In a visual culture, hearing is the second sense, and music is the art
of hearing. Kandinsky believed that music transcended painting and
visual representation because it had the power to act directly and
invisibly on the human spirit. Because it is the only art to deal
unequivocally with the real world of sound and its attendant perceptions
of time, motion, and human mortality, music remains a powerful and often
controversial influence on human behavior. Defining music in the
broadest sense as 'any acoustic activity intended to influence the
behavior of others', and written in a clear, conversational style for a
non-specialist readership, The Second Sense draws on over 100 examples
of recorded musical sources from throat singing to Beethoven, and from
traditional Japan to Boulez, including a great many popular classics. On
the basis that 'Everything you hear is true: true of yourself, true of
the music, and true of the relationship between what you hear and how
you hear it' the author teases out the signs, symbols, and patterns of
thought that arise from the way people hear, the sounds people make, and
the instruments and environments that are designed and constructed to
enhance the listening experience. Maconie aims to do for music what Klee
and Kandinsky did for art education and Marshall McLuhan for media
studies.
