Product Description

Apart from providing an outlet for human emotions, does music have a use? Is a Mozart symphony intelligent, and is music a language? If so, what does it say and how does it say it? In this perceptive and revolutionary sequel to The Concept of Music, Robin Maconie teases out the musical science underlying subjects as diverse as Pythagoras's theorem, Plato's city state, mysteries of religion, myth, and folklore, theories of the mind, and key insights of Newton, Freud, and Wittgenstein. Western civilization is based on a foundation of universal laws derived from acoustics and hearing. Music is not only the product of that civilizing process but also the key to understanding the hidden structures and rituals of established belief. Beneath the surface of mass entertainment lie musical notations, images, instruments, and ensemble interactions to be understood afresh as models and mind games in an ongoing programme of scientfic discovery, information management, and social organization. That understanding is exciting in itself, has important educational and cultural implications, and is essential for future progress in musical composition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1088571 in Books
• Published on: 1997-04-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 238 pages

Financial Times
'Enormously well-informed about the practical realitites of acoustics, the physics of sound, the history and architecture of music-rooms, the design of the instruments ... blinding the reader with science is certainly not his aim; all those resources are brought to bear upon the topic he keeps firmly in hand, which is music.' (Refers to Robin Maconie's The Concept of Music)

Review
From reviews of Robin Maconie's The Concept of Music: 'Enormously well-informed about the practical realitites of acoustics, the physics of sound, the history and architecture of music-rooms, the design of the instruments ... blinding the reader with science is certainly not his aim; all those resources are brought to bear upon the topic he keeps firmly in hand, which is music. Financial Times

About the Author
Robin Maconie is Publisher Reports Manager at Dawson UK Ltd's Book Division (Library Suppliers). A New Zealand born composer and writer on music, he has been chief music critic for the TES and visiting lecturer at the City University and Surrey University.

Customer Reviews

Science of Music? Not!
The title of this book is grossly misleading, there is little science (in the modern understanding of the word) in this book, the author's discussion is philosophical with a liberal dose of Christian theology. Indeed by page 101 (halfway through the book) after wading through a chapter with copious references to the Stoics, Epicurus, the crucifixion, and the eucharist I'd had enough and put the book down (another one for the charity shops). If, like me, you are looking for knowledge on actual scientific enquiry into music, don't waste your money on this title.