Music, the brain, and ecstasy: how music captures our imagination

Front Cover
William Morrow and Company, 1997 - Music - 377 pages
28 Reviews
Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy is a far-reaching study of how music captivates us so completely and why we form such powerful connections to it. Leading us to an understanding of the pleasures of sound, Robert Jourdain draws on a variety of fields including science, psychology, and philosophy. He uses music from around the world to show how melodies work, how rhythm differs from beat, and why some sounds are beautiful and others ugly. Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy looks at the evolution of music and introduces surprising new concepts of memory and perception, knowledge and attention, motion and emotion, all at work as music takes hold of us. Along the way, a fascinating cast of characters brings Jourdain's narrative to vivid life: "idiots savants" who absorb whole pieces on a single hearing, composers who hallucinate entire compositions, a psychic who claimed to take dictation from long-dead composers, and victims of brain damage who can move only when they hear music. In each of these, Jourdain assures us, we will see parts of ourselves. Using such examples, he helps explain the parallels between music and language, and asks how the brain reacts to each.

From inside the book

What people are saying - Write a review

User ratings

5 stars
4 stars
3 stars
2 stars
1 star

Review: Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy: How Music Captures Our Imagination

User Review  - Dave Peticolas - Goodreads

This was a gift from my friends Amy & Keith Wiley, and it turned out to be a wonderful present. Using evolutionary theory, physics, biology, neurology, psychology, and philosophy, Jourdain explores ... Read full review


User Review  - Kameel Nasr - Goodreads

This was one of the first books about the now popular science of music enriching our lives. Jourdain uses real information to define the field. It is clear that he is a musician. Read full review


to tone
to melody
to harmony

8 other sections not shown

Common terms and phrases

About the author (1997)

Robert Jourdain ist Wissenschaftler, Wissenschaftsjournalist, Pianist und Komponist. Er lebt in Kalifornien und hat bereits sechs BA1/4cher geschrieben.

Bibliographic information