I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine

by Daniel J. Levitin

Neuroscientist and New York Times best-selling author of This Is Your Brain on Music Daniel J. Levitin reveals the deep connections between music and healing.

Music is one of humanity’s oldest medicines. From the Far East to the Ottoman Empire, Europe to Africa and the pre-colonial Americas, many cultures have developed their own rich traditions for using sound and rhythm to ease suffering, promote healing, and calm the mind.

In his latest work, neuroscientist and New York Times best-selling author Daniel J. Levitin (This Is Your Brain on Music) explores the curative powers of music, showing us how and why it is one of the most potent therapies today. He brings together, for the first time, the results of numerous studies on music and the brain, demonstrating how music can contribute to the treatment of a host of ailments, from neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, to cognitive injury, depression, and pain.

Levitin is not your typical scientist—he is also an award-winning musician and composer, and through lively interviews with some of today’s most celebrated musicians, from Sting to Kent Nagano and Mari Kodama, he shares their observations as to why music might be an effective therapy, in addition to plumbing scientific case studies, music theory, and music history. The result is a work of dazzling ideas, cutting-edge research, and jubilant celebration. I Heard There Was a Secret Chord highlights the critical role music has played in human biology, illuminating the neuroscience of music and its profound benefits for those both young and old.

Genres: Nonfiction, Music, Science, Psychology, Audiobook, Health, Neuroscience

416 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 2024

About the author

Daniel J. Levitin runs the Laboratory for Musical Perception, Cognition and Expertise at McGill University, where he holds the Bell Chair in the Psychology of Electronic Communication. Before becoming a neuroscientist, he worked as a session musician, sound engineer and record producer. He has written extensively both in scientific journals and music trade magazines such as Grammy and Billboard.

http://daniellevitin.com/levitinlab/L...

http://daniellevitin.com/publicpage/b...

Reviews

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

This audiobook was made available for me to listen to and review by Daniel J. Levitin, Recorded Books, and NetGalley.

The narrator of this audiobook is the author, Daniel J. Levitin. Mr. Levitin was the perfect narrator for this text. He is excited about presenting this research and his excitement is communicated to the listening reader.

This was truly fascinating and interesting. This explains how music can measurably impact humans of all ages and abilities. This explains how music can reach patients suffering from a variety of ailments.

This includes information about Dr. Oliver Sacks and his studies about the impact of music on his patients. This was dramatized in the movie Awakenings starring Robin Williams & Robert DeNiro. I remember watching this movie in the theatre and how it felt like a miracle. This book is a bit more scientific but extends much of the hopeful feeling of the movie.

Much of the medical and even musical terminology is over my head. I'm much more into books than music and the only medical jargon I'm familiar with deals with my own rare disease or loved ones medical issues. Yet, I never felt lost in the text or confused.

The only thing I'd add is there's a chapter about 10% into the audiobook where the author discusses the octaves, scales and rhythmic timing used by various cultures. He states that Europeans have the least range in octave music scales primarily using the straight notes and the same with rhythmic timing. An example given in the text is that Jazz music is pentatonic with an added blue note the tritone. Compared to Arabic music which has added micro-notes between the scales. Western music uses a 2:1 & 3:1 rhythm compared to 'African' music which uses 5:3 or even 13:11 rhythm. He then says that the most rhythmic music in Western culture is swing jazz. The problem here is Jazz isn't inherently Western. It's Black American music heavily based on 'African' rhythmic timing. Its certainly ok to label it Western as long as its specified as Black Western. There also seems to be a touch of condescension when dealing with non-Western music. It is arguably more complex than Western music using the authors own measurements but this narrative seems unwilling to acknowledge that difference in complexity for no rational reason. I would provide quotes but I'm dealing with an audiobook and I could be misunderstanding but the tone the narration uses conveys a slight condescension of non-western music. It defines Arabic music as not having 48 scales but doesn't really explain exactly why this is believed by the generic 'some' and exactly why he doesn't believe this to be true scales and instead what is referred to as micro-notes in the text. I was listening/reading to review this book at the same time I was listening/reading Blacksound by Matthew D. Morrison. So, I was particularly attuned to this I'm sure unintended bias on the author's part. It did not deeply impact my enjoyment of the book but did make me side eye some of his conclusions.

