NAMM Foundation Supports Music Research through Sponsorship of 11th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition

 The NAMM Foundation announced today that it will sponsor the 11th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC) Aug. 23-27, 2010, which is being held at the University of Washington, in Seattle, Wash.

The ICMPC is a collective of research societies from different parts of the world, including the Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC), the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM), and Asia-Pacific Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (APSCOM), which includes the Japanese Society for Music Perception & Cognition (JSMPC), the Korean Society for Music Perception and Cognition (KSMPC) and the Australian Music &Psychology Society (AMPS). Through their combined efforts, these societies have produced a biennial international research conference since 1989.

ICMPC is committed to interdisciplinary research reflecting many specialties, methods and individuals from around the world who share an interest in the scientific study of musical thought and behavior. Psychologists, educators, theorists, therapists, performers, computer scientists, ethnomusicologists and neuroscientists come together to share the progress of the research being conducted in their respective disciplines.

Keynote speakers will include Dr. Gottfried Schlaug, a NAMM Foundation-funded music researcher and associate professor of neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Harvard Medical School, chief of the division of cerebrovascular disorders at BIDMC, and director of the Music, Neuroimaging and Stroke Recovery Laboratories at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.  Also speaking will be Dr. Petri Toiviainen, professor of music at the University of Jyväskylä and leader of the university’s Finnish Centre of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Music Research and of the Music, Mind and Technology master’s program. Toiviainen obtained his Ph.D. in musicology in 1996 from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.

“The NAMM Foundation is again supporting this gathering of world-renowned music researchers and professionals who are exploring the many aspects of music’s affect on the brain and human functions,” said Mary Luehrsen, executive director of the NAMM Foundation. “The Foundation is dedicated to advancing active participation in music making for people of all ages, and supporting research about the many benefits of making music.”

For more information about the upcoming conference, visit http://depts.washington.edu/icmpc11/

About the NAMM Foundation
The NAMM Foundation is a non-profit organization with the mission of advancing active participation in music making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving and public service programs from the international music products industry. For more information about The NAMM Foundation, please visit www.nammfoundation.org.