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Nature of Music: Beauty, Sound and Healing
An important book that answers how music affects your mood and how music affects your brain
Music has a profound influence on our lives; affecting how we think, how we act, how we feel-even who we are. By learning more about the intimate relationship between music and ourselves, we can begin to harness that power and better our lives. A classical pianist, Draper writes about the ways in which the great works of the classical canon can help us cope with grief, give dimension to the mysteries of beauty and faith, aid us in recovery from illness, inspire us to create, or just give us a boost of energy.
This unique guide includes an extensive music bibliography with selections to suit moods, calm nerves, inspire, and heal. Anyone from the novice to the aficionado will find new ways to hear music as they never have before.
Music has a profound influence on our lives; affecting how we think, how we act, how we feel-even who we are. By learning more about the intimate relationship between music and ourselves, we can begin to harness that power and better our lives. A classical pianist, Draper writes about the ways in which the great works of the classical canon can help us cope with grief, give dimension to the mysteries of beauty and faith, aid us in recovery from illness, inspire us to create, or just give us a boost of energy.
This unique guide includes an extensive music bibliography with selections to suit moods, calm nerves, inspire, and heal. Anyone from the novice to the aficionado will find new ways to hear music as they never have before.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 29, 2001
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46 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 26, 2019
My musical education is woefully incomplete.... its actually rather non-existent! But I DO appreciate music of all kinds - I find the sound of the cello very soothing, I love pretty much all of the works by Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn and Pachelbel that I've listened to... but that's as far as my musical appreciation has ventured.. Until now!
This book has been a delight. In fact it was a jewel amongst all of the books I've read this year. A course in music appreciation like no other! I feel as though the author has held my hand throughout the entire reading and gently but passionately pointed out various things that I would never have learned on my own.
My library allows us to check out books for 3 weeks at a time and you can renew 3 times for a maximum of 12 weeks before you have to return it for 24 hours (and then you can start the 12 week cycle again - if no one else is waiting for it) and I will need to do this - or better yet I think I will purchase my own copy - because in 12 weeks, I've only managed to scratch the surface of this course in musical appreciation. I will probably be drinking from this book for years to come!
Here are a couple of quotes to give you an idea of the author's writing style and how she lovingly guides the reader:
" There are times when everyone benefits from the ability of water music to soothe and cool the spirit. After a hectic day at work, you may need the refreshing emotional shower of music like the Schumann Arabesque before you're ready for dinner or the company of friends."
"So deeply rooted in faith was Bach that even his grief could become a song and in the singing be transformed....Listening to Bach's suites and partitas for keyboard or for cello or violin is a way of enlarging our conversation with the world. Mountains and rivers, clouds and continents, the moon and stars, all feel present in these works. It is the whole cosmos Bach seems to embrace, not just the human world, viewed from a perspective that recognizes the unity of life. If music alone could make us better people, this music surely would."
"If you've not heard it recently, or ever, set aside seventy minutes to experience Beethoven's Ninth Symphony without interruption. Turn off the phone, close the door , and allow yourself to be transported. As you follow the music through darkness and confusion into light and affirmation, you will find yourself in a world where everything seems larger than life. The slashing kettledrums at the beginning of the Scherzo (second movement) are a stark contrast to the gossamer otherworldliness of the third movement Adagio. An hour into the fourth movement, when the glorious theme of the "Ode to Joy " is first taken up by the chorus, you will be gripped, no matter how many times you may have heard it, with a tremendous anticipation for the radiant finale that has become a symbol for freedome and brotherhood."
This book has been a delight. In fact it was a jewel amongst all of the books I've read this year. A course in music appreciation like no other! I feel as though the author has held my hand throughout the entire reading and gently but passionately pointed out various things that I would never have learned on my own.
My library allows us to check out books for 3 weeks at a time and you can renew 3 times for a maximum of 12 weeks before you have to return it for 24 hours (and then you can start the 12 week cycle again - if no one else is waiting for it) and I will need to do this - or better yet I think I will purchase my own copy - because in 12 weeks, I've only managed to scratch the surface of this course in musical appreciation. I will probably be drinking from this book for years to come!
Here are a couple of quotes to give you an idea of the author's writing style and how she lovingly guides the reader:
" There are times when everyone benefits from the ability of water music to soothe and cool the spirit. After a hectic day at work, you may need the refreshing emotional shower of music like the Schumann Arabesque before you're ready for dinner or the company of friends."
"So deeply rooted in faith was Bach that even his grief could become a song and in the singing be transformed....Listening to Bach's suites and partitas for keyboard or for cello or violin is a way of enlarging our conversation with the world. Mountains and rivers, clouds and continents, the moon and stars, all feel present in these works. It is the whole cosmos Bach seems to embrace, not just the human world, viewed from a perspective that recognizes the unity of life. If music alone could make us better people, this music surely would."
"If you've not heard it recently, or ever, set aside seventy minutes to experience Beethoven's Ninth Symphony without interruption. Turn off the phone, close the door , and allow yourself to be transported. As you follow the music through darkness and confusion into light and affirmation, you will find yourself in a world where everything seems larger than life. The slashing kettledrums at the beginning of the Scherzo (second movement) are a stark contrast to the gossamer otherworldliness of the third movement Adagio. An hour into the fourth movement, when the glorious theme of the "Ode to Joy " is first taken up by the chorus, you will be gripped, no matter how many times you may have heard it, with a tremendous anticipation for the radiant finale that has become a symbol for freedome and brotherhood."
December 30, 2019
This wonderful book is about the power of music to heal, inspire, calm or uplift us. Author Maureen Draper is a lover of great music, but even more a seeker and finder of the deepest nature that music can reveal to our spirit and psyche. With wonderful listening suggestions from classical masters as well as contemporary artists, The Nature of Music is a real treasure for anyone interested in turning their love of music into something more healing and transcendent.
February 15, 2026
I really liked this book. It opened me up to music in a way that music class could never do.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews