I listen to music every day and according to neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin that is a Good Thing. Music affects the brain in many positive ways.
In The World in Six Songs uses a series of songs as platforms for Levitin to present research findings. In This is Your Brain on Music, Levitin takes a more technical approach to music showing how it works by analyzing pitch, timbre, rhythm, loudness, and harmony.
Humans evolved over time with increasing musical awareness. Levitin terms this a survival trait. My favorite chapter in This is Your Brain on Music is Chapter 8: “My Favorite Things: Why Do We Like the Music We Like?”
I learned a lot from both of Daniel J. Levitin’s books. If you love music as much as I do, you’ll enjoy all the knowledge in these two volumes. How often do you listen to music? What kind? GRADE: A (for both books)
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Taking It from the Top or “The Hills Are Alive . . .” — 1
Music and poetry. The two uniquely human components of the music brain.
Chapter 2: Friendship or “War (What Is It Good For)?” — 41
Social bonding, synchronous coordinated movement, the evolution of emotional bonding, protest music for group cohesion.
Chapter 3: Joy or “Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut” — 83
The first song. Neurochemical effects of music and music therapy.
Chapter 4: Comfort or “Before There Was Prozac, There Was You” — 111
Why we listen to sad music when we’re sad. Lullabyes and the blues. (And a short story about depressed restaurant workers pushed to the edge by a happy song.)
Chapter 5: Knowledge or “I Need to Know” — 137
Music as an information-bearing medium. Learning, memory, and oral histories.
Chapter 6: Religion or “People Get Ready” — 189
The role of music and ritual in creating order, reducing ambiguity, and commemorating important times and events.
Chapter 7: Love or “Bring ‘Em All In” — 229
The sense of hearing and the prefrontal cortex. Tools, musical instruments, and shaping the environment. The evolution of social structure.
Notes –291
Acknowledgments — 331
Index — 333
Table of Contents:
This Is Your Brain On Music
Introduction
I Love Music and I Love Science—Why Would I Want to Mix the Two? — 1
1. What Is Music?
From Pitch to Timbre — 13
2. Foot Tapping
Discerning Rhythm, Loudness, and Harmony — 55
3. Behind the Curtain
Music and the Mind Machine — 81
4. Anticipation
What We Expect from Liszt (and Ludacris) — 109
5. You Know My Name, Look Up the Number
How We Categorize Music — 129
6. After Dessert, Crick Was Still Four Seats Away from Me
Music, Emotion, and the Reptilian Brain — 165
7. What Makes a Musician?
Expertise Dissected — 189
8. My Favorite Things
Why Do We Like the Music We Like? — 217
9. The Music Instinct
Evolution’s #1 Hit. — 241
Appendices — 263
Bibliographic Notes — 271
Acknowledgments — 301
Index — 303
In re: your final questions, I don’t listen to enough music of late, and when I do it ranges with my eclectic tastes in music. I haven’t been to a live concert in a couple of years, and far too rarely in recent years before that. Still will pick up DOWNBEAT and JAZZTIMES magazines when I see them.
Having missed BROKEN FLOWERS the film until recently, I rather enjoyed listening to the soundtrack it features: https://youtu.be/paseuiP5xn0
Also finally saw enough of the well-cast but ungreat, no-budget 1959/61 film THE DEViL’S HAND, with this rather good exercise in rockabilly and New Orleans piano profession as its theme: https://youtu.be/QCgWcN6DvbA.
A friend wondered that that would ever serve as a horror-film theme…I noted to her how sinister some still thought of minor-key rock at the turn of the ’60s…
Todd, you give good music advice!
In re: your final questions, I don’t listen to enough music of late, and when I do it ranges with my eclectic tastes in music. I haven’t been to a live concert in a couple of years, and far too rarely in recent years before that. Still will pick up DOWNBEAT and JAZZTIMES magazines when I see them.
Having missed BROKEN FLOWERS the film until recently, I rather enjoyed listening to the soundtrack it features: https://youtu.be/paseuiP5xn0
Oops…to get the playlist assembly, you need this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paseuiP5xn0&list=PLHrPP0rObViqzauI3czuaonHaFTokm7i4
Todd, thanks for the link!
You’re quite welcome. The redundancy of posting comes when I forget that any post with two links in it will be held for approval.
Also finally saw enough of the well-cast but ungreat, no-budget 1959/61 film THE DEViL’S HAND, with this rather good exercise in rockabilly and New Orleans piano profession as its theme: https://youtu.be/QCgWcN6DvbA.
A friend wondered that that would ever serve as a horror-film theme…I noted to her how sinister some still thought of minor-key rock at the turn of the ’60s…
“What We Expect from Liszt (and Ludacris)”…it’s too easy, but not much, in either case.
Music is a central element of my life and I’m listening to something almost all of my non-working hours. In the car, I usually like EDM (which, as I’ve previously asserted, is the natural progression and combination of my two favorite types of music: 1970s Disco and 1980s New Wave). In the house I usually put on my Bluetooth headphones to avoid disturbing anyone. When I’m reading, I don’t like to be distracted by song lyrics, so I generally pick some mid-century jazz or some more recent “spa”-type music. But when I’m cooking or cleaning, I’m listening to my “Mom Rockin’ Out” playlist on Spotify: everything from Badfinger’s “Rock of Ages” to Quad City DJs’ “C’mon and Ride It” to Bohannon’s “Dance Your Ass Off” and everything in between. Love it!