Thank you to Daniel J. Levitin, Recorded Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nahhhh. You don't need to read this. You don't need to read 320 pages of name-dropping, personal anecdotes that obscure any actual information, poorly-logicked arguments (when you can find them; when they aren't mired down in a zillion irrelevant details), and algorithmic apologism ("one day AI will recommend all the perfect music you could ever desire!") -- all to hear a point Louise Rosenblatt basically made in 1978.

Yes -- we all bring something personal to our encounters with art. Yes -- that can have physical or even medicinal effects. There's so much more going on, and this book does nothing to uncover any of it. If you want to read about Levitin knowing what Joni Mitchell's living room looks like, or what graduate students he clearly had crushes on, or -- I'll be generous -- some vaguely-related social science studies -- for sure, read this. Otherwise, just know that music is deeply and productively important to our species, and we still don't totally understand why. That's okay. Just keep singing, playing, and listening -- and try Bridge of Waves if you want to explore it with more grace, intelligence, passion, and depth.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Confession time, I have read this author before and liked his work so much, I have his books, in hardcover, on my Keepers bookcase. If you are a book lover, you know that bookshelf space is at a premium and to dedicate space to multiple hardcovers is high praise indeed.

So, when I saw this was offered on NetGalley as an audio book, it was a no-brainer request. I was a bit nervous, as this was my first ever ALC I have ever requested and received from NetGalley and not being a tech-y person, I wasn't sure how it would go, but it worked just fine.

Also, it was narrated by the author, which if you listen to audio books at all, you know can be a dicey proposition. However, the narration was literally pitch-perfect. He is a performer, so his voice was perfectly modulated the entire time. I didn't have to fiddle with the volume or rewind because I missed something due to not hearing it.

What he was discussing was fascinating (music and the science behind how it can heal/help the brain) and I admit, I rewound multiple times because I wanted to hear what he said again. This is one I will need to procure in hardcover for myself for my Keepers shelf, no doubt about it.

Another thing that I thought was special was when he was discussing a person he knew in the book, SHE was the one to narrate the information from her point of view. So incredibly thoughtful and it made what they both said about the topic have a much stronger impact then if he had spoken for her. I love that she was able to have her own voice.

This audiobook brought me out of my audiobook slump and has sparked renewed interest in his other works. I have loaned one of my copies of his other books to a friend who also loves music and I will be picking up another one of his books that was sitting in my "rainy day" pile soon. Possibly even tonight, lol.

5, I highly recommend all of his works and especially this one, stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and RBmedia/Recorded Books for an ALC of this book to listen to and review.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so excited about this book! Music has been an element of happiness and hope in my life as far back as I can remember. Daniel J. Levitin offers I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine and I actually had tears of joy as I read his last words in this book recognizing a truth I've known forever, but now had the words of it.

Within the compelling narrative of Levitin's book a reader finds history, science, examples supporting his conclusions, and music in all its glory and theories. For musicians there are chords aplenty and the recipes for finding elusive tones on a wide range of instruments. I was tickled with the musical cookbookness of some of the author's thinking - exactly what I've been looking for forever.

BONUS: Daniel J. Levitin is a neuroscientist! He has other books on music, as well as other brainy topics. . . and look him up in Spotify. . .his music and performances are beautiful. He truly knows whereof he sings. . .Highly Recommended! All the stars, 12-string and perfectly tuned.

*A sincere thank you to Daniel J. Levitin, RBmedia, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.*

[Holly McIntyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book … disappointing. I am a fairly smart, well-educated person, but neither a neuroscientist nor a musician. If anything, I veer towards complete musical ignorance. As a result, I am intrigued by titles that seem to promise a key to understanding what it is about music that evokes such strong responses in other people. Instead, I found this book dense, very dense, packed with terminology from both those fields. There is a glossary at the end, but that doesn’t help much when every third word must be looked up and masticated to comprehension.

