Music and the Mind - Hardcover

Storr, Anthony

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0029316219 ISBN 13: 9780029316214

Publisher: The Free Press, 1992

Synopsis

Why does music have such a powerful effect on our minds and bodies? It is the most mysterious and most intangible of all forms of art. Yet, Anthony Storr believes, music today is a deeply significant experience for a greater number of people than ever before. In this challenging book, he explores why this should be so. Music is a succession of tones through time. How can a sequence of sounds both express emotion and evoke it in the listener? Drawing on a wide variety of opinions, Storr argues that the patterns of music make sense of our inner experience, giving both structure and coherence to our feelings and emotions. Dr. Storr was a practicing psychiatrist for nearly forty years and is a distinguished thinker about the sources of creativity. He is deeply concerned with the psychology of the creative process and with the healing power of the arts. Here he explains how, in a culture which requires us in our daily working lives to separate rational thought from feelings, music reunites the mind and body, restoring our sense of personal wholeness. It is because music possesses this capacity that many people, including the author, find it so life-enhancing that it justifies existence. Dr. Storr's investigation of music is also an exploration of the human psyche. That is why this book, like all his work, deepens our understanding of ourselves and the lives we lead.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Why does music have such a powerful effect on our minds and bodies? It is the most mysterious and most intangible of all forms of art. Yet, Anthony Storr believes, music today is a deeply significant experience for a greater number of people than ever before. In this challenging book, he explores why this should be so. Drawing on a wide variety of opinions, Storr argues that the patterns of music make sense of our inner experience, giving both structure and coherence to our feelings and emotions. It is because music possesses this capacity to restore our sense of personal wholeness in a culture which requires us to separate rational thought from feelings, that many people find it so life-enhancing.

“Anyone who feels like reflecting about the origins, the impact and the significance of music will find Dr Storr’s book helpful and stimulating.”
ALFRED BRENDEL

“This beautifully written book, humane, intelligent and thoughtful, is a significant contribution to our understanding of those mysterious movements of the mind.”
ADAM LIVELY, 'Times Educational Supplement'

“It is stimulating inquiry aimed at discovering what it is about music that so profoundly moves so many people, in the course of which he describes the physical effects of mescaline, considers the relation of bird-song, the burbling of babies and the language of literature to music, and touches on many other fascinating topics, concluding that its most significant aspect for us is its power to create order out of chaos.”
FRANCES PARTRIDGE, 'Spectator'

“Reading Storr’s work is always like being taken on a journey through a foreign country by a great enthusiast. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the language because he teaches you what you need to know along the way. His knowledge is vast and his enthusiasm infectious...Storr is an extraordinarily gifted communicator.”
MARY LOUDON, 'New Statesman & Society'

Synopsis:

Examines the psychological, emotional, historical and philosophical roles of the musical experience in a person's life. This text looks at music as both a social and a solitary experience and supports the contention that music is the most significant experience in life.

About this edition

• Publisher: The Free Press
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0029316219
• ISBN 13: 9780029316214
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 250