Every Brain Needs Music

Larry S. Sherman is a professor of neuroscience at the Oregon Health and Science University. An enthusiastic piano player since age four, he has published widely on brain development, aging, and disease, and given lectures on music and the brain throughout the world.Dennis Plies, who was for many years a music professor at Warner Pacific University, has been involved with music for his entire life. Starting at the age of seven, he played marimba for audiences and on television, and he has recorded albums in genres including gospel, classical, and jazz.Susi B. Davis began painting watercolors in her early teens. She continues to paint in watercolors and acrylics in her studio in Portland, Oregon, where she also teaches painting. She has previously illustrated several books, including children’s books about animals and a hiking guide featuring flowers and plants in the Pacific Northwest.

• PreludeOverture1. What Is Music, and Why Does It Exist?2. How Your Brain Composes Music3. Practicing Music, Part I: The Partnership of Motivated Music Students and Motivated Music Teachers4. Practicing Music, Part II: Understanding the Neuroscience5. Practicing Music, Part III: Changing Your Brain to Get It Right6. How Your Brain Performs Music7. How Your Brain Listens to Music8. Why Your Brain Likes MusicCoda: The Final Jam with Dennis and Larry—Reflective ImprovisationAcknowledgmentsAppendix A: First SurveyAppendix B: Second SurveyNotesBibliographyIndex

Engaging and insightful, Every Brain Needs Music illuminates the connection between art and science and shows us the miraculous way our bodies and brains listen to, practice, and create music. From the architecture of music and the brain to the artistry of a transcendent musical performance, each chapter reveals why, for many of us, music is as essential as breathing or eating.