Beyond that, to my order-loving mind, the organization seems almost random. Here is a discussion of music and brain structure; over here are some interesting experiments focusing on people with Williams syndrome, or Alzheimer’s, or PTSD; everywhere there are cameos of some Great Musician Who Is My Best Bud. Everywhere there are So. Many. Words. A torrent of words. A raging downhill flood of verbiage which left me grasping desperately for a solid structured tree to hang on to. I’m not sure what audience this book was written for — maybe verbose and musical neuroscience grad students? — but certainly not for a broad, general-reading population.

And so my search continues for an explication of the musical brain that someone who does not have one can understand.

[Camelia Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neuroscientist and musician Daniel Levitin is back writing about music and the brain. In case you haven’t already known, the title of the book, I Heard There was a Secret Chord, is taken from the lyrics of Hallelujah, a song written by Leonard Cohen. As a LC fan, of course I will read this book.

This new book is probably not as eye-opening as the previous This is Your Brain On Music, but it provides an update on the latest scientific research on the topic, especially music as a therapeutic tool. What is music therapy, does it work in so and so medical condition and why, and challenges in designing a successful music therapy.

A few takeaways:

Research shows music’s healing power has nothing to do with the frequency of the sound. Many Instagram videos and New Age apps laud the merits of certain frequency but they have no scientific proof. Music’s power comes from music itself, a combination of melody, rhythm and timbre, plus lyrics if it’s a song with words.

There is no one song everybody likes, and vice versa, hence a successful music therapy must be highly personalized, even for the same person depending on the patient’s mood and changing situation. I think every music lover knows it already, but I am glad it has been proved by science.

People with increased music ability, not necessarily as performers, but as keen listeners, show greater connectivity across a large set of brain structures that reads like an inventory of nearly every important computational and emotional center of the brain.

It’s fascinating to read about Williams Syndrome, where children with genetic defects display highly musical and social tendencies.

Question: if music is so good for our mental health, why do so many professional musicians become addicted to drugs and die an early death? Short answer: professional musicians have huge career pressure and other things causing the unfortunate end.

The author shared many anecdotes of his life as musician and his musician friends. Are you a fan of Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, or Ella Fitzgerald? Speaking of lyrics, Bob Dylan intentionally makes his lyrics ambiguous, so it can be interpreted differently by the listener.

Note: The author labels Jazz as western music, but it’s not entirely western. It’s developed by African Americans and influenced by both European harmonic structure and African rhythms.

Here is a playlist the author created for this book: I Heard There was a Secret Chord Spotify PlayList

[Kent · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yawn. Nothing really new or earth shattering here. The most boring word in the English language is “I”. The author continually refers to himself and all the stars he has played and interact with. In that I am not interested. There is also a lot of name dropping. Much of the language is overly medical and scientific. I do not need to know the complex names of pharmaceuticals or parts of the brain.

The details of how music acts as medicine and it’s (music) application could be covered in about 100 pages.

So my bottom line is that although there is some replication of interest information, the book is way too long, too personal, too convoluted for the average reader. Maybe this book is too esoteric for me, and the imperfections I have noted are a reflection of my own limitations.

I invite anyone interested in the topic of music as medicine to read this book and make their own judgement.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This book blew me away. It is much more than just a look at music and medicine, which is what I thought it would be. Leviton also digs deep into why music affects us the way it does, how it changes the way our brains function, and what that means for science.

I love his conclusion: “Music speaks to us in a language that is only partly understood by others. Your musical semantics and pragmatics are different than mine. Your relationship with music takes place in a secret language, known only to you and her. The secret chord is you, the product of all your life’s encounters; every word or note heard, every thought shared, or kept to yourself, every dream achieved or struck down. And that chord is on the move, constantly changing, communicated in a language and a dialect you can understand intuitively without ever having to learn it or take lessons in it, a conversation that is continually evolving.”

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This audiobook was fascinating.

I think everyone has noticed how music can affect a mood. This audiobook provides the room and data for music as therapy for quite a variety of physical ailments. Whether discussing stuttering or Parkinson’s, music can have profound benefits.

It inspired me to spend more time listening to music and sharing music with others. It also provides more reasons to take music lessons.

I would highly recommend listening to this book since several times there is singing or music notes that help explain a point.

Note: Be prepared to have Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah stuck in your head while enjoying this book.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and RBmedia for the opportunity to enjoy this audiobook.

[Cav · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Music affects the biology of the brain, through its activation of specialized neural pathways, its synchronization of the firing patterns of neural assemblies, and its modulation of key neurotransmitters and hormones. Together, these drive a range of changes that are important to our survival and well-being. Music promotes relaxation when we’re stressed; it can reduce blood pressure or make diabetes management easier; it soothes us when we’re depressed and energizes us for exercise..."

I Heard There Was a Secret Chord was an interesting book. I am a huge music fan; both playing and listening. So, I'll read just about any book about music that I can get my hands on.

Author Daniel Joseph Levitin, FRSC is an American-Canadian polymath, cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, writer, musician, and record producer.

Daniel Joseph Levitin:



Levitin writes with a fairly decent style here, although he does have a tendency to go off on tangents a bit. He drops the quote above near the start of the book, and it continues:

"Engaging with music, whether as a listener or a player, facilitates entry into the brain’s Default Mode Network (DMN), a path to the subconscious that is instrumental to everything from problem-solving to relaxation, from creativity to immune system function. And for many, music can connect us to a sense of a higher power, of great and enduring beauty, and listening to or playing it can provide some of the most exhilarating and meaningful moments of our lives."

The book contains a lot of writing on neuroscience, and despite its somewhat niche-sounding title, the scope of the writing here is quite broad.

Some of what is covered here includes:
• THE NEUROANATOMY OF MUSIC
• MUSICAL MEMORY
• ATTENTION
• THE BRAIN’S “DEFAULT MODE,” INTROSPECTION, AND MEDITATION
• Music, Movement, and Movement Disorders
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Trauma
• Mental Health
• Memory Loss, Dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Stroke
• Pain
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Learning How to Fly
• Music in Everyday Life
• Fate Knocking on Your Door
• PRÉCIS TO A THEORY OF MUSICAL MEANING
• Music Medicine, Mystery, and Possibility

Despite containing a ton of interesting info, I found the book lacking cohesion. There were too many rambling tangents. IMO, the book needed a better editing for the sake of both cohesion and brevity. A subjective criticism, to be sure, so don't let it dissuade you from reading this one if you are interested, as there is still a ton of fascinating material covered here.

********************
I Heard There Was a Secret Chord was an interesting look into the topic. I would recommend it.
4 stars.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I learned a lot in this book. I already have experienced personal benefits of music therapy , but learning about actual specific examples was validating and awesome. I’m excited for the future of music therapy. I do feel this book did at times get a bit more complex and detailed than it had to. This made it loose my interest a few times. If i had been reading an ebook or physical book I might have skimmed these sections but with the audio that wasn’t practical. I will say the audiobook is actually a better format for this book though, because the author can hum and play certain musical sequences that emphasize points he is making. This really added to my understanding and I really enjoyed his narration. I received an advanced readers copy from netgalley, but my review is unbiased

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The way music affects our brains is fascinating. I recommend the audio book, I'm not sure the musicality would be communicated as well in a regular book.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listening to this book began as a fun experience, and ended as a fascination with music and the brain.
It’s well-structured, with relatable stories between deep discussions of music theory and neuroscience. So overall it’s pretty accessible.

The body of work behind this book emphasizes the relationship between physical movement and health, and layered upon that, the association of music to movement (even minute movements). That’s where magic can happen for people who have depressive disorders, Parkinson’s, MS, and dementia.

Among the illustrative stories, one about the sheer power of musical prowess alerted me to the brilliance of Ella Fitzgerald’s 1960 concert in Berlin, which absolutely blew me away when I found it on Spotify.
(Seriously, check out Mack The Knife, and How High The Moon from that Ella concert, because Wow!)

I also learned about the kindness and genius scope of the multitalented Bobby McFerrin, whose musicianship goes far beyond “Don’t Worry Be Happy.” He and Linda Ronstadt each has Parkinson’s Disease, which causes a loss of internal timing but also oddly benefits from music therapy, because music enhances movement synchronization. Cool, right?

