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Home > Research > Researchers > Alan Marsden

Research

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Current Postgraduate Research Students

Alan Marsden supervises 2 postgraduate research students. Some of the students have produced research profiles, these are listed below:

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Dr Alan Marsden

Senior Lecturer

Alan Marsden

The LICA Building

Lancaster University

Bailrigg

Lancaster LA1 4YW

United Kingdom

Tel: +44 1524 593774

Office Hours:

Mon. 12-1pm; Wed. 11am-12
County Main B140

Location:

Affiliations: Centre for Research into the Applications of Computers to Music

PhD supervision

Computational musicology, music information retrieval, intelligent music software systems, formal music theory, Schenkerian analysis

Web Links

Personal website: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/marsdena

Research Interests

I am interested in scientific and mathematical approaches to music, not because I think music can be reduced to formulae—I believe it cannot—but because we learn a lot in the attempt. Furthermore, with computer tools, a systematic approach allows us to do interesting musical things. Since July 2004, I have been editor of the leading journal in the area of scientific, systematic and technological research in music, the Journal of New Music Research.

My principal research objective is to develop computational systems which allow us to reach a deeper understanding of how music presents an aural environment which captivates a listener's attention. To this end, I have developed software which implements some aspects of Schenkerian theory (a quasi-grammatical theory of music which reveals underlying hierarchical structures). The software allows a computer to automatically derive a structure (I do not say the structure) from extracts of music. Adjustment of the parameters and precise workings of the software allows us to investigate the factors which guide musicians' judgements when making an analysis of a piece of music.

In other work, I have studied formal representation of time in music, and more recently pitch. I am interested more generally in music software systems which operate in a properly 'musical' manner, and have subsidiary interests in visualisation and educational software.

Current Teaching

At undergraduate level, I teach harmony, Schenkerian analysis, and psychology of music. I supervise dissertations in systematic musicology.

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Selected Publications and Research Outputs

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