This book was incredible. I’ll try to break it down in a couple of blog posts, although I highly recommend reading the book yourself – I’ll definitely read it again someday!
The Power of Music
“Music, uniquely among the arts, is both completely abstract and profoundly emotional. It can pierce the heart directly; it needs no mediation. There is a deep and mysterious paradox here, for while music makes one experience pain and grief more intensely, it brings solace and consolation at the same time.”
It’s fascinating how music affects the brain like nothing else, and how the brain can affect how we perceive music. Music doesn’t have to be familiar to affect us emotionally. Nor do we have to have any formal knowledge of it or be particularly ‘musical’. It has the power to affect us all in one way or another. It’s a language that knows no barriers.
Learning Through Music
Music has the power to embed sequences, and to do this when other forms of organization fail. Every culture has songs and rhymes to help children learn the alphabet, numbers, and other lists. Even as adults we rely on mnemonic devices or patterns sometimes, and the most powerful of these devices are rhyme, meter, and song.
Dr. Sacks gave some examples of patients who could not carry out simple tasks (eating, getting dressed, etc.) without setting them to music. What an incredible relief to know there is something so easily accessible that can help people function (at least somewhat) independently on a daily basis.
Even though music affects each individual differently, people are bound together by rhythm. It’s not only heard but internalized, identically, by everyone present. Rhythm turns listeners into participants and synchronizes them. It’s very difficult to remain detached, or resist being drawn into the rhythm of chanting or dancing.
Do you hear what I hear?
People often joke that they are tone deaf if they can’t sing well. But true tone deafness is only present in about 5% of the population.
When we listen to music, there are many different dimensions we’re perceiving (whether we are aware of this or not). Among these include tone, pitch, timbre, loudness, tempo, rhythm, and contour. ‘Amusia’ is the term used when the perception of some or all of these qualities is impaired. There can also be a partial or total loss of the feeling or emotions normally evoked by music, even though perception of music is unimpaired.
People with an amusia can veer off key without realizing it, or be unable to recognize off-key singing by others. These people can still enjoy music and singing (even if it’s not pleasant for those around them 😅).
I had a young student when I first started teaching, almost 20 years ago now. She couldn’t tell two notes apart and had no sense of whether notes were moving higher or lower. At the time, I thought she just didn’t want to do that particular exercise, so we moved on to something else. Looking back after reading this book, I wonder if she maybe had some sort of amusia. If only I could travel back to that time temporarily, knowing what I know now!