Music in Our Lives: Why We Listen, How It Works

We are in something of a golden age of music research. Technological advances have merged with philosophical interests to produce an array of distinct yet converging studies illuminating the musical nature of our species. Virtually every day, a new brick is added to the wall of interdisciplinary information, drawn from psychology, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, ethology, anthropology, ethnomusicology and more. This book develops, supports, challenges, and diverges from this enormity of material, which is flourishing at such rapid speed that it is nearly impossible to keep up. It adds a unique and compelling voice to this body of literature, which is ever growing in sophistication and popularity. This multi-disciplinary examination addresses key issues in the field, such as the difficulty of writing about music, the formation of musical preferences, the emotional impact of musical sounds, the comparison of music and language, the impulse for making music, and the connection between music and spirituality.