{"product_id":"9781467056229","title":"A Language of Emotion: What Music Does and How it Works","description":"\u003cp\u003eThese lively, informative essays, all related to music, are as accessible as a chatty bedside reader.  A central theme is listener response, and the techniques and structures that mold it.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe story starts with sound waves, the ear, and the brain.  Did song come before speech?  Was it a factor in evolution?  Some think singing helps complete the wiring of that organic work-in-progress, the infant brain.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eCheck out the frequency doubling that built our familiar scale.  Learn where the word ‘organizing’ came from.  Follow development of the instruments as they achieved volume, accurate intonation, range, and consistent timbre.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThere is criticism, but little disparagement.  Any willing audience deserves respect.  Musical examples come from Tin Pan Alley as often as the opera. Whether at a jazz club or the concert hall, the writer cannot hide his impatience with artists seeking to educate or intimidate.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMusic can be recreation or vocation.  Does your instrument match your personality or some physical attribute?  We instantly distinguish a bell, a piano, and a guitar; why not a clarinet, flute, or violin?  What does the conductor do?  \u003ci\u003eA Language of Emotion\u003c\/i\u003e embraces such matters.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe relatively imprecise science of Psychology examines music working its magic.  We all have favorites.  Is it hype and marketing and peer influence, or do our choices make personal statements?  Music, politics, religion, and social forces are twisted threads in the fabric of civilization.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNothing reflects the spirit of an era better than the works of its most creative individuals.  In most cases, they blend smoothly in sequence.  Monteverdi, Beethoven, and Stravinsky, to name just three, clearly got ahead of the curve and helped define the world around them.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"AuthorHouse","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47163844854000,"sku":"9781467056229","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781467056229_p0.jpg?v=1763689830","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781467056229","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}