The author is the researcher (and the narrator), explaining the neurological details that seem
to prove the efficacy of many music therapies.
So go ahead and let the music move you.

Kirkus calls this “a fascinating piece of work, written with authority, empathy, and occasional humor.”
Agreed!

[Jozef · Rating 4 out of 5]

Music is great, isn't it? Well the author here says that about a hundred times over the course of the book, in so many ways. Fortunately I'm inclined to agree.

This is definitely more scientific than fluffy, although not in a dismissive sense. There is a lot of musical and neurological jargon which could be off-putting, but I didn't think it too much of an issue. This actually covers such a huge field that it's clear a lot more could be said - and with that, some chapters are far more interesting than others. The way we and our brains react to music is fascinating - why do we like what we like? And how does it help us? Music can help us feel better (or worse), can reduce pain and help with healing and help with some very serious conditions. There's a lot of pseudoscience around this as well, but... in a nutshell - just listen to what you enjoy, and choose your music for yourself.

Some chapters are far more interesting than others, but overall this was very interesting - even if it leaves me wanting more.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating book but a bit challenging. Even though I took neuroanatomy in graduate school, I still had a hard time keeping up with the neuroscience. And even though I can read music, it was hard to grasp some of the intricacies of his explanations of various compositions. Despite all those difficulties, I learned a lot about how music can help us heal, mentally and physically. I was inspired to start singing again and to play more music in my home. There is no doubt that it can affect us in many ways. I especially enjoyed learning about the author's recovery of his ability to play music following a traumatic brain injury and Joni Mitchell's rehabilitation following a cerebral aneurysm. Powerful stuff!

[Matthew LaPine · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a great book about how music affects people inside this book somewhere. Unfortunately, between the lengthy explanations of the parts of the brain that are impacted or process various inputs, and the complexities of the interactions between the brain parts, the magic of how music helps people is obscured.

Add to this the name-dropping of the people in the music industry with whom the author has collaborated, and the poor reader is met with a slog of immeasurable proportions to get at the message of the subtitle - "music as medicine".

Could've been a great book. But it's not.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this audiobook from NetGalley for an honest review.

I liked that the overall idea this author is trying to share is that the music that YOU enjoy is the best healing music for YOU at a given time. And that some people are drawn to the melody, others, the lyrics, and still others, the rhythm. The most intrigued chapter for me was about the 5 movement disorders and how they respond to music therapy. I would love to hear about more case studies and specific results that were achieved.

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look at music as a tool for healing, not just your heart and soul, but your relationship to other people and your surroundings, and a myriad of tangible physical illnesses to a significant degree. Everyone used to think I was nuts when I told them listening to my favourite singer would always help me get rid of a headache, but I now feel vindicated.

[Dorai]

I knew of this book because some of my more musically capable fellow choir members (in a book club I'm not in) were tackling it. I therefore came to it with some high expectations. Unfortunately it doesn't really tell you how music can be healing. Perhaps that's unfair to ask of any author at the current state of research. Still, I am very open to insightful speculation, but the book doesn't do that either. The anecdotes are very anecdotal, and the appendix lists some specific ventures that look frankly new-agey, with no record of success.

A shorter book on a similar theme by Nina Kraus (I've reviewed it here) does an amazing job suggesting just how impressive our auditory processing must be in order to keep track of the sound information we get, in the short time that we have at our disposal before it dissipates, and how this is enough for our rich interior worlds of language, music, and perhaps even consciousness. Clearly, being able to track music is a symptom of a sound mind (Kraus's pun). So perhaps, by the use-it-or-lose-it maxim, training in music leads to a sound mind too. Who knows? I rather expected this book would widen the seam that Kraus so suggestively opened up.

I did get a sense that because music processing is so rich, it must recruit help from every corner of the brain. In such a complex cooperative effort, redundancy must be built in. The author does note that what the brain makes of physical sound waves is a quale of multiple (6?) dimensions (one of them being time), and suggests that there may be a connection between music and physics-type intelligence. In contrast, visual art gives us only two, and with difficulty, perhaps three dimensions, all of them spatial.

