Nebraska's Robert Woody believes the heart of music lies in the human experience behind it. In his research, he delves into the ways music shapes and is influenced by human cognition, behavior and emotion.
Woody, Steinhart Foundation Distinguished Professor of Music in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln's Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, is an international leader in the field of the psychology of music and was recently recognized on the Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Scientists List. Through his work, Woody hopes to help prepare students to be leaders of young musicians through understanding of students and expanding what it means to be a musician.
“By making kids more musical, we are enriching their lives in a real, meaningful way,” he said. “I’m fortunate to be in a field like music education and music psychology that can be really, really powerful.”
The Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Scientists List analyzes peer-reviewed papers across disciplines by researchers worldwide. It measures the significance of the research, including how often each study is cited in the work of other scientists. Woody is one of 180 Huskers on the 2024 list. And, among the tens of thousands on the list, Woody is one of 78 music researchers to make the cut.
Woody’s research covers areas like learning, motivation, emotional expression, creativity and leadership as they relate to music. He also works in multiple areas, including the cognition of learning music by ear and the kinds of music making that schools have traditionally ignored. He enjoys examining these topics through a musical context because music is part of so many people’s lives, even if they are only listening.
Music is relatable to just about anybody because even self-described ‘un-musical’ people usually like music and consider it an important part of their life.
“Music is relatable to just about anybody because even self-described ‘un-musical’ people usually like music and consider it an important part of their life,” Woody said.
Being included on the Stanford/Elsevier list, Woody said, was flattering because it demonstrates some recognition as an expert in the field as he tries to pass on the expertise to his students.
“It’s reaffirming to what I aspire to do, which is to merge my research with my teaching and to base my teaching on research,” he said.
Woody holds a bachelor’s degree from Nebraska and two master’s degrees and a doctorate from Florida State University. Woody’s interest in the psychology field began when he was a graduate student at Florida State. The focus was inspired by making copies of articles as part of work study for a psychology researcher.
“I would make these copies, and I started reading the articles,” Woody said. “It was kind of fascinating.”
The researcher, Andreas Lehmann, became a mentor and co-author with Woody and John Sloboda for the first edition of “Psychology for Musicians.”
“I was delighted to have a book project with guys who were way more established than me,” Woody said.
Building on this foundation, Woody, head of the music education area, started teaching courses at Nebraska in music psychology. Music education majors were required to take an educational psychology or child psychology course, but Woody created a course catering the material more specifically to music teachers.
“The people in charge of leading the learning of others, anybody who’s a leader, should know something about psychology so they can understand people,” Woody said.
If a bullying situation arises in the school, for example, it is helpful to have an understanding of what each student is experiencing at that time of their lives.
“From the teacher perspective, both a bully and victim are kids that are going through stuff,” he said. “They’re both deserving of a teacher’s guidance.”
While Woody’s course covers general topics like motivation, behavior and development, it also explores musical skills and expression. Music teachers specifically, Woody said, deal with challenges, like class size and range of ability levels, that other disciplines might not.
“If you’re a high school band director, you might have in the same room, kids from freshmen to seniors,” he said. “They’re very different people, plus different levels of ability. You might have beginners on instruments and people who have been playing for years.”
In trying to foster the next generation of music educators, Woody also has looked at how to add other types of music to those most commonly seen in academia. In his research, Woody learned there is a gap between what some music students play in their courses and what they listen to in their free time, and that incorporating genres that students are already more familiar with motivates learners. In academic settings, they might be more likely to play classical music but listen to rock or hip-hop.
“A motivated learner learns more and learns more quickly,” Woody said. “Most of my student are being prepared to go out and be K-12 music teachers, and we’re trying to get kids to do music they’ve never heard. Why don’t we do the music they can relate to?”
In addition to opening up which genres students study, Woody is interested in involving more people in making music. Many people might not consider themselves musical, but they can still benefit from informal music making.
“If you just engage people in music making they can do and make it social, make it enjoyable, they can start to believe they are in fact musical,” he said.
Some people feel they need to be “talented” musically to participate this way, and in some classroom settings, teachers might give more attention to a student who they perceive as more talented. It’s a conception Woody wants to fight.
“Human beings as a species are created to be musical,” he said. “Music is a human absolute and it belongs to everybody.”
Woody has reached the point in his career now where he’s seen his students go on to become the teachers of even his own children. He said it’s rewarding to see them become adults prepared to be in charge of a classroom.
“I get to see them when they’re still teenagers, and by the time they graduate, they’ve transformed,” he said. “They’re now guiding who I remember them being. They’re now influencing, in a positive way, so many kids.”
