Notes on Reading This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J Levitin
Introduction
1. Personal Story & Transformation: The author begins by sharing a personal story from his childhood that plays a significant role in shaping his relationship with music. His mother was a novelist who often wrote in the den, while his father, a businessman, worked many additional hours from home. His father proposed a deal to him: he would buy him headphones if he promised to use them while listening to music at home. These headphones would later transform how the author listened to music.
At the time, he was exploring new artists who were experimenting with stereo mixing, and because the speakers on his stereo system weren’t very good, he had never truly experienced the depth of sound that he could now hear through the headphones. These headphones revealed the depth and complexity of music—sound spread across both the left-right and front-back fields. Music was no longer just about the songs or lyrics; it was about the sound itself, a world of sonic colors and nuances beyond melody or vocals. This made the experience of music personal, as though it was inside his head, rather than coming from the outside. This shift in perception ultimately inspired him to pursue a career as a recording engineer and producer.
2. Learning Through Experience: The author joined a band and recorded in a studio in California with Mark Needham, where he gained valuable insights into how microphones can drastically affect the sound of a recording. For instance, microphones placed close to instruments can produce a fuller sound, while those placed farther away can create a more spatial, atmospheric effect.
After the band broke up, the author continued working as a producer for other bands. Through this experience, he further explored the differences between microphones and recording tapes, gaining a deeper understanding of how different tools shape music. During this time, he also observed how professional producers seemed to hear things that others didn’t—sounds or nuances in music that most people would miss.
3. The Brain and Music: As he worked with musicians and producers, the author began to question why some people seemed to have an innate ability to understand music, while others did not. He also wondered why certain songs could move us emotionally while others didn’t. This led him to ask fundamental questions about human perception: How do musicians and sound engineers hear things differently from the average listener? How does the brain process music?
These questions prompted the author to return to school, even while working full time, to attend neuropsychology lectures at Stanford. Rather than finding immediate answers, he was presented with even more complex questions about how the brain processes sound, memory, and creativity. His quest for understanding deepened as he realized the complexities of both music and the human mind.
4. Music's Universality and Evolution: The author emphasizes music's deep roots in human culture, noting that music is both ubiquitous and ancient. Some of the oldest artifacts found in human and protohuman excavation sites are musical instruments, highlighting the importance of music throughout history. Whenever humans gather together, music is there—at weddings, funerals, graduations, birthdays, prayer, romantic dinners, and even when mothers rock their infants to sleep.
This universal presence of music creates a division in modern culture between expert performers and everyday listeners—those who make music and those who pay to experience it. A couple of generations ago, before the rise of television, music was a more communal activity. Families would gather together to play music for entertainment. Today, there is a greater emphasis on skill and technique. In the United States, the music industry is worth billions of dollars, and album sales alone exceed $30 billion annually. This suggests that Americans are expert listeners, able to detect errors in music, appreciate the nuances of sound, and memorize hundreds or even thousands of songs.
The question remains: Why do we listen to music, and why are we willing to spend so much money on it? These questions implicitly address evolutionary theory. How did music fit into our mental and cultural evolution? The emerging field of evolutionary psychology offers a possible answer, suggesting that both our minds and bodies evolved in response to the physical world and its changing conditions.
5. Intersections of Art and Science: The author draws a comparison between artists and scientists, noting that both describe their work as a study or series of explorations into a common concern. Both fields go through similar stages of development: a creative and exploratory stage (brainstorming), followed by testing and refining, with studios and laboratories as analogous environments. Both artists and scientists require specialized tools, and the results are often different from what was initially planned.
Both groups are in pursuit of truth, but they understand that truth is contextual and changeable. What is accepted as truth today may be disproven tomorrow, just as what is considered great art today might eventually be forgotten. The author notes that the goal of artists and musicians is not to convey literal truths but to express universal truths that resonate with people over time. For scientists, the goal is to convey the best possible theory of the moment, understanding that theories evolve and may one day be replaced by new insights.
