Jazz musician and psychologist Raymond MacDonald will talk about the importance and potential of music when he gives three lectures this month (May 2006) in Inverness, Isle of Lewis and Orkney.

The talks, entitled “We are all musical,” are part of the UHI Millennium Institute public lecture series, and have been organised in partnership with HI~Arts, the arts development agency for the Highlands and Islands.

Raymond MacDonald’s lectures will survey current research world-wide on how music is a fundamental channel of communication. He will look at how people are all musical, and the diverse ways in which music can be experienced.

Research projects to be considered include the work of an Indonesian Gamelan band for individuals with special needs; the fundamental importance of improvisation within musical development; how music can be used for pain and anxiety relief in hospitals; the possible evolutionary functions of music and how musical tastes and preferences are crucial indicators of who people are.

Recent thinking in relation to music and brain functioning will also be presented.

A reader in psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University, Dr MacDonald is also artistic director of Sounds of Progress, working with individuals who have special needs, as well as being a saxophonist and composer who performs internationally. He has recorded many CDs.

His connections with the Highlands and Islands include mentoring Easter Ross-based fiddler Sarah Munro, a fellow at the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, on her research into the therapeutic effects of musical scales, and collaborating on a major commission for An Tobar Arts Centre in Tobermory.

His own PhD investigated the educational and therapeutic effects of music workshops for individuals with special needs. He is co-editor of two books, Musical Identities and Musical Communication, is currently supervising 10 PhD students investigating such topics as music therapy, music education and musical identities, and is the head of the Glasgow Caledonian Music Research Group.

Dates and venues for the lectures are:

Monday 22nd May at Lews Castle College, Stornoway, between 4.30pm and 6pm (contact Peggy Macleod on 01851 770208 or e-mail peggy.macleod@lews.uhi.ac.uk )

Tuesday 23rd May at Inverness College, between 4.30pm and 6pm (contact Rose Fonweban on 01463 279344 or e-mail rose.fonweban@uhi.ac.uk )

Wednesday 24th May at Orkney College, between 7.30pm and 9pm, in conjunction with the Department of Cultural Studies (contact Dr Innes Kennedy on 01856 569248 or e-mail innes.kennedy@orkney.uhi.ac.uk )

HI~Arts director Robert Livingston: “The importance of music both to individuals and to human society is a topic of immediate relevance, from debates about the role of music in the school curriculum to the investigations of neurologists into the make-up of the brain. Music plays a crucial and distinctive role in the culture of the Highlands and Islands, past and present.

“As both an acclaimed performer and an academic working on cutting-edge research, Raymond MacDonald is especially well-qualified to consider the assertion that we are all musical. At HI~Arts we are delighted to be able to work with UHI Millennium Institute on what we hope will be an ongoing programme of lectures on such key cultural themes.”

For further details on the public lecture series go to www.uhi.ac.uk/lectures .

For further information on Raymond MacDonald go to
http://www.hi-arts.co.uk/mar05_interview_raymond__macdonald.htm