Has Anyone Read "This Is Your Brain on Music"

[RedIbis]

"This Is Your Brain on Music" is a wonderful look at the brain/mind response to music. Dr. Daniel Levitin has a very accessible and not overly technical look at why and how we respond to music.

As a musician, I've found his analyses invaluable, fascinating and very readable.

Has anyone else enjoyed this, as well?

 

[Bikewer]

I listened to the interview with him on Diane Rehm a few months ago, and put the book on my "must read" list. Haven't gotten to it yet, however.

 

[RedIbis]

It's a truly fascinating book. He explains why people today have such wide tastes in music, why we will listen to the Sex Pistols one day and Bach another. For the layman, it's a great introduction to the neurological response, the physics of sound, and even music theory.

 

[Overman]

I am in the middle of chapter 2, and have been there for a while, but am about to pick it up at a rapid pace (just finished two other books I was reading as well).

I'll let you know at the end!!

 

[orpheus]

I don't have the book on hand to cite references - I'll try to come back and post again when I do - so my apologies for that.

I really wanted to like this book. But I have to say that I didn't - for several reasons.

First, I found some surprisingly elementary mistakes about music. These were beyond typos - they were the kind of mistakes easily made by one who has a fairly sketchy and shallow knowledge of music history and theory.

Not being a neuroscientist, I can't speak to the accuracy of that side of the book. But the sloppiness of the musical side of things doesn't fill me with confidence.

Beyond this, I was disappointed that he didn't refer at all to some of the more serious work in this field. If I recall correctly, no mention was made of the work of Ray Jackendoff, Fred Lerdahl, Leonard Meyer, Suzanne Langer, or Marvin Minsky, to name a few.

All in all, I came away feeling that it was an enthusiastic but shallow and somewhat sloppy treatment of a fascinating subject.

 

[RedIbis]

I don't have the book on hand to cite references - I'll try to come back and post again when I do - so my apologies for that.

I really wanted to like this book. But I have to say that I didn't - for several reasons.

First, I found some surprisingly elementary mistakes about music. These were beyond typos - they were the kind of mistakes easily made by one who has a fairly sketchy and shallow knowledge of music history and theory.

Not being a neuroscientist, I can't speak to the accuracy of that side of the book. But the sloppiness of the musical side of things doesn't fill me with confidence.

Beyond this, I was disappointed that he didn't refer at all to some of the more serious work in this field. If I recall correctly, no mention was made of the work of Ray Jackendoff, Fred Lerdahl, Leonard Meyer, Suzanne Langer, or Marvin Minsky, to name a few.

All in all, I came away feeling that it was an enthusiastic but shallow and somewhat sloppy treatment of a fascinating subject.

Can you be specific what elementary mistakes were made about music and music theory?

 

[calebprime]

Just received it as a present. The accompanying note said "Just skip the first 70 pgs."--meaning the intro material.

Explaining difficult concepts that practitioners take for granted is tricky--simplify too much and you annoy the pros; simplify too little and lose the beginners...

 

[RedIbis]

Just received it as a present. The accompanying note said "Just skip the first 70 pgs."--meaning the intro material.

Explaining difficult concepts that practitioners take for granted is tricky--simplify too much and you annoy the pros; simplify too little and lose the beginners...

Well said. There are sections that get bogged down in the various schools of neurological theory (if that's even the proper term) but I don't see, as the poster earlier suggested, where he makes elementary mistakes in music theory.

I appreciate his descriptions of the brain's role in processing music both for the musician and the listener. I also appreciate the fact that he does not confine the discussion of music to the higher brow genres such as jazz or classical. He often makes his point with references to The Clash or Paul McCartney. He speaks poignantly about musicians as diverse as Ken Boothe and Jaco Pastorius.