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Just how do humans express emotion using vocal communication? In this second public lecture in the 2011 series, the Power of Music , Professor Bill Thompson, one of the world's foremost scholars in the area of music psychology, will present his recent research on the processes involved in vocal emotional communication.

In this lecture Professor Thompson will lead the audience through analyses of acoustic cues used by singers and speakers to express emotions. He will examine the facial expressions used during emotional communication, and investigate the sensitivity to emotional speech that occurs among individuals with musical impairments (amusia).

Canadian-born Professor Thompson holds a PhD in Psychology from Queen's University and lectured at both York University and the University of Toronto before moving to Australia. He is currently the Head of Department and Professor of Psychology at Macquarie University and is the author of Music, Thought, and Feeling: Understanding the Psychology of Music (Oxford University Press, 2009). As well as a renown academic Professor Thompson is also a composer - he has composed and performed music for a number of films and plays, including several by his sister, Canadian playwright Judith Thompson.

TITLE:  Emotional Communication in Song and Speech

WHEN: 6.30pm, Tuesday 20 September 2011

WHERE: Callaway Music Auditorium, UWA.

The nearest car parks are P1 via Winthrop entrance and P23 off Hackett Drive.

COST: This is a free public lecture. All welcome.

Media references

Kaye Hill (UWA School of Music)  (+61 8)  6488 8536 [email protected]