Music has been associated with mental well-being for a long time. While some texts tell us that listening to classical music can improve focus, others indicate that it can have a mood uplifting effect. In Themes and Variations, Carl Ellenberger brings research and his personal views and experiences to show us scientific proof to prove the various benefits of creating and listening to music.
Themes and Variations Book
Carl Ellenberger has taught Neurology at two medical schools, served as Neurologist in Chief at a US Army Hospital, Director of an MRI Center, and community Neurologist and Ophthalmologist. He also played in orchestras and music festivals with top professionals, and in 1976 founded a leading organization of classical music and jazz in Pennsylvania. Gretna Music has produced and presented concerts by internationally-known musicians for 44 years.
Author: Carl Ellenberger M.D
Paperback: 299 pages
Publisher: Sunacumen Press (October 31, 2018)
ISBN: 0999561235, 978-0999561232
Themes and Variations Description
Themes and Variations brings a fascinating glimpse into the mysterious workings of music on the human brain. Part neuroscience, part memoir, Theme and Variations makes the latest evidence about how we process music in our minds accessible to every reader.
Through his own experiences, the author, a musician and neurologist, shows us how he came to understand the importance of music in his life–in all of our lives–revealing a number of surprises that will fascinate physicians, musicians and the music-loving public alike.
He answers such questions as: Can music heal? delay dementia? comfort the terminally ill? Can music make kids smarter or better students? Why have homo sapiens made music since the origin of our species? Music, Dr. Ellenberger tells us, is an affirmative medium that stimulates us to imagine and embrace our fullest human potential.
Themes and Variations Book Review
Benefits of music on our temperament and behaviors have been discussed for a long time. Many who believe that the mind-body connection is a two-way street also think that the body can induce and invoke the same chemical processes in brain, just as happiness induces a smile on our face.
The author here argues the same with music.
An universal language, music is strictly limited to certain species that can understand the differences in tunes and the musical ups and downs. The author quotes research from various researchers in the field of music and neurology along with his own experiences to drive home this point.
Themes and Variations book picks each benefit or effect of music on our brains and shows you how it affects us. However, the text comes across as repetitive and the structure could have been better. The current style of narration is academic and readers may find it difficult to follow.