6. The Cognitive and Emotional Power of Music: Music’s power to evoke deep emotions is another central theme. The author observes that advertising executives and filmmakers often use music to manipulate emotions in specific scenes, and we generally accept, if not enjoy, this emotional influence. Music has a unique ability to connect with our emotions in ways that other forms of art or experience cannot.
The author also notes that many people are "experts" in their own right when it comes to music. While they may not possess technical knowledge, they are adept at distinguishing between music they like and music they don't. Musicians, however, often fail to make their work accessible to this broad base of listeners. One of the primary goals of the book is to bridge this gap, offering insights into how music works and why certain songs have the power to move us.
7. Neuroscience and the Future of Music Studies: The final section highlights the advancements in neuroscience, particularly brain-imaging technologies, which have provided new insights into how the brain processes music. The author points out that while these advancements have led to breakthroughs in understanding brain function, few have yet applied them to the study of music. This book aims to fill that gap by exploring the deep relationship between music and the brain.
The author stresses that the book is written for a general audience, not for technical professionals or scientists. By better understanding music and how it originates in the brain, we can also gain insights into our emotions, desires, memories, and communication.
8. The Coevolution of Music and the Brain: Finally, the author reflects on the coevolution of music and the brain. As our brains evolved, so did the music we create and the music we enjoy. He raises the question of whether specific neural pathways evolved specifically for making and listening to music. The science of music, through the lens of cognitive neuroscience, can teach us about how the brain works, and in turn, help us understand more about ourselves.
By studying how music affects the brain, we may gain a deeper understanding of the mysteries of human nature, from emotions to perception and creativity. The exploration of these connections is what the book sets out to achieve: understanding music, the brain, and ultimately, the human experience.
Chapter 1: What is Music? From Pitch to Timbre
Page 40 - Chords and Harmony
A chord is simply a group of three or more notes played at the same time. Typically, it is the first, third, and fifth notes of a scale.
Major chords are often associated with happiness or brightness.
Minor chords evoke feelings of sadness, reflectiveness, or sometimes an exotic or mysterious quality.
Minor chords add complexity to music. A great example is "Light My Fire" by The Doors, where the verses are in minor chords and the chorus shifts to major chords, creating an emotional contrast.
Page 41 - Pitch and Overtones
Pitch refers to the frequency of a sound. For example, when a piano string vibrates, it vibrates at several different rates at once.
Drums vibrate with multiple frequencies when struck.
Flutes vibrate when air is blown across them, creating multiple frequencies simultaneously.
All of these sound sources vibrate at multiple rates, not just a single frequency.
Page 42 - Fundamental Frequencies and Overtones
The fundamental frequency is the lowest rate of vibration and is often perceived as the primary pitch of a sound.
Overtones are higher frequencies that vibrate above the fundamental frequency. These overtones are what give a sound its unique timbre, or tone color.
Page 43 - Restoration of the Missing Fundamental
The brain is extremely sensitive to the overtone series. If a sound is missing its fundamental frequency but includes its overtones, the brain will "fill in" the missing fundamental frequency, a phenomenon known as restoration of the missing fundamental.
Page 44 - Overtones and Harmonics
Overtones are often numbered:
The first overtone is the first frequency above the fundamental.
The second overtone is the second frequency above the fundamental, and so on.
The terms harmonics and overtones are used interchangeably, though harmonics generally refer to integer multiples of the fundamental.
Page 45 - Inharmonic Overtones
Some percussion instruments and objects (e.g., chimes, cymbals) produce inharmonic overtones, meaning their frequencies are not integer multiples of the fundamental.
Timbre is the quality of a sound that distinguishes one sound from another. It’s what lets us distinguish a lion's growl from a cat's purr or the crash of ocean waves from thunder.
Page 46 - Unique Overtone Profiles
Every instrument has its own overtone profile, which is like a sonic fingerprint. The loudness and distribution of these overtones shape the timbre and distinguish instruments from one another.
This is why two pianos sound different from one another, despite playing the same note — their overtone profiles are unique.
