Thank you, Aniruddh!
What perfect and timely words from David here at the end of his interview upon his retirement from Ohio State:
DS: You and I have had conversations about the role of power structures in research. I do think that an important aspect of research is the chronicling of how institutions are complicit in power, and I think that a criticism of science is that it is hardly engaged at all in this enterprise. How do you respond to that?
DH: There's so much to say here, let me just make one small point.
Foucault was ostensibly a psychoanalyst, but I think he had rather a limited understanding of people's motives. He placed the pursuit of power as the ultimate motivator and, as you point out, he encouraged us to analyze interactions as contestations of power. I think power is important, but it's not the most important human motivator.
When I've been out in the field, in Micronesia, it's clear that what people most crave is simple acknowledgement. The world is oblivious to the existence of Palauans or Yapese. They live and die in a world that couldn't care less about their existence. They're well aware of that, and it hurts. I think Otis Redding hit the nail on the head with R-E-S-P-E-C-T. People want to be acknowledged, respected, appreciated, perhaps even admired.
I'm sure there are people who are motivated primarily or exclusively by the pursuit of power, but I think that's a very small minority. Of course, all you have to do is look at the behavior of scholars to see this ambition at work. Surely every philosopher, academic, and writer who has ever put words to paper was primarily after respect, not power—including Foucault. Or consider Donald Trump. He made no secret that his ambition was to have his likeness added to Mount Rushmore. Getting your face carved on Mount Rushmore isn't about gaining power; it's about the pursuit of admiration.
Of course, an advertiser knows how to transmute fame into fortune. And fortune can, at least in many circumstances, buy power. But I think the traffic is mainly the other way. People who have money and power crave to transform that into respect and admiration.
There's that wonderful line in Aisling Walsh's (2016) film portrayal of the life of the folk painter Maud Lewis. On her deathbed, Maud's last utterance is a touching declaration of the greatest achievement in her life: "I was loved," she said, and then slowly closed her eyes for the last time. In an otherwise impoverished life struggling with awful health, she had transformed an initially callous and indifferent husband into a compassionate man who ultimately sustained her with the gift of unconditional love. Fortunately, people can thrive on remarkably little admiration.
It's the pursuit of respect or admiration that explains not just why people seek high office, but also of the reverse, people who seek low office. Hermits, ascetics, friars, nuns—they might choose a life of poverty and self-denial, but they still seek a life that is respected, even if that's ultimately solely self-respect. I think it's only psychopaths who choose power over admiration.
Sure, power is a real motivation, and there are important insights to be gained by the analysis of power relationships. And of course, we should expose the efforts of powerful people and institutions to commandeer and abuse the power they accrue. But in my opinion, the current focus on the analysis of power misconstrues what's most important to people. The main human motivation is that we are somehow acknowledged. Given the choice, most people would prefer being admired over being powerful. Being loved, even if that's by a single person—that's the cherry on the cake of life.
When we discuss or analyze a musical work, performance, or culture, our first achievement is to have acknowledged the existence of the people who created it. That, by itself, is a mitzvah—a good deed.
- Dennis Hamm dennis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx On Jun 10, 2025, at 9:13 PM, Patel, Aniruddh D. <a.patel@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Dear List,
I strongly resonate with Robert Zatorre's note about David Huron. David played a key role in making music cognition the vibrant research area it is today, and his signature combination of deep knowledge of musical structure and history, empirical acumen, enthusiasm
for cross-disciplinary thinking and research, and personal kindness and warmth all made him a treasured colleague.
For those that would like a sample of his broad research interests, he has numerous research videos on Vimeo:
And here is an interview with David about "research methodology, public musicology, music and emotion, formal theory, the place of biology in music studies, and other topics":
Regards,
Ani
Aniruddh D. Patel
Professor, Dept. of Psychology, Tufts University
CIFAR Fellow
Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program
From: AUDITORY - Research in Auditory Perception <AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Robert J Zatorre, Dr <robert.zatorre@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, June 8, 2025 5:36 PM
To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [External] Re: [AUDITORY] David Huron (1954-2025)
Dear List
I was very saddened to hear the news about David Huron. His voice uniquely bridged the worlds of music theory, cognitive psychology, emotion research, and neuroscience. He was always full of new ideas but never wedded to them—he just wanted to satisfy his great
curiosity. His masterpiece, "Sweet Anticipation" influenced my own work and that of many other scholars working on music cognition. Best of all, he possessed that rare combination of an ebullient, kind, caring personality with an incisive and creative mind.
His loss will be deeply felt.
