{"id":25,"date":"2025-10-20T22:26:03","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T22:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/?p=25"},"modified":"2025-11-13T22:30:39","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T22:30:39","slug":"music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/music\/","title":{"rendered":"Woody\u2019s research highlights humanity of making music"},"content":{"rendered":"
Achieving Excellence<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n

Nebraska’s Robert Woody believes the heart of music lies in the human experience behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An international leader in the psychology of music, Woody was recognized on the Stanford\/Elsevier Top 2% Scientists List, a rare accomplishment for a music researcher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The list identifies the world\u2019s leading scientists by analyzing their impact, including how often other scientists reference their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By making kids more musical, we are enriching their lives in a real, meaningful way.<\/p>\nRobert Woody<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Woody\u2019s research explores how music shapes and is influenced by human cognition, behavior and emotion. His research and classes are better preparing the next generation of music educators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy making kids more musical, we are enriching their lives in a real, meaningful way. I\u2019m fortunate to be in a field like music education and music psychology that can be really, really powerful,\u201d said Woody, Steinhart Foundation Distinguished Professor of Music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Robert Woody talks with students during a music class. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Among the tens of thousands of scientists on the Stanford\/Elsevier list, Woody is one of only 78 music researchers. The 2024 list includes 180 Huskers, of whom Woody is the only professor from the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts.   <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His research topics include learning, motivation, emotional expression, creativity and leadership as they relate to music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding psychological principles better prepares educators and other leaders to deal with difficult situations. For music teachers in particular, working with a range of talent, ages and skill levels in a single class or band presents challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woody\u2019s research also seeks to make music more accessible. He identified a gap between the classical music most students study and what many enjoy outside of class. Incorporating genres such as rock and hip-hop into classes helps motivate learners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost of my students are being prepared to go out and be K-12 music teachers, and we\u2019re trying to get kids to do music they\u2019ve never heard,\u201d he said. \u201cWhy don\u2019t we do the music they can relate to?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incorporating making music outside of formal structures also encourages people to embrace music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you just engage people in music making [that] they can do, and make it social, make it enjoyable, they can start to believe they are, in fact, musical,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMusic is a human absolute, and it belongs to everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additional Content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Nebraska Today<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
News release<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Faculty Excellence<\/a>, <\/span>Humanities<\/a>, <\/span>Music<\/a>, <\/span>Music Education<\/a>, <\/span>Psychology<\/a>, <\/span>Robert Woody<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nebraska’s Robert Woody believes the heart of music lies in the human experience behind it. An international leader in the psychology of music, Woody was recognized on the Stanford\/Elsevier Top 2% Scientists List, a rare accomplishment for a music researcher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[187,153,15,152,151,150],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-achieving-excellence","tag-faculty-excellence","tag-humanities","tag-music","tag-music-education","tag-psychology","tag-robert-woody"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":466,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions\/466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}