Instru(mental)

Want to scientifically improve your life with music? Every episode of Instru(mental) explores music psychology research and how it shapes your brain, your body, and how you feel. Thoughtful, practical suggestions for integrating music into your life. Hosted by board-certified music therapist, Brea Murakami.

Podcasting since 2018 • 22 episodes

Instru(mental)

Latest Episodes

#21 - An MT-BC Goes to SMPC (2026)

Where can you catch up on the latest music cognition research, watch a musical about the scientific process, and karaoke to your heart's desire? SMPC 2026! This episode is series of recordings from the 2026

August 03, 2026 • Episode 21 • 32:08

#20 - This Is Your Musical Brain On Marijuana

Have you ever noticed that music just hits differently when your high? In this episode of Instru(mental), we're diving into the surprisingly sparse, but curious body of research that explains how cannabis changes our musical experiences. Along ...

April 19, 2026 • Episode 20 • 21:42

#19 - Split Second Music Judgments

What can we deduce from hearing less than 1 second of music? Learn how accurately listeners can identify music genres from excerpts that are less than a quarter of a second long, and see how your brain does in a mini version of the experimental...

September 30, 2025 • Episode 19 • 24:09

#18 - Music as Moral Evidence

Can music change our moral judgments of others? In this episode, we explore how knowing about someone's, or something's, musicality shifts our moral decision-making. This episode's research study includes four related experiments involving musi...

September 24, 2025 • Episode 18 • 28:39

Instru(mental) Trailer

What if you didn’t have to be a scientist, or a musician, to use music in your everyday life? Hi there, I’m Brea, a board-certified music therapist and this is Instru(mental) – a podcast that explores the science of music and how it shapes your...

September 14, 2025 • 1:24

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Brea Murakami

Host