Beethoven's Anvil: Music in Mind and Culture

by William L. Benzon

Why does the brain create music? In Beethoven's Anvil, cognitive scientist and jazz musician William Benzon finds the key to music's function in the very complexity of musical experience. Music demands that our symbol-processing capacities, motor skills, emotional and communicative skills all work in close coordination-not only within our own heads but with the heads (and bodies) of others. Music is at once deeply personal and highly social, highly disciplined and open to emotional nuance and interpretation. It's precisely this coordination of different mental functions, Benzon argues, that underlies our deep need to create and participate in music. Music synchronizes the brain and has had a profound, and little-appreciated, influence on the shape of the mind and human cultures. This is a remarkable book: both daring and scholarly, it offers a sweeping vision of a vital, underappreciated force in our minds and culture.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Psychology, Cultural, Science

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2002

Reviews

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took me months to get through. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. It's extremely academic, and I didn't understand some of the graphs and many of the concepts. I persevered, and the last chapter was especially interesting. Nevertheless, it was a rough book, and I was very glad to be done at long last - nearly months later. Below are some quotes and thoughts:

"Reverence may seem more obscure, at least tot hose who on't believe in divine powers. the late David Hays once remarked, however, that reverence is what the infant feels for its primary caregivers. This in turn would suggest that the arm-outstretched beseeching gesture people use when addressing their divinities may be descended from the raised arms that signal the infant's desire to be picked up." This symbolical concept is very interesting and beautiful to me - particularly in the context of a Heavenly Father or Mother.

Later, Benzon mentions lullabies, indicating that they help regulate an infant's mind. He says he "would like to believe" that lullabies are neurodynamically helpful above and beyond a mother's comforting presence, but concedes that we don't know. He continues, "What we do know is that rocking at just the right frequency (about one cycle per second) will calm crying infants; and rocking too is often part of the sleep ritual."

An awful lot of nonsense is set forward with our predecessors in the so-called evolutionary cycle from apes to people, but at least he had the sense to present it as speculation and was very forthright each time he was expounding on theories that were not based on any evidence whatsoever - just inferences drawn - mostly out of thin air. I appreciated his willingness to be honest about the difference between scientific facts and theories.

There was a part about song as map. This was particularly intriguing. The hypothesis was that music's narrative stream is regulated by the brain's navigation equipment. This is in a bit that talks about the Aborigines and how their use of Song-as-Map seems like a natural development and why. It was a fascinating concept, and its evidence was fascinating as well.

Towards the end of the book, as he's drawing conclusions, there are several really disturbing quotes and opinions presented. They're super racially charged and come across as Colonial in the worst way - not that such concepts didn't predate Colonialism (as the quotes did).

One conundrum Benzon presents is this: What is it about the life of a highly educated twentieth-century New York Jewish musician (Leonard Bernstein) that supports the experience of musical ecstasy? He goes on to consider illiterate cultures capable of the same musical ecstasy. He notes that brains of literate people have regions specialized for reading - specializations that must reflect the effects of early childhood experience - such as alphabet blocks or picture books. After recounting Bernstein's musical ecstasies, he elaborates on Louis Armstrong's and makes comparisons between the two and how their musical contributions influenced culture and why - pointing out that without listeners to partake, it would not have had the same effect.

Lots of interesting concepts, controversial material, and experiments in thought. Definitely a highbrow read for the much-better-educated-in-music than I am sort.

[Brian Shasha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I cant say that I enjoyed reading this book. I picked up this book with the belief that it would help me understand how and why we listen to music with a substantial scientific approach but what I read was more anecdotes and references to other philosophies that were used as constructs for ideas on why this author believes we all listen to music, the messages I got from the author was one that tries to separate man from monkey and how music is that bold line. After spending a couple days with this book, I surrendered and had to put it down for good.

[Isaac Kwiatkowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprised to see this book rated on average at three stars! In my opinion it is both an accurate and poetic contemplation on music in its highest form. This text helped me write one of my best undergrad essays, and I'm grateful Benzon wrote it.

[Jason Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting for awhile, but then just too long.

[Ellie O'Day · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too academic for my vocabulary. But some interesting ideas - and others I didn't agree with at all.

[Valerie Nelson]

I made a valiant attempt to read Beethoven's Anvil, but it's not something I could complete. Would someone explain to me what the title is about?

[隻眼簽到 · Rating 1 out of 5]

腦內交響曲：從認知科學與文化探討音樂的創造及聆賞。趙三賢譯。
現象陳述與經驗論斷間缺乏嚴謹的邏輯，枉稱科學家！

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes a functional look at the activity of music (or "Musicking" as Benzon refers to it). There are some very interesting passages of speculative theorizing about the origins of language, rhythm and music. But when I finished the book I felt that his thesis that when people Musick together there is a coupling of their nervous system. It seems unproblematic that people who perform or even listen to music together will synchronize their rhythm and pitch. They may even share meaning about the musical piece. Yet to claim that there is a coupling of nervous systems suggests a physical event at the biological level beyond merely engaging in synchronous behavior. To quote the lyrics from a song of my era, "What it is ain't exactly clear."

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't finish this book, though it had some interesting ideas. Very dense writing, and while the ideas are intriguing, the author provides very little scientific backing.

[Jpnreader · Rating 1 out of 5]

Came across as a first-draft, not a finished product.

[John]

gave up...interesting but too much medical terminology!

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Came across as a rough draft rather than an actually well-thought out book.