Deb, I love various styles of music, too. I listen to Sirius/XM Radio when I’m driving around. When I’m working on the books in the basement, I listen to complete CDs. And, you know my attachment to compilation CDs!
I am wondering if the fact I listen to music so rarely has anything to do with having tinnitus. Or possibly it’s because any listening can result in earwigs. However, I listen to podcasts a lot of the day. Words seem to have more meaning to me than music. I cannot listen to any sort of music if reading. I will immediately get lost in the music and stop reading, The only place I regularly listened to music was in the car with Phil and now that venue is gone. I do enjoy going to a classical music concert though. Or almost any music live where I only listen and don’t try to combine it with reading.
Patti, as a kid, I used to listen to music while I did my homework. But as I grew older, I found that music became more distracting–even instrumental music–while I was reading or writing. So I mostly listen to music in my vehicle or when I’m sorting books in my basement. I can do physical work to music and that makes the tasks more enjoyable.
Low intellection physical work goes with music. Comedy as well.
Todd, we all need more comedy in our lives!
Music will even invade the “left-brain” kind of work that I would do in light accounting or the simplest sort of schedule creation/recreation at TV GUIDE. But such things are very good with podcasts and radio shows and similar performance and discussion.
I can listen to music while doing FFB lists. Hint to myself.
I listen to a lot of music. In the car it is Sirius. Usually tuned to Little Steven’s Underground Garage or First Wave or Early Alternative stations. Sometimes at home I play Sirius but usually it’s CD’s. When I read, I try not to listen to music that distracts me, playing things like Pink Floyd or Mogwai instead. Other than Coltrane or Chet Baker I rarely listen to Jazz. Most of it just bores me. Just ordered a ten CD set of live Tom Waits from the 70’s.
Steve, Diana Krall sang a Tom Waits song in her recent concert. She’s recorded other Tom Waits songs on her CDs. Tom Waits is an underrated singer and song writer.
Tom Waits makes a significant appearance in Rickie Lee Jones’s recent autobiography, LAST CHANCE TEXICO. They were lovers, briefly, in the 1970s, but they’re still connected in the pop-culture mind decades later.
Deb, I’m ordering a copy of LAST CHANCE TEXICO right now! I’m a fan of Rickie Lee Jones and slowly becoming a fan of Tom Waits, too!
How often? Every day. What do we listen to? Rock & roll from about 1955-early ’80s Country (Hank Williams, Emmylou Harris, Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson). Blues. R & B. Broadway original cast albums. Occasionally other stuff.
As to Why Do We Like the Music We Like, my theory is constant repetition throughout our childhood and teen years. We heard some of these songs hundreds, if not thousands, of times. THey are familiar and bring us back to a time we remember.
Do I won anything?
Jeff, you won my respect and admiration! Only the other Jeff–Jeff Smith–rivals you in encyclopedic knowledge of music. I agree with your repetition theory. As a teenager, I listened to hours of pop music every day. That’s why I get a kick out of listening to compilation CDs that feature songs I haven’t heard in 60 years! Nostalgia…and a memory boost!
Or, even if it doesn’t ring a familiar bell itself, it Sounds like familiar music.
I’m still willing to be adventurous, though the blander forms of pop bore me now as they did then. It’s inevitable that few of the Grammy highlighted performers (though some, usually as we move away from pop) and SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE guests aren’t very interesting.
I suspect you might find a range of your frequent visitors can answer a range of musical questions, George.
Todd, the frequent visitors to my blog never fail to amaze me with their knowledge and insights. You’re right, many people who comment here know a lot about different genres of music!
I used to listen to music every day, but Barbara is not a music listener, so not I have to be in the right room with the right music available. I don’t drive much (pandemic, you see, so I started home mostly) so don’t listen in car. When I do listen, it’s almost always classical.
Rick, I tend to rotate my listening sessions. Some days classical, some days pop, some days disco, some days jazz. You get the idea.
It’s snowing this morning. The latest on record for Portland. Of course for the first time in a month I have to go out – for my booster shot.
Rick, we’re getting our Boosters next week. We got down to 32 degrees last night…but no snow. There was snow south of Buffalo in the hills.
I hate when it snows in April. It was freezing yesterday – 49 with 33 mph wind gusts – but is much nicer today. Mid-50s, sunny, no wind. And they are promising two days of 70 this week.
Had our boosters last week. Jackie noted that the woman had a very light touch and neither of us has a problem.
Jeff, several of our friends have tested positive for Covid-19 despite being vaccinated and Boosted. This Omicron BA.2 is very catchy!
Sounds like an interesting read. I’ll have to keep it in mind. Music is one of the great joys in my life and the thing that I indulged in heaviest during the worst of the pandemic while seemingly everyone else was watching TV.
I definitely have a saturation point with rock and pop and once I’ve heard an album or song enough, that’s it for me. There is very little such music, with a few exceptions, that I still listen to from my youth or even before I hit 40. I never tire of classical, jazz or film music although as I get older I do find myself taking short breaks from music several times a year just to clear my head. I can listen to music while reading although I tend to focus on the book so much I don’t really hear the music.
Byron, you’re right about classical music, jazz and film music never getting old. During the Pandemic I watched some TV, but I listen more to music.
Rap must be a sign of The Apocalypse! I was a big music listener as a teen and I have a lot of records, casettes, and CDs in the house, but I rarely listen anymore! Even in the car it’s usually talk radio! I don’t know why!
Bob, Talk Radio is inexpensive because basically the station is just paying the host. The listeners who call in provide the free entertainment. When a station plays music, they have to pay royalties.
Yes, George, I kmow all about royalties.