In The Power of Music
(Walker Books, 2011, 284 Pages, $9.39 on Kindle) Elena Mannes
explores how music has affected the human organism from the mysts of
time to the laboratories of tomorrow. In doing so, she examines the
role of music in primitive societies, its power to move the mind and
the spirit, its ability to heal, and the mystique of its resonance in
our minds and bodies. She does so in a mostly lively style, avoiding
too many references to brain geography while presenting hard science
and deep speculation with visual language that makes the findings of
serious research available to the lay reader. As a film maker, her
visual style brings the stories she has to tell to life, while she
remains a reputable reporter, providing extensive footnotes and
notes. Through interviews with scholars and musicians along with
field trips to concert halls and primitive societies, she not only
describes the musical experience, but makes it real and personal
through her own experience.
Much
of the discussion of various effects music has on individuals (and
groups) relies on medical and psychological research using fMRI
(functional magnetic resonance imaging) which enables us to watch the
brain in operation as it receives various kinds of stimulation. These
images show, in vivid color and constant motion, various parts of the
brain as they become involved in responding to stimuli. The images
show that different frequencies, rhythms, and activities involve the
brain in ways that could not even be imagined with earlier
technology. Combined with more conventional measurements of blood
pressure, heart rate, and breathing, a picture emerges of the entire
body being effected by listening to and/or making music. The
measurments also indicate that groups, listening together, may fall
into synchronisity as their breathing and heart rates synchronise
with others present. Studies have shown that even fetuses in utero
experience the sounds of voices along with the tonalties and rhythms
of music they hear. Such studies led to a fad in which mothers fed
music by Mozart and others to their systems in order to, supposedly,
increase the intelligence of their unborn child.
Maness
spends considerable time examining the effects of music on learning
and behavior both in ordinary learning situations and in theraputic
ones. She notes that children who study and perform music tend to
improve in their academic work, although one might ask whether such
effects are causal or correlational. She also details a number of
settings where music is used theraputically in both mental and
physical settings. The effects of music an demnetia have been
well-documented. The use of musical vibration on physical health lie
more on the fringes of medical practice, but deserve continued
research and open consideration. The technology for using music in
therapy has bloomed in the past couple of decades, spawning not only
research but commercial applications. Those who would denigrate such
efforts should only consider the effects of music on buyer behavior
in department stores or supermarkets to reconsider their derision.
Elena Mannes
Most of the examples come from the classical repertoire, but Mannes also entertains the possibility that rock music and jazz have a powerful effect also. Discussions with jazz musicians in which they describe periods during jamming when they were “in the zone” with all players experiencing a kind of togetherness that drew them all into a unit, sometimes even involving the audience. Perhaps much of the joy of participating in jams at bluegrass events is an outgrowth (or a precursor) to the joy professional musicians experience in the jam. In fact, there is more than passing reference in the book to the loss of music as a social experience as it has moved from the parlor or campfire (or even cave) to the concert hall and, even more distanced, the recording, becoming the province of the professional muscian rather than the eager participant. Now the greater participation comes from a range of behavior from toe tapping to dancing. Mannes explores the relationship between music and movement in some detail, suggesting that it is nearly impossible not to respond to music in a physical fashion. One study suggested that knowing the muscian had an effect upon the listeners. People who attend bluegrass events can attest to the importance they find in their personal relationships with the musicians, perhaps a unique experience in musical genres. Imagine developing even a passing personal relationship with Bob Dylan or Yo Yo Ma after a concert!
In reading this book, it's difficult not to consider the role of music and rhythm in religious experience. Whether it's simple human singingin church, the swelling organ creating inner vibrations, the pervasive use of bass voices in southern gospel music, the bobbing and chanting of observant Jews before the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, whirling dervishes in the Muslim world, or the unison chants and drums of Budhists seeking oneness and less than “I,” one is driven to become one with the rhythm of the universe, to reach back to before the Big Bang to the oneness of all. By telling this story, Elena Mannes opens the possibility that music contains the key to understanding our place in the universe. This is no small feat.
The Power of Music by Elena Mannes (Walker Books, 2011, 284 Pages, $9.39 on Kindle) excites the imagination in nearly every chapter. It opens possibilities of musical experience many of us never experience either as listeners or (perhaps) as performers. Even as it reaches levels of speculation that may cause some readers to resist, the possibilities suggested for improving human experience through more extensive use and experience of music are vast and underreported. The Power of Music opens new worlds to those who are willing to experience them. I bought this book and read it on my Kindle.
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