Emotion and Meaning in Music

Rating:
Summary: Incredible insights into the nature of music
Review: How very few thinkers on music dare even consider the topic of emotion and meaning in music shows the difficulty of the task Meyer sets himself. This is a truly important book--far beyond any history or theoretical tome I've ever read, this aims right at the heart of what music is about. It is very tough going--this was adapted from Meyer's doctoral dissertation, but it repays every effort made. Meyer's mind is enviably far-ranging; he uses examples from the visual arts to the hard sciences and philosophy to make his points. His later book, Explaining Music, is an easier read, still full of valuable insights but much more oriented toward a theoretical, quasi-Schenkerian approach to music. But for me, Emotion and Meaning in Music (along with his much later Style and Music) is much more significant, dealing with more profound and much less frequently discussed issues. This book has my HIGHEST recommndation.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible insights into the nature of music
Review: How very few thinkers on music dare even consider the topic of emotion and meaning in music shows the difficulty of the task Meyer sets himself. This is a truly important book--far beyond any history or theoretical tome I've ever read, this aims right at the heart of what music is about. It is very tough going--this was adapted from Meyer's doctoral dissertation, but it repays every effort made. Meyer's mind is enviably far-ranging; he uses examples from the visual arts to the hard sciences and philosophy to make his points. His later book, Explaining Music, is an easier read, still full of valuable insights but much more oriented toward a theoretical, quasi-Schenkerian approach to music. But for me, Emotion and Meaning in Music (along with his much later Style and Music) is much more significant, dealing with more profound and much less frequently discussed issues. This book has my HIGHEST recommndation.

Rating:
Summary: Very good
Review: I found this book quite enlightening, as well as pleasant to read. Like Professor Tolkien's hobbitts, I enjoy books that tell me things I already intuited but had no terms for.

The book explains concepts by illustrations from several fields. If you are familiar with even one of the fields, it gives you immediate insights to the others.

Rating:
Summary: a truly innovative work
Review: I see that the other reviewers here either hate this book or love it. I fall in the latter category. Having studied music theory extensively, this is the one book that actually deals with music as a communicating art, not as a bunch of symbols on paper. I think that any composer of music (pop, Classical, rock, etc.) could learn valuable pointers on how to write music that is interesting and moving to the listener. One of the problems with much 20th Century music is that it exists on paper as something interesting, but does not reach the ear as such. It appears that Leonard Meyer has been daring enough to admit that music can affect people's emotions and maintain their interest intellectually, rather than just existing as an exercise in note placement (alla Schenker or Forte).

Rating:
Summary: a truly innovative work
Review: I see that the other reviewers here either hate this book or love it. I fall in the latter category. Having studied music theory extensively, this is the one book that actually deals with music as a communicating art, not as a bunch of symbols on paper. I think that any composer of music (pop, Classical, rock, etc.) could learn valuable pointers on how to write music that is interesting and moving to the listener. One of the problems with much 20th Century music is that it exists on paper as something interesting, but does not reach the ear as such. It appears that Leonard Meyer has been daring enough to admit that music can affect people's emotions and maintain their interest intellectually, rather than just existing as an exercise in note placement (alla Schenker or Forte).

Rating:
Summary: Music,psycho-babble, Professor Ludwig Von Drake?
Review: This is not a book for the performing artist, composer or student. Meyer's insufferable, interminable psycho-babble is what's wrong with music education today. He reduces art/music to a post-mortem dissection using psychology, sociology and philosophy as his scapel. After reading several chapters, I found myself wandering through endless circumlocutions and dizzing dissertations . . . enough is enough! Just pass it! Well, with reservations--if you talk music better than you play, give it a try. P.S. I pity the student who would have to endure this for a semester.

Rating:
Summary: Music, Psycho-babble,Professor Ludwig Von Drake
Review: This is not a book for the performing artist, composer or student. Meyer's insufferable, interminable, psycho-babble is what's wrong with music education today. He reduces art/music to a post-mortem dissection using psychology, sociology and philosophy as his scapel. After reading several chapters, I found myself wading through endless circumlocutions and dizzing dissertations . . . enough is enough! Just pass it! Well, with reservations--if you talk better music than you play, give it a try. P>S> Pity the student who would have to endure this for a semester.