This Is Your Brain on Music

A scientific exploration of the relationship between the mind and music draws on recent findings in the fields of neuroscience and evolutionary psychology to discuss such topics as the sources of musical tastes, the brain's discernible responses to music, and the cultural origins of musical senses.

Endlessly stimulating, a marvelous overview, and one which only a deeply musical neuroscientist could give....An important book.Oliver Sacks, M.D. I loved reading that listening to music coordinates more disparate parts of the brain than almost anything else - and playing music uses even more! Despite illuminating a lot of what goes on, this book doesn't 'spoil' enjoymentit only deepens the beautiful mystery that is music.David Byrne, founder of Talking Heads and author of How Music Works Levitin is a deft and patient explainer of the basics for the non-scientist as well as the non-musician....By tracing music's deep ties to memory, Levitin helps quantify some of music's magic without breaking its spell. Los Angeles Times Book Review Why human beings make and enjoy music is, in Levitin's telling, a delicious story.Salon.com Dr. Levitin is an unusually deft interpreter full of striking scientific trivia. The New York Times Every musician, at whatever level of skill, should read this book.Howie Klein, former president, Sire and Reprise/Warner Brothers Records Levitin's lucid explanation of why music is important to us is essential reading for creative musicians and scholars. I've been waiting for years for a book like this.Jon Appleton, composer and professor of Music, Dartmouth College and Stanford University, inventor of the Synclavier synthesizer Informationen zum Autor Daniel J. Levitin Klappentext 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. In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between musicits performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy itand 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. Inhaltsverzeichnis ...

Autorentext

Daniel J. Levitin

Klappentext

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.

Inhalt
This Is Your Brain On MusicIntroduction
I Love Music and I Love Science—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