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Title: Music and the Mind by Anthony Storr ISBN: 0-345-38318-4 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 19 October, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: The Muse of Music
Comment: The author is an acclaimed psychiatrist whose personal life was very sad and lonely; he attributed his passion for music as the element which preserved his sanity and emotional equilibrium. Out of the many books he wrote, this was his favorite. He attempts to discover what it is about music that so profoundly affects us, and why it is such an important part of our culture. In doing so, he quotes a vast array of opinions; actually he draws more from what other peole have had to say about music than his own personal opinion.
Storr sees music as subjective, emotional need for communication with other human beings; it structures time and brings order out of chaos, and it has a positive effect upon patients with neurological diseases. Physiologically, the emotional response is centered in the right hemisphere whilst the ability to appreciate structure and make critical judgments is located on the left side of the brain. He is of the opinion that music originates from the human brain rather than from the natural world and its universality depends on the urge to impose order upon our experience. He criticizes the dispute between formalists and expressionists since for him it is obvious that appreciation of both form and emotional significance enter into the experience of every listener and cannot be separated. Contrary to Freud's opinion, Storr holds that music is not an escape from reality but a means to structure our auditory perceptions and can also serve as a precursor to creative discovery.
The last few chapters are dedicated to a philosophical analysis of the views held mainly by Schopenhauer, Jung, Nietszche with respect to music. Storr does not fully accept Schopenhauer's "unus mundus" or Jung's "pleroma," and is more inclined to accept Nietszche's concepts: music reconciles an individual to life and enhances it, it is physically and emotionally based, and it links the two principles of Apollo and Dionysus.
Storr gives a historical, psychological, philosophical, and above all a passionate account of importance of music in the life of an individual. Quoting his own words, music is "something for the sake of which it is worthwhile to live on earth... it is an irreplaceable, transcendental blessing."
Rating: 1
Summary: An "artsy" book of little interest.
Comment: The jacket and reviews of this book claim that it is written by a psychologist. This is wrong, it is written by a psychiatrist, with all the difference once expects between the two professions.
I bought this book hoping for a scientific discussion of how music influences us, for example things like: the influence of music of different types on animals, the reactions of children to different types of music, what MRI and PET scans tells us about the effect of music on the brain,
differences in music across cultures; stuff like that.
What I got was a text in the worst traditions of Freud and Jung, a rambling collection of fragments and observations from the writings of Western Civ over the last two thousand years and presumed to be true simply because their language is resonant and evocative. This is doubtless of interest to some people, but is of very little interest to me.
To people like myself, interested in what is actually known about music and the mind, rather than interested in simply reading a hundred different ways in which people have essentially said the same thing "Music has a profound and mysterious effect on the mind", this book is a complete waste of time and money. I cannot warn you strongly enough that it will do nothing but disappoint you.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Tao of Music
Comment: Storr synthesizes his knowledge of biology, psychology, history and evolution and fuses it into a mindful musical journey. This is a thought provoking and comprehensive integration of music and the human psyche, and like many of Storr's books, it enhances your self awareness with each chapter.
Whether, stimulating & arousing or relaxing & calming, music has enormous emotional power. Storr has written an eloquent treatise on how music serves as one of the bridges connecting mind and body.
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Title: Music, The Brain, And Ecstasy : How Music Captures Our Imagination by R Jourdain ISBN: 038078209X Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 March, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Solitude: A Return to the Self by Anthony Storr ISBN: 0345358473 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 06 May, 1989 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Emotion and Meaning in Music by Leonard B. Meyer ISBN: 0226521397 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: June, 1961 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Music with the Brain in Mind by Eric Jensen ISBN: 1890460060 Publisher: Brain Store Inc Pub. Date: 01 July, 2000 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Tao of Music: Sound Psychology by John M. Ortiz ISBN: 1578630088 Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser Pub. Date: October, 1997 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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