Music, The Brain, And Ecstasy By Robert Jourdain

Have you ever wondered why a song became so popular? Or why you always happened to get that one song stuck in your head? Well, those questions have been answered by Robert Jourdain in his nonfiction book Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy. Jourdain begins his book with the simplest aspect of sound, the first puzzle piece of how music became a worldwide sensation that can be seen in basically every culture on Earth. That puzzle piece 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, as well as how our brain does not interpret sounds independently, but rather, how they fit in with the environment. Then, he began the fascinating …show more content…
This is due to differing personal tastes (such as how some people prefer rock while others people prefer country). He continues on this pattern, discussing harmony, rhythm, composition, performance, listening, as well as understanding music, discussing how each part plays a role in why we as a species in general, enjoy music. Finally, he ends with ecstasy, where he ties the whole book together explaining how even the saddest of music can bring us pleasure because listening to music actually causes the brain to release “feel good” chemicals. Overall, the book goes extremely in depth in every chapter about each specific topic related to music, and it definitely helps paint a picture about what happens when you listen to …show more content…
Most people do not spend much time questioning why they enjoy the catchy song on the radio, they just do. However, Jourdain, along with other scientists, saw that there has to be another reason for this, something more that the brain is doing subconsciously when it hears a specific tone, or beat pattern. This book is actually based off research that was fairly recently conducted in the new science of musical psychoacoustics, which is the study of the psychological and physiological effects of music on people. I thought this was interesting because you would imagine something that has been here basically since the birth of human existence, such as music, more specifically, why we enjoy it, would have been deeply researched before the twenty-first century, yet, it is still a fairly new study. I personally prefer Jourdain's take on this research because it provides this information in a way that is much easier to understand for the everyday person. He also makes it much more enjoyable for people providing both classical and modern music examples, as well as images where applicable. You could open this book without knowing the first thing about music and leave knowing how you make it, why people appreciate music, and how we hear