My 2011 Pivotal Moment (#Reverb11)

Over a year ago, I questioned the possibility of integrating music and educational psychology. I was working on revisions of my dissertation while profiling indie artists and found myself very conflicted (as I usually am) about a career involving my dual passions. I estimate I participated those two activities equally; still, they didn't mesh.
I sought advice from my school and blog readers, but no one could answer my questions.
In August, in my attempt to better understand my seizure disorder, I found Oliver Sacks' Musicolophilia. His book led me to Anthony Storr and finally to Dan Levitin. My "aha moment" was discovering a field within experimental psychology called music cognition.

Music Cognition
What is interesting to me is that the study of music cognition includes looking at the origins of language, multicultural appreciation, and the mind-body soul connection. Of course like any other field of psychology there are other specificities in this already narrowed area of experimental psychology:

• Musical Origins and Musical Character
• Musical Skill and Musical Intelligence
• Musical Pleasure and Preference
• Musical Development
• Musical Organization
• Music and Memory
• Music and Emotion
• Music Performance and Improvisation
• Music's Influences
• Music, Brain and Body
• Music, Environment and Culture Modeling
• Music Cognition
• Musical Origins and Musical Character

I can see a wealth of research that I can conduct or participate in studying.

The goal of this #reverb11 journal was to talk about the most exciting or pivotal moment of 2011. I suppose this blog solidifies me as a psychology nerd. But I choose a different perspective: in a year of health challenges, depression, and anxiety, I found the answer to integration of music and research and confirmed my self-proclaimed status as perpetual learner is where I need to be.