Of Mind and Music

by Laird Addis

In this fascinating account of the way in which we understand music, Laird Addis builds on the idea, first articulated by Susanne Langer, that passages of music symbolize emotions and other conscious states. He maintains that the unique bond joining music and feelings is based on a previously unnoticed affinity between consciousness and sound. Addis combines a scholar's insight with a musician's sensibility to make an engaging and convincing statement that will help readers comprehend music's importance in human affairs.

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Jonathan Pearl · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this text is an interesting elaboration on ideas of Susanne Langer's ("Philosophy in a New Key") and others, the obtuse writing style, which unfortunately accompanies many philosophical comtemplations of this sort (cf. "Language, Music and Mind," by Diana Raffman), gets in the way of the ideas which it presents. Addis, in fact, seems to go out of his way to make each sentence as tangential as possible, with as many parenthetic clauses as one might imagine. Those reservations aside, it fulfills its mission of presenting the author's interesting contemplations on music and the mind.