Freya Bailes

I have research interests in musical imagery (i.e. imagining music in the ‘mind’s ear’); music and memory; cognition and perception of musical structures; music and wellbeing; and more general interests in the psychology of music.

As an Academic Fellow I’m able to pursue my interests in the under-explored links between mental imagery and creativity in music, combining 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. (Université 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).