Page 49 - Attack and Flux
There is more to the sound of an instrument than its overtone profile. The way a sound begins (attack) and how it evolves over time (flux) also contribute to its timbre.
Attack refers to the initial sound produced when an instrument is played, while flux describes how the sound changes after it starts. For example, a cymbal has a lot of flux, whereas a trumpet has less.
Page 50 - FM Synthesis
Through experimentation with sine waves and frequency modulation, Chowning discovered that altering the frequency of waves could create musical sounds.
This discovery led to the creation of FM synthesis, which revolutionized music production in 1983.
Many of the distinctive sounds of '80s pop music owe their unique character to FM synthesis.
Page 51 - The Role of John R. Pierce and Bell Labs
At Bell Labs, John R. Pierce allowed his team to explore innovative ideas without worrying about commercial outcomes. This environment of creative freedom helped foster groundbreaking advancements, demonstrating the importance of an unrestricted space for creativity.
Page 53 - Pierre Schaeffer's Experiments
Pierre Schaeffer conducted experiments in the 1950s that demonstrated how attack influences our perception of an instrument. He recorded sounds from various instruments and edited out the attack. When played back, the sounds were harder to identify.
The steady state of the sound (the portion after the attack) became more important for recognition, showing how critical the attack is to timbre perception.
Page 54 - Hybrid Instruments
Splicing the attack of one instrument onto the steady state of another can result in hybrid sounds. These hybrids often resemble the instrument that contributed the attack more than the one that contributed the steady state.
These experiments in timbre manipulation opened the door to the creation of entirely new instruments.
Page 55 - Timbre as a Compositional Tool
Composers use timbre to create emotional depth, atmosphere, and mood in their music. For example, composers like Scriabin and Ravel viewed their music as "sound paintings," where timbre was used like color in a visual artwork.
While timbre is central to how we appreciate music, it is rhythm that has driven music since its earliest forms. Rhythm is the "engine" that powers music.
Chapter 2: Foot Tapping / Discerning Rhythm, Loudness, and Harmony
Page 57 - Rhythm, Movement, and Meter
Rhythm is at the heart of music-making. It is what we move and dance to, and it connects to the body's movement. Every culture integrates rhythm into music through coordinated bodily actions.
Meter refers to the grouping of beats, often into patterns of strong and weak beats.
Tempo is the pace of music, typically measured in beats per minute (bpm). It refers to how fast or slow a song is, while rhythm refers to the length and emphasis of the notes.
Page 59 - Tempo and Beat
Tempo can influence the emotional impact of a piece:
Fast tempos often evoke feelings of happiness or excitement.
Slow tempos can feel sad, solemn, or introspective.
The beat is the basic unit of measurement in music, also called the tactus. It is the pulse we tap our foot to.
Page 60 - Detection of Tempo Changes
According to a study by Perry Cook in 1996, people can detect tempo changes as small as 4%. However, professional musicians, especially drummers, are particularly sensitive to tempo variations, as maintaining consistent tempo is crucial to their role.
Page 61 - Meter and Strong/Weak Beats
Meter refers to how beats are grouped together in music. The most common meter in Western music is 4/4 time, where the first beat is emphasized, and the others are weaker.
Some music uses 3/4 time, where the strong beat is on the first beat of the measure, such as in a waltz.
Page 63 - Syncopation and Momentum
Syncopation occurs when a note anticipates or is placed before the expected strong beat, creating a surprise or excitement in the rhythm. In Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day," syncopation adds momentum to the song by placing accents where the listener doesn't expect them.
Pick-up notes are notes that occur before the downbeat, further contributing to syncopation.
Conclusion
Rhythm, meter, and tempo are critical aspects of music that shape the emotional experience of listening. Timbre, while often central to an instrument's identity, works in tandem with rhythm and meter to create dynamic, evolving musical landscapes.
The relationship between rhythm and emotion is universal. While timbre may evoke specific emotions based on cultural or personal associations, rhythm is often the primary force that drives movement, whether in the body or in the emotional experience of music.