Parncutt, Richard, Univ.-Prof.i.R. Dr.phil.

Publications    Research seminar (discontinued)

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

From 1998 to 2023, he was Professor of Systematic Musicology, University of Graz, Austria, where he directed the Centre for Systematic Musicology (2009 to 2023). He was president of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM) (2015-2018) and 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, 23-28 July 2018).

His qualifications include Bachelor of Science (physics) and Bachelor of Music (performance) from the University of Melbourne (1981); Bachelor of Science with Honours (physics) and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of New England, Australia (1987); Habilitation in Systematic Musicology from the University of Graz (1998); and Habilitation in Music Psychology from the University of Klagenfurt (2021).

In 2024 he 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 

Contact: parncutt at uni-graz dot at

Recent book

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

Most cited contributions

• Parncutt, R. (1989). Harmony: A psychoacoustical approach. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
• Parncutt, R. (1994). A perceptual model of pulse salience and metrical accent in musical rhythms. Music Perception, 11, 409-464.
• 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.

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.
• Parncutt, R., Lindborg, P., Meyer-Kahlen, N., & Timmers, R. (2021). The multi-hub academic conference: global, inclusive, culturally diverse, creative, sustainable. Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics, 6, 699782.

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: Human Perception and Performance, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Personality and Individual Differences, Neuroscience, Neuroscience Insights, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Psychophysiology, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Perception & Psychophysics, Personality and Individual Differences, Plos One, Psychological Research, Psychological Review, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
• Systematic Musicology: Empirical Musicology Review, 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: Contemporary Music Review, Journal of the Royal Music Association, Revue Musicale OICRM, Research Studies in Music Education, Scottish Music Review
• Sciences: Information Sciences, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 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: Sage Open, Humanities & Social Sciences Communications

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)

Past positions

• Professor of Systematic Musicology, University of Graz, Austria (1998-2023)
• Lecturer in Music Psychology and Psychoacoustics, Department of Psychology, Keele University (1996-1998)
• Postdoc researcher with John Sloboda (Keele, England, 1994-1996)
• Postdoc researcher with Albert Bregman (Montreal, 1992-93)
• Postdoc researcher with Annabel Cohen (Halifax, Canada, 1991-92)
• Postdoc researcher with Johan Sundberg (Stockholm, 1989-1990)
• Predoc researcher with Ernst Terhardt (Munich, 1982-1983)

Frequently cited publications

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