I listen to music every day and according to Daniel J. Levitin, a neuroscientist, that just might be keeping me sane and healthy. Levitin takes the reader on a guided tour of the current research into the effects music has on our health. Along the way, Levitin explains how our brains work and what we can do to keep our brains in tip-top condition.
In reading I Heard There Was a Secret Chord I learned how music can contribute to the treatment of a host of ailments, from neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, to cognitive injury, depression, and pain.
Listening to music activates certain areas of the brain, and the aim is to use that increased stimulation to help areas that have been damaged by illness or are malfunctioning to produce depression or other mental problems.
I found I Heard There Was a Secret Chord fascinating! If you want to learn more about how music can improve your health and your Life, this is the book to read. What kinds of music do you like to listen to? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
A musical species — 1
If I only had a brain : the neuroanatomy of music — 15
Oh, the shark bites : musical memory — 36
Look at me now : attention — 60
Daydream believer : the brain’s “default mode,” introspection, and meditation — 77
Interlude — 95
Music, movement, and movement disorders — 102
Parkinson’s disease — 126
Trauma — 139
Mental health — 156
Memory loss, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and stroke — 168
Pain — 187
Neurodevelopmental disorders — 200
Learning how to fly — 227
Music in everyday life — 250
Fate knocking on your door : précis to a theory of musical meaning — 276
Music medicine, mystery, and possibility — 317
Acknowledgements — 325
Appendix: Types of Music Therapy — 331
Glossary — 335
Notes — 344
Index — 384
I’m a great believer in the healing power of music and its ability to make one’s life better. However, I cannot find myself to appreciate much modern pop music. As with many other people, I find that, as I get older, I appreciate more then music of my youth, as well as the music of my parents.
My idea of Hell is a long corridor in which you have to keep moving forward. At the end of the corridor there are two doors, one marked “Gangster
Rap,’ and other “Heavy Metal.” Brrrr!
Jerry, I’m with you on contemporary music. Much of it is empty, vacuous, and unlistenable.
Never assume that Lester Lanin’s Orchestra, Neil Sedaka, the Guess Who, the Bee Gees, Rick Dees, Survivor, Nicolette Larson, Meat Loaf, nor Beyoncé Knowles represent the epitome of pop music of then nor now…there’s no lack of bubblegum offered at any point in pop music…
Music is an integral part of my life and I’m always listening to it in one form or another. If I’m reading, I prefer something classical and/or instrumental (I don’t like to be distracted by lyrics while I’m reading); if I’m driving or doing chores, I like upbeat/uptempo music—generally the disco & new wave of my younger days or EDM of the current era. Right now I’m listening to lots of Christmas music: old standards, newer things, plus Christmas hymns & carols. As The Beach Boys sang, “Add some music to your day.”
Deb, I’m listening to Christmas music, too. I found a bunch of Christmas CDs that I forgot I owned. They haven’t been played in years so I’m catching up!
Now I never listen to music. I listen to podcasts, which are not the same thing at all. I can’t read and listen to anything. Did he give suggestions for music that was especially helpful.
Patti, Levitin writes that the music we grew up with and loved can be very powerful.
For what it’s worth in supporting his point, I can remember obscure TV theme songs from 60+ years ago, after more important things have long since slipped away..
Fred, who can forget the theme songs to BONANZA, PETER GUNN, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., BARETTA, and STARSKY & HUTCH!
Sing along with me, Fred: “Sugarfoot, Sugarfoot, easy ropin’, cattle lopin’ Sugarfoot, Carefree as the tumbleweeds, ajoggin’ along with a heart full of song And a rifle and a volume of the law. Sugarfoot, Sugarfoot, never underestimate a Sugarfoot, Once you get his dander up, ain’t no one who’s quicker on the draw. You’ll find him on the side of law and order, From the Mexicali border to the hills of Arkansaw. Sugarfoot, Sugarfoot, easy lopin’, cattle ropin’ Sugarfoot, Ridin’ down to cattle town, ajopggin’ along with a heartful of song And a rifle and a volume of the law.”
Nice one, Jerry. How about:
There’s a holdup in The Bronx, Brooklyn’s broken out in fights.
There’s a traffic jam in Harlem that’s backed up to Jackson Heights.
There’s a scoot troop short a child,
Khruschev’s due at Idlewild,
Car 54, where are you?
Jerry, I remember running home to watch SUGARFOOT!
Jeff, how many of today’s young whippersnappers even know what Idleiwld was?
Well, Jerry, would today’s whippersnappers even know what Reagan National once was, and why would most of them should know? Or Cape Kennedy? (though Cape MusK should not be allowed to happen).
Hey, Fred, I remember the lyrics to the “My Mother The Car” theme song!
Yes, we listen to music daily. Now that we have Sirius in the car, we listen to 60s Gold, 50s Gold, Margaritaville, The Bridge, 70s Gold, the Smokey Robinson channel, The Beatles, Garage Bands, Classic LPs, but mostly the first two. In Florida, we also add Scott Shannon’s True Oldies Channel.
In the house we listen to CDs almost every day. Mostly 60s and 50s, but also a lot of Broadway musicals, some raggae, plenty of soul & R&B, occasional country (still love Hank Williams and Patsy Cline), and occasionally mix in Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, etc. I used to listen to classical, but not lately.
Jeff, it will come as no surprise that I listen to a lot compilation CDs. But, right now, I’m listening to forgotten Christmas CDs that I unearthed last week.
I only listen to Christmas music when I am a captive audience in restaurants or stores. And why are half of all Christmas songs remakes? And not even remakes of good songs, but crap songs I disliked in the first place. I always disliked “Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas” and I certainly didn’t need to hear a new version. Or, alternatively, if there is a great song, spare me your lame remake.
And get off my lawn!
Jeff may sound grumpy, but I bet he wants a hippopotamus for Christmas!
Jerry, or that Reindeer that ran over Grandma!
I read somewhere (don’t remember exactly) that psychologists found out that your taste in music/your develoment stops when you’re around thiry years old.
So it’s logical for us older ones that we listen to the sound of the 60s eg.
Wolf, you might be right! I spend a lot of time listening to music from the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties!
I tend to reach further back and forward, Wolf. I definitely agree with wishing, as Jerry does, Joan Armatradiing a happy birthday…
And poet Nikki Giovanni just died. Alas.
Another one of those books that only you seem to read, George!
Bob, I am a man with varied tastes.