My Brain on Music

This book was a very interesting read. At times the content got dry, but almost every time I got bored the prose picked back up again with a new interesting fact, statistic, or observation. I appreciated Levitin’s vast knowledge of 20th century music and often found myself researching the songs he used as examples in his book out of curiosity. The most interesting part of the book to me was the last chapters in which Levitin discussed the evolution of music and our predisposition towards certain music. I loved the idea that humans are more inclined to like the music they are exposed to in the womb. I actually asked my mom what music she played when she was pregnant with me, and sure enough it was my favorite “genres.” (although now I am hesitant to use that word) It kind of freaked me out actually. I also found it interesting that actual research has proven that musical interest rises around the age of 10 or 11, because I remember my siblings and I at that age becoming obsessed with burning CDs and cherishing our tiny little CD players.

The evolutionary perspective Levitin presented was also fascinating. It makes sense that music triggers a pleasurable response in the brain and thats why we are conditioned to like it so much. I’ve always been a huge proponent of evolution and I really appreciate reading about it in context where any other idea behind human growth isn’t discussed. I specifically liked his idea that music was invented to spur human cognitive development. I’ve always viewed music as almost an exercise: listening for lyrics, finding new components, storing all the information via memorization. Levitin says singing is like “practice” for speech and dictation. Maybe that’s why so many young children are so fascinated by musical movies and soundtracks?