Dr Freya Bailes

Profile

I joined the University of Leeds in 2015, pursuing my interests in the under-explored links between ‘musical imagery’ (i.e. imagining music in the mind’s ear) and wellbeing. This work combines my research experience in experimental psychology with my education and insight as a musician. I am an oboist with a particular enjoyment of orchestral and chamber music performance.

Prior appointments include Lecturer in Music at the University of Hull (2012–15), and Senior Research Fellow at the MARCS Institute at the University of Western Sydney, where I collaborated with Professor Roger Dean on research into the perception and emotional expression of contemporary music, and the role of leadership in musical improvisation. This research drew on my previous post-doctoral experience at the L.E.A.D. (Universite de Bourgogne), the C.S.M.L. (Ohio State University), and the Sonic Communications Research Group (University of Canberra).

My doctoral thesis 'Musical Imagery: Hearing and Imagining Music' explored the nature and prevalence of musical imagery (University of Sheffield). Years later, and I'm still fascinated by the phenomenon of imagining music in the mind's ear, having guest edited a special issue on the topic for the journal Psychomusicology: Music, Mind and Brain (2015). More recent work examines the relationship between imagining music and different aspects of wellbeing, through my leadership of the AHRC-funded Inner Music and Wellbeing Network.

My publications span a range of music psychology topics. Research relating to music performance informed my 2021 co-editorship of the book ‘Together in Music: Coordination, Expression, Participation’ (Oxford University Press). My other publications relate to the perception of emotion in contemporary musical forms, music and social cognition, synchronisation in performance, and music and wellbeing.

Responsibilities

• Programme Leader: MA/PGDip/PGCert Music and Wellbeing

Research interests

• musical imagery (i.e. imagining music in the mind's ear)
• musical imagery in relation to wellbeing
• social cognition of music
• music cognition
• general interests in the psychology of music

• The Inner Music and Wellbeing Network

Qualifications

• PhD Music Psychology
• MA Psychology of Music
• BA (Hon) French and Music

Professional memberships

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music

Student education

I contribute to the music psychology teaching at all levels of our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and to the music and wellbeing teaching of our postgraduate programmes.

Research groups and institutes

• Music, Science and Technology

Current postgraduate researchers

• Melissa Kirby
• Tianshu Kong
• Elizabeth Morris
• Bruna Francisco Martins