Robert
Robert Zatorre, PhD
Professor and Canada Research Chair
Montreal Neurological Institute
McGill University
3801 University
Montreal QC H3A2B4
Canada
From: AUDITORY - Research in Auditory Perception <AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Pierre Divenyi <pdivenyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: June 6, 2025 01:31
To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: David Huron (1954-2025)
Sad news. I liked David a lot.
Pierre
Pardon my typos. It's Apple's fault.
On Jun 5, 2025, at 21:23, Daniel T Shanahan <daniel.shanahan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Dear Colleagues,
I'm writing to share the unfortunate news of David Huron's passing. Much more will be written in the coming days and weeks about David, but for now I will just say that, in addition to being a brilliant scholar and pioneer in the fields of music cognition and
music theory, he was an example of how to live a meaningful and rewarding life of the mind while nurturing and supporting the work of junior scholars, students, and the community. As recently as Monday, he was hard at work on multiple projects, all of which
will see the light of day soon.
Like many of you, David's impact on my life cannot be overstated. I recently asked if he wanted to say anything to the community, and being a good empiricist, I asked him this multiple times as a test for intra-rater validity. On all occasions, he replied
that he was "just so thankful to all of the musicians for all of the beautiful music."
He will be sorely missed.
An obituary is below.
David Brian Huron (né Harrison). Born June 1, 1954 in Peace River, Alberta, Canada. Died in Benicia, California on June 5th, from cancer. Son of Allan Henry Harrison (1919-2011) and Luella Gertrude Scott (1925-2011). Survived by long-time partner and spouse
Kristin Precoda, brothers Douglas Allan, Kenneth Bruce, sister Marion Gaye, in-laws Beth Harrison-Cain, Peter Thompson, and nephew Casey Scott Harrison.
David was a music lover, musician, and music scholar. Throughout his childhood and adolescence David received extensive training in piano, organ, flute, and music theory. He attended Canterbury High School for the performing arts in Ottawa and subsequently
studied flute with Karin Schindler at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. In 1978 he completed an interdisciplinary undergraduate degree at the University of Waterloo--pursuing mixed studies in music, aesthetics, psychology, acoustics, computer science,
and engineering.
For several years after graduation David was active as a composer. His music was programmed in some fifty concerts and was featured in single-composer productions in Ottawa, New York, and Rio de Janeiro. Discouraged by mix-ups in which he was mistaken for another
composer by the same name, David Harrison legally changed his name to David Huron in 1984.
David continued his education, completing a masters degree at York University, Toronto (where he worked with semiotician David Lidov), and a doctoral degree in musicology at the University of Nottingham, UK (where he was supervised by Brahms scholar, Robert
Pascall). At Nottingham, David also began conducting experimental studies, collaborating with psychoacoustician Deborah Fantini at the nearby British Institute for Hearing Research. Abandoning his activities as a composer, David spent the rest of his career
conducting music research, producing nearly 200 scholarly publications including three influential books:
The Science of Sadness: A New Understanding of Emotion (2024), Sweet Anticipation: The Psychology of Expectation (2006) and
Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art (2016).
Upon completing a PhD in 1989, David was appointed Assistant Professor of Music at Conrad Grebel College, receiving a promotion to Associate Professor in 1991. He held concurrent positions at the University of Waterloo, including administrative Coordinator
and principal instructor at UW's Center for Society, Technology, and Values. At the University of Waterloo, he also held complimentary appointments as Associate Professor of Psychology (1994-1998) and Adjunct Professor of Systems Design Engineering (1994-1998).
In 1998, David emigrated to the United States where he took up the position of Professor in the Ohio State University School of Music with a salaried joint appointment at the Center for Cognitive Science (later the Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences).
At OSU he was head of the Cognitive and Systematic Musicology Laboratory for 22 years, retiring in 2019 with the rank of Arts and Humanities Distinguished Professor. During his OSU tenure he supervised two dozen doctoral and post-doctoral researchers in systematic
and empirical music research. He also taught empirical research methods in musicology to nearly two hundred scholars and students from other institutions through annual week-long summer workshops.
David's scholarship was recognized through several awards, including the Society for Music Perception and Cognition's lifetime Achievement Award (2017), the Society for Music Theory's Lifetime Membership Award (2019), and a Fulbright Research Chair (2020) which
he was unable to take up due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021 he was named Nico Frijda Honorary Chair in Cognitive Science, awarded by the Amsterdam Brain and Cognition Center and the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Amsterdam.
In lieu of a public memorial, friends, colleagues, and family are invited to post online reminiscences at legacy.com once the obituary goes online.
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