Berklee Today, Berklee’s Alumni Magazine, just published a feature story by Julie Pampinella on Children’s Music.
Check it out here.
Brains on Music
Jun
10
A little late to the table, but I am happy to report that I just read “This is Your Brain on Music” by Dr. Daniel Levitin. Indeed, it was time well spent!
Dr. Daniel Levitin’s book is a wonderful tapestry of history, culture, science, psychology, all woven together under the theme of music and how our brain responds to and processes it!
Unfortunately, for the musically trained, a good portion of the book is devoted to explanations of basic musical elements including pitch, harmony, rhythm, and more. The reason Dr. Levitin took this approach is clear: the book was written for the lay person who does not have a working knowledge of such musical elements. That said, musicians should be prepared to skip large passages of the book devoted to such explanations.
The scientific elements were also made accessible to the scientifically untrained. I am a newbie in this realm and found Dr. Levitin’s explanations and analogies to be extremely pragmatic and clear.
Highly recommended.
