This Is Your Brain On Music by Levitin, Daniel J.;

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'Endlessly stimulating' Oliver Sacks

'Daniel Levitin is a one-time record producer who now works as a neuroscientist. No one could have better qualifications to write a book exploring how the human brain perceives music, and how composers exploit our instinctive reaction to musical material to beguile and challenge us... He writes with catchy enthusiasm and has a knack of couching complex ideas in user-friendly language. The book begins with Levitin deconstructing the fabric of sound itself, asking questions about why our ears find some harmonies beautiful and other grating, and there's a whole chapter about why we tap our feet in time. He opens our brain up to analysis, suggesting that many of our responses to music are formed while we're still in the womb. The chapter entitled 'What makes a musician?' explores what's inherent in the little grey cells to make a musical genius - and the bad news is you either got it or you ain't. Drawing on examples from Bach, Beethoven and Mozart to Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis and Johnny Cash, this book is a delightfully informative read. I guarantee, you'll never hear music in the same way again.' Philip Clark, Classic FM Magazine

Fluent and readable... Levitin rightly insists that we are all better equipped to perform and appreciate music than we think, so conditioned are we to believe in music as the preserve of an elite. We are, he says, hard-wired for music. You might think that even the basic mechanics of music are beyond you, but Levitin will calmly guide you through all you need to know before explaining the cognitive processes our brains undergo when the music begins... Now we know what we have long suspected: great music, Shakespeare's 'food of love', affects the same part of our brain that helps us interpret shattering grief or overwhelming joy - so listen with care.' Stephen Pritchard, Observer

'Music seems to have an almost willful, evasive quality, defying simple explanation, so that the more we find out, the more there is to know... Daniel Levitin's book is an eloquent and poetic exploration of this paradox.' Sting

L8.99

www.groveatlantic.co.uk

To hear the music featured in this book visit www.YourBrainOnMusic.com

978 1 84354 716 7