McGill Neuroscientist's New Book Explores How Music Shaped Civilization
A must-read’ for fans of 2006 bestseller ‘Your Brain on Music’
McGill University neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin’s 2006 bestseller, This is Your Brain on Music, earned critical acclaim for its innovative take on how we make and react to music.
Now, Levitin has written an encore, The World in Six Songs, that once again blends cutting-edge science with his own experiences as a musician and music-industry professional. The new book, however, explores an even broader question: How has music shaped human civilization?
Montreal readers will be able to meet Levitin at a book launch and signing sponsored by the McGill Alumni Association on Sept. 9, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Arts Building’s Moyse Hall, 853 Sherbrooke St. W. Those interested in attending should pre-register by emailing: event.registration [at] mcgill.ca
“For fans of ‘Brain on Music,’ this is a must-read,” according to a Seattle Times review of Six Songs. “For other readers, this is a literary, poetic, scientific and musical treat waiting to be discovered.” Since its release three weeks ago, Six Songs has made the Globe and Mail top-10 bestseller list for hardcover nonfiction and the New York Times bestseller list.
Levitin, James McGill Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, runs the Laboratory for Music Perception, Cognition and Expertise at McGill. He draws on the lab’s neurological research to explain how music and dance enabled the bonding and friendship necessary for society, science and art to evolve over thousands of years.
Music, Levitin contends, is “not simply a distraction or a pastime, but a core element of our identity as a species, an activity that paved the way for more complex behaviours such as language, large-scale co-operative undertakings, and the passing down of important information from one generation to the next.”
There are essentially six kinds of songs that do all of this, he argues: songs of friendship, joy, comfort, knowledge, religion and love.
Before becoming a research scientist, Levitin was a record producer and professional musician. As a producer, he has a number of gold records to his credit, and has worked on albums by artists such as Stevie Wonder, Midnight Oil and k.d. lang. He also has played professionally with Mel Tormé, Blue Oyster Cult and David Byrne. His new book has earned endorsements from an array of readers, including Sting and Bobby McFerrin.
Six Songs, a New York Times review observes, highlights Levitin’s “natural passion and estimable aptitude for writing about music.”
The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature is available in bookstores across the U.S. and Canada and from major online booksellers.
