Music Instruction & Education, Aesthetics & Philosophy of Art, Music - General & Miscellaneous, Sociology, Music Theory & Composition

Nature Of Music

Name: Nature Of Music
Author: Maureen Draper
ISBN: 9781573228985

by Maureen Draper

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Overview

An important book that answers how music affects your mood and how music affects your brain

This unique guide includes an extensive music bibliography with selections to suit moods, calm nerves, inspire, and heal. Anyone from the novice to the aficionado will find new ways to hear music as they never have before.

Synopsis

Music has a profound influence on our lives; affecting how we think, how we act, how we feel-even who we are. By learning more about the intimate relationship between music and ourselves, we can begin to harness that power and better our lives. A classical pianist, Draper writes about the ways in which the great works of the classical canon can help us cope with grief, give dimension to the mysteries of beauty and faith, aid us in recovery from illness, inspire us to create, or just give us a boost of energy.

This unique guide includes an extensive music bibliography with selections to suit moods, calm nerves, inspire, and heal. Anyone from the novice to the aficionado will find new ways to hear music as they never have before.

"A lovely, lyrical, elegantly useful guide for all of us, healthy or ill, who want to reap full benefit from the wonderful world of music." (Barrie R. Cassileth, Ph.D., Chief, Integrative Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center)

Author Biography:

NAPRA Review

...a far reaching exploration of the power of music.

About the Author, Maureen Draper

Maureen McCarthy Draper, a classical pianist and music teacher, presents music retreats for the Guild for Psychological Studies both in San Francisco and from her home in the Santa Cruz mountains, using live music, poetry, and art. The Nature of Music is her first book.

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Editorials

NAPRA Review

...a far reaching exploration of the power of music.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A pianist offers a classical music lesson with New Age overtones in this look at the healing power of music. The first half of the book contains a concise explanation of how to listen to music and defines musical terms like pitch and dissonance. But when Draper sounds off on music's power to "balance the emotions, restore equilibrium and positively affect our well being" (she recommends an "emotional shower of music"), some readers may want to tune out. In her attempt to maintain a breezy tone, Draper is a bit too fast and loose with the science behind her assertions. She makes unsupported statements like "numerous studies have shown that... we learn better when thinking is linked to feeling" and tells the unsubstantiated story of a teacher who recovered her eyesight through daily doses of Debussy. Still, Draper's love for music is contagious. She provides a useful set of listening exercises, or music breaks, at the end of each chapter, as well as an extensive "listening bibliography" for enhancing every aspect of life, from work to sex. Asterisks throughout the text mark pieces that are on the book's companion CDs, available separately from Spring Hill Music. (Feb. 1) Forecast: Don Campbell popularized the idea that music has discernible, positive effects on learning and development in The Mozart Effect (1998), a sleeper that has attracted legions of fans. Though Campbell's blurb on this book has a generic ring, it should help guide his readers to Draper's effort to extend his ideas on the benefits of music into the realm of emotional health. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A study of music that puts the emphasis on listening rather than understanding. Draper, a pianist who presents music retreats for San Francisco's Guild of Psychological Studies, celebrates the emotional power of music. In and of itself, this approach will not arouse controversy: The ability to recognize a fugue does not imply any insight into the form's inner workings, and the majority of listeners are perfectly happy without much awareness of the deep structure of the music they enjoy. The author provides a couple of short chapters on the formal aspect of music, as well as a brief glossary of basic musical terms. But she quickly returns to the emotional level, repeatedly exhorting the readers to"breathe in" the music and let it wash over and heal them. The music is often frankly presented as an aid to meditation and getting in touch with one's inner feelings. That is a perfectly legitimate use for great music, of course, but a skeptical reader may wonder how the author can be certain of the composers' intended emotional and spiritual messages in works that often have no title more explicit than"allegro." Nor are all readers likely to find useful her list of compositions categorized according to the alchemical elements. Her recommended listenings are mostly safe choices, drawn from the 18th and 19th centuries with a sprinkling of light jazz and other modern styles. Understandably: most listeners still find Mozart or Brahms easier to take than Webern or Boulez, especially on the warm and fuzzy level Draper addresses. Still, her approach is likely to give any lover of music a few ideas for expanding the CD collection. One can always justify a little more Bach or Beethoven. Bestfornewcomers to classical music; seasoned listeners and trained musicians may find themselves alternating between agreement and consternation.