Heng, Lena

Lena Heng

Lena HENG is an interdisciplinary PhD candidate in the Music Perception and Cognition Lab at McGill University Canada, under the supervision of Prof. Stephen McAdams. With a background in both psychology and music from Singapore, their research interests centre around timbre perception, musical meanings, and musical communication. They are especially interested in how prior experiences and knowledge shape the listening experience and understanding of music, and how shared understanding as well as divergent interpretations emerge. This interest began with introspection into their own listening processes and thinking about how their own experience and expertise with classical music and the Chinese music traditions contribute to their understanding of music. Being a performer also ignited their desire in understanding how various aspects of a sound can bring about or highlight certain facets of the music and communicate content to a listener.

Lena’s research has dealt with how timbre functions in the communication of affective intentions, and listeners’ continuous perception of affective intentions over the course of a piece of music. They have looked at how listeners with different musical backgrounds respond differently in perceiving musical affect. In addition, they have also worked on analyses of music, focusing predominantly on aural analyses and on performer and listener’s interpretations of music. They are passionate about encouraging an openness to different ways of listening and greatly enjoy talking and writing about Chinese music. While acknowledging that this is but one musical tradition amongst the many around the world, they do hope that this will spark curiosity, and new ways of thinking about and listening to music.