At the very top of my short list of "things I love" are photography, movies and music. And my top 3 areas of study are theology, psychology and the the brain. I wondered how exciting it might be to study two of my favorite topics combined. After all there is an abundance of psychological studies of movies, though I have yet to find a book regarding the theology of photography. I did however come across "This is Your Brain on Music". Fascinated by the idea, I gave it a try.
The author, Daniel J Levitin, explains how our brains perceive music. A former musician and producer of rock bands in the 1970s and 80s, Levitin now does research as a cognitive psychologist and neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. However, his musical background creates the foundation for his writing and he commonly refers to examples such as Sting, The Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder to keep the reader grounded in references they can understand. The audio book may have a slight edge by playing sound bites of songs to illustrate his points.
Every culture throughout human history has had some type of musical expression. Levitin explores the importance of music to our health, happiness and humanities procreation. Yep, how music may be used in procreation and why guys want to be rockstars.
This was a cool experience for a little diversification in my reading. If you want music theory for the laypeople, this is your read. Enjoy.
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