing
    Sphere 5:  Sound
    CMRC Publications
    CMRC Lecture Series

Purpose of CMRC 
The purpose of the Canadian Music Research Centre is to promote and facilitate interdisciplinary and collaborative research within the University of Toronto and among researchers nationally and internationally on questions leading to a deeper understanding of sound in human experience in all contexts and the dissemination and application of that research to researchers and practitioners. 

History
The Canadian Music Research Centre, under the leadership of Dean Don McLean, is a newly constituted and energized successor to the Canadian Music Education Research Centre (CMERC) that was founded in 1989 at the initiative of Lee Bartel, the first Director, by then Dean Carl Morey. Over the 22 year history of CMERC it developed the most extensive collection of curriculum documents in Canada, conducted numerous collaborative research studies on Canadian Music Education Policy and Curriculum, developed a publication series with seven books, for a number of years distributed books for the Canadian Music Educators’ Association, hosted international visiting research scholars in music education, developed the Sonic B.R.A.I.N. Laboratory, presented a public lecture series, and promoted research of concern to music education through special research interest groups including music and health, music mind and brain, aspects of curriculum and pedagogy, and social dimensions of music education.
Senior Researchers

Senior Researchers are active researchers who conduct studies associated with CMRC, have presented reports of research to CMRC within five years, or who have been active research advisors to graduate students associated with the Centre.

Faculty of Music

Don McLean, Dean
Lee R. Bartel, Director
Hilary Apfelstadt
Lori-Anne Dolloff
Darryl Edwards
Elizabeth Gould
Midori Koga
Christos Hatzis
Lorna MacDonald
Patricia Shand
Glenn Schellenberg, Cross-Appointed from UTM
Cameron Walter

University of Toronto Departments

Linda M. Cameron, OISE, University of Toronto
Amy Clements-Cortes, Baycrest Centre
Takako Fujioka,  Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre
Lendra Friesen, Sunnybrook Health Sciences
Bernhard Ross, Rotman Research Institute, Rotman Centre
Sandra Trehub, Psychology, UTM
Mark Schmuckler, Psychology, UTS
 
Other Universities and Centres

Heidi Ahonen-Eerikainen, Wilfrid Laurier University
Susan O’Neill, Simon Fraser University
Laurel Trainor, McMaster University, Institute for Music and the Mind
William Thompson, Macquarie University
Lee Willingham, Wilfrid Laurier University, Laurier Centre for Music in the Community
Frank Russo, Ryerson University, SMART Laboratory

Sample of Research Studies by Senior Researchers

Associations with other Research Centres

McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind 

University of Toronto Neuroscience Program

The Manfred and Penny Conrad Institute for Music Therapy Research

Centre for Performance Science
Royal College of Music, London England

Laurier Centre for Music in the Community


Association with Noted Projects/Events

International Symposium on Performance Science
University of Toronto, August 24-27, 2011

Co-Chairs: 
Aaron Williamon, Royal College of Music, London UK
Darryl Edwards, CMRC
Lee Bartel, CMRC

ISPS is presented in association with:

European Association of Conservatoires (AEC)
International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS)
International Society for Music Education (ISME)
Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA)
Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC)


Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing (AIRS)

AIRS is a Major Collaborative Research Initiative that focuses on singing:  both theory and applications. The proposal to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Major Collaborative Research Initiative received approval in December 2008. The project officially began on April 1, 2009.  The inaugural  AIRS Annual Meeting  took place at the University of Prince Edward Island, the home base of the project, in June 2009.  The second Annual meeting took place in Seattle, Washington, in conjunction with the International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC) in August 2010.  The third Annual Meeting is planned for St. John's Newfoundland, July 9 - 11, 2011 in conjunction with Festival 500/Phenomenon of Singing and the International Council of Traditional Music, the latter which will follow on July 13.  A major presentation will take place at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music as part of the ISPS conference August 24-27, 2011.  Funded Amount 2009 - 2016:  $2,498,500.00

The following Researchers associated with CMRC are involved in the AIRS project:

Hilary Apfelstadt, Advisory Board
Darryl Edwards, Theme Leader
Andrea Rose, Theme Leader
Frank Russo, Theme Leader
Laurel Trainor, Theme Leader
Sandra Trehub, Theme Leader
Carol Beynon
Susan O’Neill
Lee Willingham