This Is Your Brain On Music

[eXcessive]

I picked up a book about a week ago called This Is Your Brain On Music by Daniel. J Levitin. The author is a neuroscientist (and a musician, of course) and he explains in complete depth how your brain processes and absorbs music. He also breaks down the process of music itself and explains most there is to know about pitch, harmony, timbre etc. It's definitely a must-read for any musician, no matter how good you are/think you are at any instrument.

After I read it, I seriously think I am more 'in-tune' with my music, when creating it or just listening to it. Great book.

edit: want to add, it's not an entire book of jargon and terminology. it is a lot of facts, however he does a very good job at making complex musical subjects easy to soak up.

[Lefazz]

Am I the only one out there that doesn't really listen to much music? Sure, I have a few favorites I listen to once in a while. But quite honestly I never really understood what seems like an obsession over music that most people have.

[Menoz]

Originally Posted by Lefazz

Am I the only one out there that doesn't really listen to much music? Sure, I have a few favorites I listen to once in a while. But quite honestly I never really understood what seems like an obsession over music that most people have.

You simply haven't found the right music yet. Once you find the music you love, it becomes an obsession.

[Lowk]

/page hamncheese

[niteflyx]

Originally Posted by Lefazz

Am I the only one out there that doesn't really listen to much music? Sure, I have a few favorites I listen to once in a while. But quite honestly I never really understood what seems like an obsession over music that most people have.

Everyone has a different art. I can get completely lost in music and analyze it, love it, absorb it, play it, but at the same time I only have a surface level appreciation for things like movies, which is the complete opposite of my roommate.

Sounds like a good book to check out though, neuroscience always interested me, and neuromusic sounds right up my ally.

[Opulis]

I don't think Ham can come to the rescue with any information. Not like anything anyone could say will suddenly make Lefazz listen to more music.

[Korbal]

Doesn't anyone else not want to know why they like the music they like? For example I'd much rather be appreciating the beauty and wonder of the music than be thinking about shit 'like man than was a sweet G sharp, it really made my left neural-responder fire a lot!' I don't know if I'm explaining myself properly (I seldom do)

[Malice]

Originally Posted by Korbal

Doesn't anyone else not want to know why they like the music they like? For example I'd much rather be appreciating the beauty and wonder of the music than be thinking about shit 'like man than was a sweet G sharp, it really made my left neural-responder fire a lot!' I don't know if I'm explaining myself properly (I seldom do)

Ignorance is bliss. Depending on the person, defleshing some piece of art (music, writing, painting, whatever) can enchance one's appreciation of it.

For me it ruins it entirely. I like to leave the mystery in some things

[Salshun]

Originally Posted by Menoz

You simply haven't found the right music yet. Once you find the music you love, it becomes an obsession.

Agreed. Some songs just become...obsession. Music will always be my first love. I can list...a couple dozen songs where each one is a very specific, powerful memory. And the most flat out amazing thing is when you're thinking of something, or trying to remember something, and playing a song will be like going back. Their are songs where if they come on where I am, I have to leave. That's some crazy shit.

Lefazz, I can't say what you'll like, you just have to find it. When I first got the Aenima disk I remember thinking "This is it. Utterly flawless music. Every other artist should just listen to this and spend his career attempting to copy it."

You just have to find that music for yourself. Maybe this will help, my two "polar opposite" songs, the most melancholy vs. the one that will get me literally screaming and jumping in the car. For sad, "Something Corporate - Konstantine" or happy "Jimmy Eat World - Sweetness".

My 2 big "contant repeat" songs of the moment have been "Orestes" and "3 Libras"