Carterette, Edward C(alvin)
Carterette, Edward C(alvin)
learned American experimental psychologist, ethnomusicologist, and musicologist; b. Mount Tabor, N.C., July 10, 1921; d. Los Angeles, July 7, 1999. He studied mathematics at the Univ. of Chicago, psychology at Harvard Univ., and experimental and mathematical psychology at Ind. Univ. (Ph.D., 1957). He concurrently worked in the Brain Wave Laboratory of Mass. General Hospital in Boston, in the Acoustics Laboratory of the Mass. Inst. of Technology, and in the Hearing and Communication Laboratory of Ind. Univ. In 1956 he joined the faculty of the dept. of psychology at the Univ. of Calif, at Los Angeles, where he was made a prof, in 1968 and an adjunct prof, of ethnomusicology and systematic musicology in 1988. He retired as prof, emeritus in 1991. He served as co-ed, of the Handbook of Perception series (nine vols., 1973–78) and as ed. of the Handbook of Perception and Cognition series (2nd ed., 17 vols., 1994–99), and also was assoc. ed. of the journals Perception and Psychophysics (1972–93) and of Music Perception (1982–99). Carterette’s publications numbered around 200 and were notable for their catholicity. In music he wrote on such diverse subjects as acoustics, musical expression, and hearing in orchestral players.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire