Musical Forces: Motion, Metaphor, and Meaning in Music

by Steve Larson

Steve Larson drew on his 20 years of research in music theory, cognitive linguistics, experimental psychology, and artificial intelligence―as well as his skill as a jazz pianist―to show how the experience of physical motion can shape one's musical experience. Clarifying the roles of analogy, metaphor, grouping, pattern, hierarchy, and emergence in the explanation of musical meaning, Larson explained how listeners hear tonal music through the analogues of physical gravity, magnetism, and inertia. His theory of melodic expectation goes beyond prior theories in predicting complete melodic patterns. Larson elegantly demonstrated how rhythm and meter arise from, and are given meaning by, these same musical forces.

Genres: Music

390 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Lazuli · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the end, I feel like Larson brings up an excellent idea: to think of music as metaphor. I think the book is flawed in how Larson tries to wield that idea; he immediately retreats into atomistic and reductive Western music theory and tries to use proir to validate the latter and vice versa. This book is also published posthumously, and is more or less a first draft.

Despite the flaws, Larson's idea is compelling and he was a talented writer. A fun, provocative read.