Music And Ecstasy Summary

Have you ever wondered why a song was so catchy? Or why you always happened to get that one song stuck in your head? Well that has all been answered by Robert Jourdain in his nonfiction book Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy. Jourdain begins his book with the simplest aspect of sound, really the first puzzle piece of how music became a worldwide sensation that can be seen in basically every culture on Earth, which is hearing, and how our ears have evolved to understand, interpret, and enjoy all different forms of music. He then moves onto tone, where he explains that every sound is a chord, and how our brain doesn’t interpret sounds independently, but rather, how they fit in with the environment. He then begins the fascinating discussion of melody …show more content…
It walks you through how the ear works and it evolved from tiny holes with flaps of tissue over it, to the complicated structure we have today. This is a perfect analogy for this book, which starts out simple, scientific, and easily understood, to something that makes as little sense, which is the pleasure that music brings us. For me, this book is something I've needed to read for years. I've always loved music, whether I be listening to it or playing it, it has always brought me a lot of joy and happiness and has affected me in a way normal words cannot. It has always fascinated me how a single slow draw of a violins bow could turn a cheerful piece somber or what makes an international pop sensation, well, an international pop sensation and this book does a really great job in explaining just that. Another interesting point that Jourdain brings up is that music can not only bring pleasure, it can be transcendent, which I found interesting. Even though he doesn’t directly mention religion, perhaps to keep everything purely scientific, he does point out the extremely social aspect of music as a subtle nod to religion. If I was to have one complaint about this book it would be that he didn’t discuss religion enough in this book and its effect on the spread of specific songs and genres of music. A large portion of music is directly related to religion in some form, and up until about a century or so ago, religion was the main focus of music. Even today, religion plays a major role in music when you consider both religious songs, and what song are considered acceptable in society also love how in detail it goes into each part of music composition. As a music nerd, it was really satisfying to know what he was talking about, and yet he makes the puzzle pieces fit together in a way I never really thought to think