Comparing Notes: How We Make Sense of Music

by Adam Ockelford

A tap of the foot, a rush of emotion, the urge to hum a tune; without instruction or training we all respond intuitively to music. Comparing Notes explores what music is, why we are all musical, and how abstract patterns of sound that don't actually mean anything can in fact be so meaningful. Taking the reader on a clear and compelling tour of major twentieth century musical theories, Professor Adam Ockelford arrives at his own important psychologically grounded theory of how music works. From pitch and rhythm to dynamics and timbre, he shows how all the elements of music cohere through the principle of imitation to create an abstract narrative in sound that we instinctively grasp, whether listening to Bach or the Beatles. Based on three decades of innovative work with blind children and those on the autism spectrum, the book draws lessons from neurodiversity to show how we all develop musically, and to explore the experience of music from composer and performer to listener.Authoritative, engaging and full of wonderful examples from across the musical spectrum, Comparing Notes is essential reading for anyone who's ever loved a song, sonata or symphony, and wondered why.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Psychology

352 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 9, 2017

Reviews

[dv · Rating 4 out of 5]

An ambitious book which tries to make sense of our experience with music, starting from the experience of extraordinary (blind and autistic) pupils and culminating with a fresh theorization of everybody's experience with music.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was way more intense than I expected it to be in terms of theory - musical, psychological, and philosophical. Ockelford walks through many different explanations of what music is and how people come to appreciate it as music and then presents his own zygonic theory as well. At its core, his argument is that an understanding of music comes from imitation at various levels - structurally within the music itself as well as socially when playing or hearing the piece. There were a lot of printed music and annotations to explain the theory. Although I can read and play music, I'm about as far from having absolute pitch as possible, so it was pretty challenging to imagine many of his examples when you couldn't actually hear the pieces. I would have loved QR codes while reading, so I could have listened to the music being described while reading about it! After getting through the dense theory, the later chapters about the meaning of music, the developmental trajectory of understanding it, and the social interactions between composing, performing, and listening to music were quite intriguing. I would have preferred a briefer coverage of zygonic theory and more of these portions. I also really enjoyed the anecdotes about the students that Ockelford worked with, and would have loved to hear more about them.

"note"

[Yoyo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The questions "What is the meaning of music?" and "Why is music is a universal language?" always puzzle me. This book has definitely provided me more insights into how music works by discussing concepts such as the zygonic theory and repetition. It has already influenced me to listen to music more consciously and to analyze the underlying structural ideas.

[Forrest · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some very interesting ideas, but I found the writing style a bit obtuse. Perhaps that just comes with the territory of the subject being discussed, but I still thought it could be clearer.

[sapph · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was brilliant, super easy to read and understandable. i loved the integration of bits of music with the text, it was done in such a way that you didn't really need to play along with a musical instrument to make sense of it, like some books.

[Kelvin Hayes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should have been fascinated but was bored to even pick it up. Next!

[Javier Forment · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I think that the 'zygonic' theory is really amazing as a framework for understanding what music is and "how we make sense" (and feelings) of it.

[Elizabeth]

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