Richard Parncutt

Richard Parncutt is a systematic musicologist, music psychologist, and psychoacoustician. Recent research contributions addressed global warming, human rights, and academic travel.

Qualifications

1981: Bachelor of Science (physics) and Bachelor of Music (performance), University of Melbourne 

1982: Bachelor of Science with Honours (physics), University of New England, Australia 

1987: Doctor of Philosophy, University of New England, Australia 

1998: Habilitation in Systematic Musicology, University of Graz

2021: Habilitation in Music Psychology, University of Klagenfurt 

Recent book

• Parncutt, R. (2024). Psychoacoustic foundations of major-minor tonality. MIT Press. (open access)

Most cited contributions

• Parncutt, R. (1989). Harmony: A psychoacoustical approach. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. (text)
• Parncutt, R. (1994). A perceptual model of pulse salience and metrical accent in musical rhythms. Music Perception, 11, 409-464. (text)
• Parncutt, R., & McPherson, G. E. (Eds., 2002). The science and psychology of music performance: Creative strategies for teaching and learning. New York: Oxford University Press. (excerpts)

Recent contributions in climate science

• Parncutt, R. (2019). The human cost of anthropogenic global warming: semi-quantitative prediction and the 1,000-tonne rule. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 2323. (text)
• Parncutt, R. (2025). The global multi-hub conference: Inclusion, sustainability, and academic politics. Sustainable Futures, 100915. (text) 

Disciplines addressed 

• Music psychology, music theory, music acoustics, psychoacoustics, sound and music computing, music information retrieval, music sociology, music philosophy, music history, ethnomusicology, music education

Journals with full-length first-authored articles

• Music Perception (7), Musicae Scientiae (5), Journal of New Music Research (4), Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene (2), Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies (2), Australian Journal of Psychology, Behavioral Sciences, Contemporary Music Review, Empirical Musicology Review, Frontiers in Psychology, Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics, Jahrbuch Musikpsychologie, Music Performance Research, Perception & Psychophysics, Perspectives of New Music, Psychological Topics, Rivista di Analisi e Teoria Musicale, Scottish Music Review

Journal board membership (past or present)

• Jahrbuch Musikpsychologie, Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies, Journal of New Music Research, Music Perception, Music Performance Research, Musica Humana, Musicae Scientiae, Music Theory Online, Musicology Australia, Psychology of Music, Rast Musicology Journal, Research Studies in Music Education, Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle, Systematische Musikwissenschaft

Anonymous peer review of journal submissions

• Psychology: Acta Psychologica, Attention Perception & Psychophysics, Auditory Perception and Cognition, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Behavioral Sciences, British Journal of Psychology, Cognitive Science, Connection Science, Cortex, Emotion, Frontiers in Neuroscience, Frontiers in Psychology, i-Perception, International Journal of Psychophysiology, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Personality and Individual Differences, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Neuroscience, Neuroscience Insights, Perception & Psychophysics, Personality and Individual Differences, Psychological Research, Psychological Review, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Psychophysiology, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
• Systematic Musicology: Empirical Musicology Review, ISMIR Transactions, Journal of New Music Research, Music Perception, Music Performance Research, Musicae Scientiae, Music and Science, Journal of Mathematics and Music, Psychology of Music, Psychomusicology
• Music: Computer Music Journal, Contemporary Music Review, Journal of the Royal Music Association, Revue Musicale OICRM, Research Studies in Music Education, Scottish Music Review
• Sciences: Annals of NY Academy of Sciences, Information Sciences, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, Plos One, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Royal Society Open Science, Scientific Reports
• Medicine: Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology
• Acoustics: Acta Acustica, Applied Acoustics, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
• Social sciences and humanities: Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, Sage Open
• Climate and sustainability: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Journal of Infrastructure Policy Development

Co-creation of Journal

Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies (JIMS, since 2007)

Co-creation of conference series

• Conference on Interdisciplinary Musicology (CIM series, since 2004)
• Conference on Applied Interculturality Research (cAIR, 2010, 2012)
• International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology (SysMus series, since 2008)
• Global Arts and Psychology Seminar (GAPS, multi-hub, 2017, 2023)

Sustainability award

In 2024 Parncutt received a Sustainability Award (Silber in der Kategorie Verankern) from the Austrian federal government for a project entitled “The global multi-hub academic conference: Sustainable and inclusive” (more). Given the growing contribution of aviation to global warming, he avoids flying and has not flown to an academic conference since 2016. Many European conferences can be reached by train and bus.

CV

1957: Born in Melbourne, Australia

1976-1980: Undergraduate study at University of Melbourne (music and physics)

1981: Honours year in physics at the University of New England, Australia

1982-87: Doctoral studies, University of New England (physics, psychology, music)

1982-1983: Predoc researcher with Ernst Terhardt, TU München

1989-90: Postdoc with Johan Sundberg, KTH Stockholm

1990-91: Teaching at Technical University of Berlin

1991-92: Postdoc with Annabel Cohen, Dalhousie, Halifax, Nova Scotia

1992-94: Postdoc with Al Bregman, McGill, Montreal

1993-94: Sessional lecturer, McGill, University de Montréal

1994-96: Postdoc with John Sloboda, Keele, UK

1996-98: Lecturer in Psychology, Keele, UK

1998-2023: Professor of Systematic Musicology, University of Graz, Austria

2009-23: Director of Centre for Systematic Musicology, University of Graz

2015-18: President of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM)

2018: Chair of the 15th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC) combined with the 10th triennial conference of ESCOM (Graz, Montreal, La Plata, Sydney)

Frequently cited publications

Private homepage

Contact: parncutt at uni-graz dot at