Henkjan Honing
Henkjan Honing is a professor of Music Cognition at both the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam (UvA). He studies what musicality is, and to what extent human beings share musicality with other animals. His aim is to define the cognitive and biological mechanisms that underpin musicality.
In addition to a research agenda (The Origins of Musicality (The MIT Press)), Honing has published several books for the general public, including the English-language publications Music Cognition: The Basics (Routledge) and The Evolving Animal Orchestra (The MIT Press).
Henkjan Honing's books and lectures are popular with a broad audience and are appreciated both inside and outside the scientific world.
For a recent interview, see Big Biology Podcast; For one in Dutch, see NRC; For a recent public lecture, see Science & Cocktails; For a recent review, see Current Biology; For an elaborate cv, see the UvA website.
Latest publications
Media attention
Baby’s hebben maatgevoel blijkt uit onderzoekParool
Pasgeboren baby's hebben van nature al maatgevoelBNR Nieuwsradio
BaYaka-vrouwen in Congo zingen als ze samenwerken – en dat maakt het bos blijNRC Handelsblad
De A12 als orkestbak; Extinction Rebellion zet muziek inDe Groene Amsterdammer
Hoe kun je beter leren zingen? ‘Verdiep je eerst in je eigen stem’De Morgen
Als het baasje rustig wordt van Mozart, geldt dat dan ook voor zijn huisdier?Algemeen Dagblad
Marathon interview met Henkjan HoningNPO1
Mooie muziek, maar waarom?VPRO Gids
Ieder mens kan muziek herkennen, maken en waarderenNewScientist
Is music an exclusively human thing? A new study says noNPR
Courses
Evolution of Language and Music
In this course we survey different theories of the origins of music and language.
How Music Works II: Music Cognition
Over the years it has become clear that all humans share a predisposition for music, just like we have for language. We all can perceive and enjoy music. This view is supported by a growing body of research from developmental psychology neuroscience and the many contributions from the field of music cognition. These studies indicate that our capacity for music has an intimate relationship with our cognition and underlying biology, which is particularly clear when the focus is on perception rather than production.
The aim of this course is to identify the cognitive, biological and mechanistic underpinnings for music cognition as key ingredients of musicality, to assess to what extent these are unique to humans, and by doing so providing insight in their potential biological origins. As such this course has the aspiration to lay a new, interdisciplinary and comparative foundation for the study of musicality.
In addition, this course will discuss recent developments in the research field of music cognition. Topics include a) the origins and evolution of musicality, b) the cognition of rhythm and melody, c) musical competence, d) relation between musical and non-musical abilities, and e) the similarities and differences between music and language. The topics might change due to recent developments.