Daniel J. Levitin Speaker & Booking Information

Daniel J. Levitin is the James McGill Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at McGill University. He holds Associate Appointments in the School of Computer Science, Faculty of Education, Department of Neurology & Neurosurgery, and School of Music. He received the Principal's Teaching Prize in 2006 at McGill, the University's highest teaching honor.

Dr. Levitin earned his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology with a Ph.D. minor in Music Technology from the University of Oregon, his B.A. from Stanford in cognitive psychology, and completed post-doctoral training at Stanford University Medical School and UC Berkeley. He has been a Visiting Professor at Stanford University where he taught courses in the Departments of Psychology, Computer Science, Human Biology, Music, Anthropology, and the School of Education. He has also been a visiting professor in Psychology at UC Berkeley and Dartmouth.

Levitin has published more than 100 scientific articles in leading journals including Science, Nature, PNAS, Neuron, JEP:HPP, and Cognition. He is credited with fundamental discoveries about the nature of musical memory and absolute pitch, the neural correlates of musical structure, and the role of the cerebellum in mediating musical emotion. His 1994 article on memory for music, published in Perception & Psychophysics, was listed by the Millenium Project as one of the top 100 papers in cognitive science of all time. In addition to his work in cognitive neuroscience, Dr. Levitin maintains an active interest in new statistical methods. His work on circular statistics has been used by astronomers, biologists, and geologists, and formed the basis for toolboxes in MatLab and R. Levitin also is actively engaged in disseminating science in the public interest, through public speaking and television interviews. He is a frequent guest on NPR and CBC radio.

Dan is the author of the book "This Is Your Brain On Music: The Science of a Human Obsession," which stayed on The New York Times and The Globe and Mail bestseller lists for more than 16 months. It was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Quill Award for best debut author, and was named among the Top 20 books of 2006 by The Globe and Mail. "The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature" debuted on The New York Times list, reached No. 1 on The Globe and Mail bestseller list, and was named one of the best books of the year by the Boston Herald and Seed magazine. His work has been translated into 16 languages and he is one of the best-selling scientist-writers of the last ten years. Two award-winning documentaries based on "This Is Your Brain On Music" have been broadcast internationally: "The Music Instinct" co-starred Levitin and Bobby McFerrin, and "The Musical Brain" co-starred Levitin and Sting.

As a musician (tenor saxophone, guitar and bass), he has performed with Mel Torme, Nancy Wilson, David Byrne, Roseanne Cash, Sting, Bobby McFerrin, Rodney Crowell, Victor Wooten, Blue Oyster Cult, members of the Steve Miller Band, and Santana. Levitin served as Vice President of Artists & Repertoire at 415/Columbia Records (now Sony Records) from 1984-1988, and as President in 1989. After 415 was sold to Sony, Levitin ran a successful production and consulting company whose clients included every major American record label and several film companies. He has produced and consulted on albums by artists including Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, and Blue Oyster Cult, and on the films "Good Will Hunting" and "Pulp Fiction." For his technical and marketing contributions to the recording industry, Levitin has been awarded 14 gold and platinum records, and two of his projects received Oscar nominations. Records and CDs on which he worked have sold in excess of 30 million copies.

A popular public speaker, Levitin has spoken to sold-out audiences of 1,200-5,000 all over the world. He has given keynote addresses for the Glenn Gould Foundation, Kindermusik, California Music Educators, Canadian Music Week, and Brandtrust Advertising Executives; he has given invited lectures to the United States Library of Congress, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as well as an invited presentation to the Canadian Ministers of Culture on the future of music and copyright; and was chosen to deliver the annual Linus Pauling Memorial Lecture in Portland, Oregon, 2008. He currently teaches Introductory Psychology at McGill, along with the Undergraduate Honors research seminar and various graduate courses.