What makes a distant oboe's wail beautiful? Why do some kinds of music
lift us to ecstasy, but not others? How can music make sense to an ear
and brain evolved for detecting the approaching lion or tracking the
unsuspecting gazelle? Lyrically interweaving discoveries from science,
psychology, music theory, paleontology, and philosophy, Robert Jourdian
brilliantly examines why music speaks to us in ways that words cannot,
and why we form such powerful connections to it. In clear,
understandable language, Jourdian expertly guides the reader through a
continuum of musical experience: sound, tone, melody, harmony, rhythm,
composition, performance, listening, understanding--and finally to
ecstasy. Along the way, a fascinating cast of characters brings
Jourdian's narrative to vivid life: "idiots savants" who absorb whole
pieces on a single hearing, composers who hallucinate entire
compositions, a psychic who claims to take dictation from long-dead
composers, and victims of brain damage who can move only when they hear
music. Here is a book that will entertain, inform, and stimulate
everyone who loves music--and make them think about their favorite song
in startling new ways.What makes a distant oboes wail beautiful? Why do
some kinds of music lift us to ecstasy, but not others? How can music
make sense to an ear and brain evolved for detecting the approaching
lion or tracking the unsuspecting gazelle? Lyrically interweaving
discoveries from science, psychology, music theory, paleontology, and
philosophy, Robert Jourdian brilliantly examines why music speaks to us
in ways that words cannot, and why we form such powerful connections to
it.
In clear, understandable language, Jourdian expertly guides the reader
through a continuum of musical experience: sound, tone, melody, harmony,
rhythm, composition, performance, listening, understanding--and finally
to ecstasy. Along the way, a fascinating cast of characters brings
Jourdians narrative to vivid life: idiots savants who absorb whole
pieces on a single hearing, composers who hallucinate entire
compositions, a psychic who claims to take dictation from long-dead
composers, and victims of brain damage who can move only when they hear
music. Here is a book that will entertain, inform, and stimulate
everyone who loves music--and make them think about their favorite song
in startling new ways.
