The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It by Philip Ball

The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It



Download The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It




The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It Philip Ball
Language: English
Page: 463
Format: pdf
ISBN: 0199754276, 9780199754274
Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr

From

This book basically concerns itself with music theory—pitch, timbre, melody, harmony, rhythm, musical styles—with the added boost of exploring music’s effect on its listeners, which at times can be as joyless as the deconstruction of humor. Still, Ball draws on enough current musical theory and cites enough good musical examples, across time and national borders, to offer engaging ideas: for example, that there is a deep syntax to music, that we listeners are far more musical than we ever knew (and in more complex ways), that context is essential in determining how we hear music, which explains why a listener from one country might not respond immediately to the music of another. The result is a book that could expand not only readers’ thinking about music’s effects but also their enjoyment and appreciation of music beyond their usual comfort zone. A helpful Web site of music samples is promised. --Alan Moores

Review

"Ball is to be applauded for the range and aptness of the musical examples he does choose - from Albinoni to Led Zeppelin, Bach to The Sound of Music - as well as for his attention to musics outside western traditions. ... the book is impressively engaging for one so dense with detail and argument....fascinating." --The Guardian

"Using plentiful examples drawn from a refreshingly wide range of different kinds of music, from Bach to the Beatles, and from nursery rhymes to jazz. If you can read music, you will find yourself humming aloud to see what he means. If you can't....Mr Ball's facility for conveying complex facts in simple language comes to the rescue." --The Economist

"One the finest and most versatile of current nonfiction writers.... I defy anyone to read this book without coming away better informed about why music affects us in such a profound way...His passion for music is evident on every page, and his enthusiasms (whether for gamelan or Glenn Gould) are infectious. Most powerful is his message that music is a part of the chaos and splendour of human life itself." --The Sunday Times

"One of his great strengths, besides the breadth and solidity of his knowledge, is his consistent refusal to turn intriguing but incomplete evidence into glib take-home stories. Instead, he is meticulous in his attention to both the details and the limits on what they can tell us at present." --The Independent

"Fact-rich, gracefully written, and deeply insightful: Philip Ball's The Music Instinct is the best compendium on the creation and experience of music so far available. Rare is the writer who can describe the aesthetic pleasures of music in a way that connects it with the best that psychology and brain science can offer to musical understanding. Ball's achievement is altogether remarkable." --Denis Dutton, author of The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution

"Provides easily the best evaluation of the field to date...An important landmark." --Diana Deutsch, Professor of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, and Founding President, Society for Music Perception and Cognition

"By focusing on the intersection of music theory and cognition rather than neuroscience...Philip Ball fills a niche. The Music Instinct does a great job of explaining rhythm, pitch and timbre and how they combine to make compositions that capture our attention and emotions...The Music Instinct offers an expansive and high-level overview of a complex field. Ball is both an enthusiastic writer about music and a passionate listener engaged with its emotional meaning as much as with its intellectual puzzles--an Aristoxenus for his time." --Daniel J. Levitin, Nature

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