Because of the fail-safe mechanisms in place, the music processing system often survives even if part of the brain is damaged, temporarily or permanently. And if such be the case, the refurbished brain that's specifically trained on music must be able to remain functional for other, non-musical, tasks too. Well, that is the hope.

[Justin Mann · Rating 3 out of 5]

The brain is a curious thing. I believe it is more powerful than we know and that we'll never learn to use its full potential. But it sure is interesting. This book explores how music may just be a cure for so many mental issues. Hard to believe in some ways but totally makes sense in others. Let us continue to study neuroplasticity!

Paraphrased excerpt: If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it still make noise? No, because sound is a psychological concept. The tree will disturb molecules and make a mess, but if no creature hears it, the tree has not made sound. 

Listened to the audio book, read by the author. I thought there was going to be music in the audio version, but unfortunately due to licensing issues, there wasn't.

Could have used this toward Nappanee Public Library's 2025 Expand Your Horizons reading challenge, category: Read a book with the word secret in the title. However, I ended up reading another book for that category, so this is just a bonus!

[Sarah M · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting read on research studies done in the last few decades on how the brain interacts with music. I love how this supports the work of music therapists and shows how effective their work can be.

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am definitly not the reader for this book. Too much science and medical for me to understand, BUT I did find parts of the book understandable and thought it was very interesting and that research continues on music being helpful to healing. It is very informative and the right reader is going to find it amazing! It is well researched and really well written. I do appreciate the book as it shows how music affect people. Musicians may find it useful, as may anyone one working with music in the medical community. It would be nice to have music in hospitals! Maybe some medical people should read this book!
I received a Kindle ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mostly engaging nod to the power of music to address physical and mental concerns. As often is the case when science is involved, there is a bit too much documentation included, even when it is satisfying to know the theories and facts have been tested.

Levitin is an accomplished musician himself. He addresses pain and medical procedure benefits of music, mental health benefits, exercise, and autism and dementia. More interesting to me is the outline of benefits for seniors who study music either for the first time or are taking it up after a long lapse. It is nearly the number one way to keep the brain sharp in older years.

None of this is surprising though we might all need to be reminded. Playing music requires all of our senses and all of our limbs. Listening to music lifts and/or matches our moods, affecting our energy.

Levitin is trying to help music-as-therapy gain respect and inclusion in our health routines. Good info to have.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars
Filled with lots of interesting tidbits of information but lacking any real cohesive thesis. I was going to suggest that each chapter felt like its own independent essay but even within the chapters the author meandered and I never really knew what his point was.

I have a layperson's knowledge of neuroscience from my past reading history and quite a bit of musical theory, so I didn't find any of this too technical it just wasn't all that interesting. The author is very knowledgeable (and sometimes a little self-aggrandizing) I just wish all of his facts and studies cited added up to something more coherent and meaningful.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my January nonfiction pick, so naturally I read it for the first half of February 😂 This book had some fascinating lessons about music with a fairly wide range of topics—neuroscience, polyrhythms, and blue notes accompanied by many many cited studies. More than half the book was dryer than I wanted, but it was studded with glorious little insights. I am glad I did it on audio to carry me through the harder bits, though ultimately this would have made an even better documentary series.

[Genevieve Ogden · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I was incredibly fascinated by this book as both a science and music lover. I feel like I have a better understanding of both after reading this book. It’s a bit neuroscience heavy but that’s up my alley so it worked out.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

On one hand, incredibly interesting and insightful. On the other hand, overwhelmingly tedious and meandering and about 30% too long. At the end of the audiobook he starts singing a song he wrote and I almost cringed to death.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful insights about music and its ability to heal across multiple disease states.

[Clayton Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did not read it twice. The book has a lot of inspiration for concepts relating neuro and music. As a person who lives in both places, it spoke to me. I’ll probably recommend it to people.

[Shannon McGarvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The secret chord is you”
He blends science and experience to show how all music can be healing; not just 444Hz.