Customer Reviews

Music and the Mind

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Storr begins with the ambitious task of answering the following question: why does a minor scale sound sad and why does a major scale sound happy? He takes the reader on an informative and thought provoking history of that examines the elements of music common to all societies and ultimately reaches his final and most important conclusion on the ultimate benefit we derive from music: peace, resolution and piece of mind. Storr's ultimate claim is that counterpoint in music and resolution does musically what people so often cannot do in real life: resolve opposing and competing forces.

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."

Anthony Storr does a very good job describing the various facets of the complex interplay between music and mind. He points to the biological bases of it, explores the philosophical debates around it and gives acounts of basic music theory. He is a good writer and manages to engage the reader's interest through most of the book. That is very admirable considering the nature of the subject matter and the poor job often done by other writes venturing into similar subjects.

There are however some minor flaws. The connection between the biological foundations of music and western philosophy is a difficult and dubious one and Storr does not really manage to fuse them in a smooth and comprehensive way. They stand aloof and strange to each other. Another flaw is the fact that the book heavily, though not exclusively, draws on classical western music: an admitedly very peculiar and eurocentric kind of music. This leaves out much of the richness of other kinds of music e.x. jazz, folk music, religious music. It also makes his principal endeauvour, to connect music to the mind/body, more difficult. Classical music after all epitomizes the cerebral, distanced and controlled sort of musical apprehension in contrast to folk and popular music which is more expressive and ecstatic. Had he made the opposite methodological choice, folk before classical, he might have had more succes in making the connection between music to the mind/body.

Still the book is an excellent introduction to the topic.

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.

I did not know quite what to expect when i ordered this book. The only reason that i did so was because I needed to write my senior thesis and every applicable book at our library was gone. So, i opted just to buy this.

After about 6 or 7 pages into the book, i knew that i had found something golden. Mr. Storr writes in a way that makes the text incredibly informative, yet still engaging and understandable. While not every aspect of the novel is covered thoroughly, it still will give enough information on almost any topic that you could possibly require.

I highly recommend this book. It has opened my eyes to a world of philosophy that i hadn't even looked at until this time.

I'm sure that you will find this as indispensable as i do.

My husband is a music freak! I bought him this book and he couldn't put it down. I read several chapters myself and liked it very much although it was little too technical and detailed for me - a music buff will love it!

This book has some interest value - but does not really get to the point and heart of why music has such an impact on our minds. It is more of a long review of other peoples' writing on this topic - mostly psychologists, sometimes turgidly long. Read Oliver Sachs as well, and get nearer to the mark.

I used this book to help me write my senior thesis (rooted in music education). Very helpful reference book and has excellent research about music therapy and autism.

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.

Bitterly disappointed in this book.A little bit of knowledge on music can be a dangerous thing and this rambling patchwork quilt of fragments is a pretty dismal affair.There are a handful of people who write well on music (a difficult thing to do)and i'd direct people to the likes of Charles Rosen (serious)and Norman Lebrecht(populist)