Music and Memory: An Introduction

by Bob Snyder

This far-ranging book shows how human memory influences the organization of music. The book is divided into two parts. The first part presents basic ideas about memory and perception from cognitive psychology and, to some extent, cognitive linguistics. Topics include auditory processing, perception, and recognition. The second part describes in detail how the concepts from the first part are exemplified in music. The presentation is based on three levels of musical event fusion (the formation of single musical events from acoustical vibrations in the air, on a time scale too small to exhibit rhythm), melody and rhythm, and form. The focus in the latter is on the psychological conditions necessary for making large-scale—that is, formal—boundaries clear in music rather than on traditional musical forms. The book also discusses the idea that much of the language used to describe musical structures and processes is metaphorical. It encourages readers to consider the possibility that the process of musical composition can be "a metaphorical transformation of their own experience into sound." The book also touches on unresolved debates about psychological musical universals, information theory, and the operation of neurons. It requires no formal musical training and contains a glossary and an appendix of listening examples.

Genres: Music, Psychology, Science

291 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 2001

Reviews

[Andrew Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth keeping and reading again in a few years.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book on music theory I've ever read because it doesn't make unfounded claims about how music should work. In fact there is almost no written music examples in the book. Rather it takes us through how we listen to and experience music much like we do with general sounds or language. We categorize phrases and group into "chunks" using short, mid and long term memory. I only wish I had the memory to retain some of the many points of the book.

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An information-theoretical approach to music, the best account I've seen so far of how it all works. See my own writing on the subject.