My original quantitative research on music and meaning has its roots in a 1972 presentation on "Levels of Abstraction." The design for the research saw a preliminary draft as part of a graduate "Survey of Research Methods" class in speech communication (circa 1975-76) at SUNY College at Brockport.

The first pilot study was designed and implemented for a "Psychology of Music" class at the University of Washington (Winter 1978). A second pilot study was conducted sometime before September 1979.

The study was redesigned, expanded and implemented in November 1979. As part of a two-part lecture on "Meaning, Music and Communication" at Iowa State University (September 1981), additional results using the same methodolgy were obtained.

With a renewed interest orality/aurality and technology (as discussed by Walter Ong, among others), an emerging interest in child development and communication (including such conditions as Asperbger's Syndrome, ADD/ADHD, PDD, Sensory Integration Issues, Autism, ODD, etc.) and a new-found home in "Media Ecology," I am presently revising this material in an effort to develop behavioral methods (versus medicinal methods) of helping the increasing numbers of children affected by what seem to be conditions of impaired auditory processing.

==> download available: "Music and Meaning: A Survey" (Winter 1978) (pdf)