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Product Details
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (December 9, 2013)
The author, Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, is a musicologist and cognitive psychologist who uses brain imaging technology in her research on what makes music so special compared to speech or textual reading. Her observation that music and repetition are integrally linked and are biologically rooted is the chief focus of this academic, nearly encyclopedic book, as she also tackles repetition in other aspects of our lives as well, such as daily routines of hygiene, grooming, and morning coffee, various religious practices, and learning, including television advertising. She also mentions pathological repetitions, as in obsessive-compulsive disorder and autism.
The structure of music itself involves repetition, from the simple verse and refrain to pulsing minimalism, with rondos and fugues on the way. Repetition in speech, on the other hand, can become ineffective and boring, unless in oratory and propaganda, cadences and phrasing become musical. Composer Steve Reich even used repeated speech patterns to some of his music. Military drill commands are more effective in delivery and being heard if sung instead of shouted. Perhaps the most interesting and accessible chapter concerns our common experience of listening three times to novel music (or reading three times a complex novel) before able to judge its merits fairly. [See comment for elaboration and examples.] A characteristic of childhood is the need for verbatim repetition of stories, while adulthood prefers gist rephrasing and summations. Also presented are repetiton in trancing, in performances, in standardization of music via recordings, and data from experiments and imaging.
This book is difficult reading, since it is scholarly and assumes some familiarity with classical musicology and even brain anatomy.Read more ›
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You really didn't need to see that sentence written more than once. But when it comes to music, repetition occurs at all levels and is necessary. This book showed me just how much, and why.
Rigorous and engaging, On Repeat draws from many disciplines (music cognition, music theory, neuroscience, linguistics, musicology) to shine a welcome light on hitherto elusive truths about how repetition in music works to "play the mind".
After reading this, I'll never listen to a piece of music quite the same way again. (In fact, as Margulis showed me, I never could have done anyway).
If you're interesting in understanding how music (all kinds) works, you need this book.
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Written in an engaging style, Dr. Margulis’ book offers surprising insights into repetition as a fundamental feature of music. Drawing on diverse examples from across musical genres, the book is at once a well-researched text at the forefront of its field and an accessible answer to some of the music world’s most intriguing questions. The text is artfully woven with examples of common musical experiences (melodies getting stuck in our heads, or why we get tired of a song after listening to it too many times) interspersed with descriptions of clever experiments designed to help explain why these occur. The book underpins a most basic human experience with a multidisciplinary scientific approach that is a joy to read.
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quite wordy and little meaty exposition. I was a professional musician at on time and also have an MA in psychology as well as being a retired psychiatrist.
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Written like an academic textbook. I strongly recommend anyone interested in buying this to use the look inside feature and read just a few pages, to see the writing style. Very hard to get through.
The author's interview on NPR was much more enjoyable and useful than the book was.
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