Recent years have seen a rise in interest, from a diversity of fields, in the musical ensemble as an exemplary form of creative group behavior. Musical ensembles can be understood and investigated as high functioning small group organizations that have coordinative structures in place to perform under pressure within strict temporal boundaries. Rehearsals and performances exemplify fruitful contexts for emergent creative behaviour, where novel musical interpretations are negotiated and discovered through improvisatory interaction. Furthermore, group music-making can be an emotionally and socially rewarding experience that enables positive outcomes for wellbeing and development.

This book brings together these different perspectives into one coherent volume, offering insight into the musical ensemble from different analytical levels. Part 1 starts from the meso-level, considering ensembles as creative teams and investigating how musical groups interact at a social and organizational level. Part 2 then zooms in to consider musical coordination and interaction at a micro-level, when considering group music-making as forms of joint action. Finally, a macro-level perspective is taken in Part 3, examining the health and wellbeing affordances associated with acoustical, expressive, and emotional joint behavior. Each part contains a balance of review chapters showcasing the most recent developments in each area of research, followed by demonstrative case studies featuring various ensemble practices and processes.

A rich and multidisciplinary reflection on ensemble music practice, this volume will be an insightful read for music students, teachers, academics, and professionals with an interest in the dynamics of group behavior within a musical context.

About the Author:
Renee Timmers, Professor of Psychology of Music, Department of Music, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, Freya Bailes, Associate Professor in Music Psychology, School of Music, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK, Helena Daffern, Associate Professor in Audio and Music Technology, Department of Electronic Engineering, University of York, York, UK

Renee Timmers is Professor of Psychology of Music at The University of Sheffield, where she directs the Music, Mind, Machine research centre. Her research uses interdisciplinary methods to investigate expression, emotion and wellbeing in and through music with a specific focus on music as a multisensory experience. She served on the editorial board of several journals, including acting as Co-Editor of Empirical Musicology Review and Associate Editor of Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, & Brain. She is currently President of the European Society of the Cognitive Sciences of Music in which capacity she promotes inclusive and climate friendly international knowledge dissemination.

Freya Bailes is an Associate Professor in Music Psychology at the University of Leeds. She is a founder and co-director of the 'Music for Healthy Lives Research & Practice network'. Freya has held research positions in Australia, France, and the USA. Her interests include cognitive and social processes in performance, mental representations in musical creativity, cognition and perception of musical structures, musical imagery, and music and wellbeing.

Helena Daffern is an Associate Professor in Audio and Music Technology in the AudioLab, Department of Electronic Engineering at the University of York. She received a BA (Hons.) degree in Music, an M.A. degree in Music, and PhD in Music Technology, all from the University of York, UK, before completing postgraduate training as a classical singer at Trinity College of Music, London. Her research utilises interdisciplinary approaches with virtual reality technology to investigate voice science and acoustics, particularly singing performance, vocal pedagogy, choral singing and singing for health and wellbeing.