Review by Choice Review
"Music connects us to the world." The underlying tenet of Benzon's book, this notion may seem self-evident, but on closer examination involves information from such disciplines as cultural history, anthropology, music theory, and cognitive psychology. Using these and other angles, Benzon (a cognitive scientist) attempts a synthesis of information in order to connect the urge to make music, on both an individual basis and in a communal context, with the broad effect that such "musicking" has on the individual's community. Beginning with a series of anecdotal musical experiences in which individuals have achieved a kind of "state of music" connected to a broad communal effect, Benzon then looks at the possible neurological and cognitive causes of that state. For instance, he theorizes about how the experience of singing in a large group becomes a shared consciousness. Of necessity speculative, the postulates the author presents nevertheless have the ring of common sense. The considerable detail of this study distinguishes it from recent popular attempts to examine the nature of why humans make music. Overall, this is an admirable effort to synthesize the many and diverse aspects of making music. Recommended for upper-division undergraduate and graduate collections in music and the disciplines mentioned above. M. Neil Augustana College (IL)
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Benzon, a horn player, is intensely interested in how music brings people together and gives us a fascinating, at times profound, and speculative book on it. Believing that speculation is necessary for intellectual and scientific progress, he writes for the future while proposing concepts to be tested in the present. He doesn't claim his ideas are true, only that they should be considered and tested. The book begins with stories of musical experience and proceeds to show how music can bring groups, not just pairs, together by means of their coordinated neurological systems; how music affects different sections of the brain; and how music has played a part in developing cultures throughout history. Although largely oriented to Africa and Europe, the book provides examples from the rest of the world, too; and Benzon often draws on personal experience to demonstrate how emotion and physiology combine in the music-making act. At times the text is heavy going, but Benzon's wide-ranging mind and striking analogies hold one's attention. William Beatty
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
