Synopses & Reviews
What can music teach us about the brain? What can the brain teach us about music? And what can both teach us about ourselves?
and#160;In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin (The World in Six Songs and The Organized Mind) explores the connection between music - its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it - and the human brain. Drawing on the latest research and on musical examples ranging from Mozart to Duke Ellington to Van Halen, Levitin reveals:
- How composers produce some of the most pleasurable effects of listening to music by exploiting the way our brains make sense of the world
- Why we are so emotionally attached to the music we listened to as teenagers, whether it was Fleetwood Mac, U2, or Dr. Dre
- That practice, rather than talent, is the driving force behind musical expertise
- How those insidious little jingles (called earworms) get stuck in our head
Taking on prominent thinkers who argue that music is nothing more than an evolutionary accident, Levitin poses that music is fundamental to our species, perhaps even more so than language. A Los Angeles Times Book Award finalist,
This Is Your Brain on Music will attract readers of Oliver Sacks and David Byrne, as it is an unprecedented, eye-opening investigation into an obsession at the heart of human nature.
and#160;
Review
"Endlessly stimulating, a marvelous overview, and one which only a deeply musical neuroscientist could give. Daniel Levitin has a huge knowledge of music developed since the 1950s (and of blues, jazz, and etc. before this), and not merely a formal but a deep personal knowledge as an expert performer no less than as a listener. I liked the discussion of 'safe' and 'dangerous' music, and I very much liked the final chapter on the evolutionary origins of music. An important book."
Oliver Sacks, M.D.
Review
"[Levitin] argues...that music plays a role in evolution....[T]his book extends the appreciation of music as neural training." Library Journal
Review
"Levitin makes the science of music readily understandable to the non-scientist and non-musician alike." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"[Levitin's] book introduces the inner workings of the brain insofar as scientists understand it and affords a good first look at the subject for armchair psychologists and neuroscientists." Booklist
Review
"Although Levitin's narrative grasp may be shaky, the arc of his transformation from musician to scientist grounds his thinking and guides his treatise to a satisfying conclusion." Los Angeles Times
Review
"Setting jargon aside in favor of everyday terminology, [Levitin] gives readers enough background to understand what to listen for in music and to connect what they hear to his science." Seattle Times
Review
"Levitin makes a strong case....He also has a warm, modest and compassionate voice, and his little asides of music trivia and nerdy jokes are more like sprinkles of sugar than spoonfuls, but they help just the same." San Diego Union-Tribune
Synopsis
Neuroscientist and professional musician Daniel Levitin presents a fascinating exploration of the relationship between music and the mind and the role of melodies in shaping our lives. Photos throughout.
Synopsis
In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between music--its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it--and the human brain. Taking on prominent thinkers who argue that music is nothing more than an evolutionary accident, Levitin poses that music is fundamental to our species, perhaps even more so than language. Drawing on the latest research and on musical examples ranging from Mozart to Duke Ellington to Van Halen, he reveals:
- How composers produce some of the most pleasurable effects of listening to music by exploiting the way our brains make sense of the world
- Why we are so emotionally attached to the music we listened to as teenagers, whether it was Fleetwood Mac, U2, or Dr. Dre
- That practice, rather than talent, is the driving force behind musical expertise
- How those insidious little jingles (called earworms) get stuck in our head
A Los Angeles Times Book Award finalist, This Is Your Brain on Music will attract readers of Oliver Sacks and David Byrne, as it is an unprecedented, eye-opening investigation into an obsession at the heart of human nature.
Synopsis
Whether you load your iPod with Bach or Bono, music has a significant role in your life even if you never realized it. Why does music evoke such powerful moods? The answers are at last becoming clear, thanks to revolutionary neuroscience and the emerging field of evolutionary psychology. Both a cutting-edge study and a tribute to the beauty of music itself,
This Is Your Brain on Music unravels a host of mysteries that affect everything from pop culture to our understanding of human nature, including:
- Are our musical preferences shaped in utero?
- Is there a cutoff point for acquiring new tastes in music?
- What do PET scans and MRIs reveal about the brain's response to music?
- Is musical pleasure different from other kinds of pleasure?
This Is Your Brain on Music explores cultures in which singing is considered an essential human function, patients who have a rare disorder that prevents them from making sense of music, and scientists studying why two people may not have the same definition of pitch. At every turn, this provocative work unlocks deep secrets about how nature and nurture forge a uniquely human obsession.
About the Author
Daniel J. Levitin runs the Levitin Laboratory for Musical Perception, Cognition, and Expertise at McGill University, where he holds the Bell Chair in the Psychology of Electronic Communications. Before becoming a neuroscientist, he was a record producer with gold records to his credit and professional musician. He has published extensively in scientific journals and music trade magazines such as Grammy and Billboard.
Table of Contents
This Is Your Brain On Music Introduction
I Love Music and I Love Scienceand#151;Why Would I Want to Mix the Two?
1. What Is Music?
From Pitch to Timbre
2. Foot Tapping
Discerning Rhythm, Loudness, and Harmony
3. Behind the Curtain
Music and the Mind Machine
4. Anticipation
What We Expect from Liszt (and Ludacris)
5. You Know My Name, Look Up the Number
How We Categorize Music
6. After Dessert, Crick Was Still Four Seats Away from Me
Music, Emotion, and the Reptilian Brain
7. What Makes a Musician?
Expertise Dissected
8. My Favorite Things
Why Do We Like the Music We Like?
9. The Music Instinct
Evolution's #1 Hit
Appendices
Bibliographic Notes
Acknowledgments
Index