Research and teaching profile
Chris completed a PhD in Music at the University of Cambridge. His PhD was divided between studying empirical musicology/music psychology with Dr Neta Spiro (formerly Prof Nicholas Cook) and composition with composer Prof Richard Causton.
2018–19 he was a visiting researcher at the Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen. 2020-21 he was a lecturer (universitetsadjunkt) at the Division of Musicology, Lund University, Sweden.
He currently works as Analyst at Danish company Applaus, where he is responsible for conducting large-scale research projects and advising the culture industry with data-driven insights. Chris also teaches occasional musicology courses at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and Lund University.
Research interests
Chris’s research experimentally investigates questions of cognition and musicology, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. His PhD thesis explores how enculturation shapes music cognition and action, using the concrete example of how classical musician’s deal with the concept of groove or swing. It explores modes of music learning (by ear or by notation), forms of music notation, influences of notation styles on rhythmic behaviour, empirical assessments of swing and groove by jazz listeners, and microrhythmic aspects of swing and groove.
As a result, Chris’s research touches on a wide range of topics, including: Cognitive issues in notation-based vs. aural learning; literacy, music reading, and score-dependency; empirical studies of jazz and groove music (cognition, microyrhythms, physiological responses, techniques, performer interactions); notation of jazz, popular, third-stream, and complexity music; contemporary and third-stream/crossover composition.
Teaching
Chris teaches occasionally at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and at Lund University. 2020-21 Chris was a lecturer at the Division of Musicology, Lund University, Sweden, where he lectured on 20th and 21st-century popular and classical music history and music technology. At Cambridge, Chris taught undergraduates on a variety of music and musicology courses. He has presented at various institutions and numerous conferences (see below).
Key publications
Corcoran, C., Stupacher, J., & Vuust, P. (2022). Swinging the score: Explicit music notation instructions for swing phrasing cannot compensate for limited jazz enculturation. Music Perception, 39(4). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/MP.2022.39.4.386
Corcoran, C. & Frieler, K. (2021). Playing it straight: Analysing jazz soloists’ eighth-note distributions with the Weimar Jazz Database. Music Perception, 38(4). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2021.38.4.372
Corcoran, C. & Spiro, N. (2021). Score-dependency: Over-reliance on performing music from notation reduces aural pitch replication skills. Schiavio, A. & Moran, N. (Eds.) Embodiment in music [special issue]. Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies, 10. 73-98. DOI: 10.25364/24.10:2020.1.5
Corcoran, C. (2021). Swinging the Score: Compositional and empirical investigations into the performance of swing and groove rhythms by score-reading musicians.
(Doctoral dissertation, University of Cambridge). DOI: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.63648
Corcoran, C. (2021). Report on symposium “Time changes in experiences of music and dance” – Hamburg, 29.-30. November 2019. In T. Fischinger & C. Louven (Eds.), Jahrbuch Musikpsychologie (Yearbook of Music Psychology), 29. Münster: Waxmann.
Corcoran, C. (2019). Enculturated time: Cultural barriers in the way classical musicians perform ‘swing time’. Symposium “Time changes in experiences of music and dance” [Poster presentation]. Institute of Systematic Musicology, University of Hamburg, Germany. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.26796.69768
Allingham, E., & Corcoran, C. (2018). Report on the 10th International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology (SysMus17). Music & Science. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2059204317741717
FMC Collection 12: Paul Dukas: Writings (1892-1894). Francophone Music Criticism. London: Institute of Musical Research, University of London. Link. [accredited as research assistant]
Talks and presentations
’The swing continuum: Analysing jazz soloists’ swing eighths using the Weimar Jazz Database’. With Dr Klaus Frieler. International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC), European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM). July 2021.
’Score-dependency: Cognitive effects of specialising in playing from music notation’. The Neurosciences and Music (Neuromusic) VII, Center for music in the Brain, University of Aarhus. June 2021.
’The swing groove continuum: Analysing jazz soloists’ swing eighths using the Weimar Jazz Database’. With Dr Klaus Frieler. Rhythm Production and Perception workshop, RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion. University of Oslo. June 2021.
’Score-dependency: Long-term cognitive effects of playing from music notation’. Centre for Systematic Musicology Graz. University of Graz, Austria. January 2020. Can be viewed on Youtube.
’Enculturated time: Cultural barriers in the way classical musicians perform “swing time”. Symposium: “Time changes in experiences of music and dance”. Institute of Systematic Musicology, University of Hamburg, Germany. November 2019. (Poster).
’Sensing Swing: Score-dependency as a factor in swing performances by classical musicians.’ Conference on Interdisciplinary Musicology. Centre for Systematic Musicology, University of Graz, Austria. September 2019.
’How score-dependent are classical musicians? Assessing reliance on music notation over aural information when learning new music’. International conference of the Students of Systematic Musicology (SysMus). SRH Hochschule der populären Künste (hdpk), Berlin, Germany. September 2019.
’Score-dependency: Long-term effects of notation-based music learning on classical musicians as an expression of measurability’. Conference of the International Society of Theoretical Psychologists (ISTP). Danish University of Education, Copenhagen, Denmark. August 2019.
’Learning to Swing: Interactions of aural and notation-based learning in classical musicians’. Music Pedagogy Unit, Danish University of Education. March 2019.
’Notating the Un-notatable: The challenges of documenting swing rhythms in notation for score-reading musicians’. Documenting Jazz conference, Conservatory of Music and Drama, Technical University Dublin, Ireland. January 2019.
’Notation-based responses to swing music in unenculturated musicians’. Center for Music in the Brain, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University. June 2018. [repeated November 2018 at Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen].
’Swing Psychology: Empirically assessing aesthetic issues in swing music performance’. Center for phenomenological psychology and aesthetics. Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen. May 2018.
’Keeping Score: Notational solutions for crossover compositions’. Centre for Music and Science, Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge. January 2018.
’Combining Popular and Contemporary Classical Compositional Techniques’. Composers Workshop, Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge. November 2017.
Closing Statements. International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology 2017 (SysMus 2017), Music Cognition Lab, Queen Mary University of London. September 2017.
’Music Notational Innovations’. Workshop: Moving Forward: Art, Entrepreneurship and Institutions, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School. August 2016.
Chris Corcoran 