"Aspects of Music" dives into the possible overlap in the human brain between music and language
PHOENIX, April 15, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Musician and educator Ford Mylius Lallerstedt has dedicated years of research to better understanding music and how the brain may process or produce musical elements. He now shares his findings in his new book, "Aspects of Music."
Lallerstedt's studies focus on exploring how the core technical concepts of counterpoint could be the key to understanding how music makes sense to the human brain, and how it creates and interprets musical expression. He evaluates Heinrich Schenker's musical theories, focusing on how Schenker's understanding of counterpoint in music shapes both the horizontal (melodic) and vertical (chordal) aspects of music.
"Aspects of Music" goes beyond established music theory by developing new explanatory ideas of how music and language might be interrelated in the brain.
"In the last 15 to 20 years so much progress has been made on understanding the human brain," Lallerstedt said. "We understand how the brain processes sound and speech better than ever before. By using that new information, combined with our understanding of music, I present readers with my new theory: the Human Faculty of Music."
The Human Faculty of Music is man's unique ability to make and understand music. It lets humans create sounds that carry meaning. This ability is developed by learning about music and being exposed to it. Some parts of this ability seem to be there even before any musical experiences. It's organized in a structured way, similar to how language works, with different levels of complexity built up step by step.
Scientists are still figuring out exactly how human brains create, process, and understand music, but "Aspects of Music" gives readers an abundance of data to begin probing deeper into the topic.
"Music is one of the major cognitive abilities shared across every country and culture in the world," Lallerstedt said. "By better understanding this universal experience, we can better understand what makes us who we are as a species."
"Aspects of Music"
By Ford Mylius Lallerstedt
ISBN: 9781665747394 (softcover); 9781665747417 (hardcover); 9781665747400 (electronic)
Available at Archway Publishing, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
About the author
Ford Mylius Lallerstedt is an American concert organist, composer, conductor, pianist, and educator. He has served on the faculties of the Curtis Institute, Juilliard School, State University of New York at Purchase, Mannes College of Music (organ), the Tanglewood Music Center conducting studies program with Robert Spano and Seiji Ozawa, and the Britt Festival's Young Artist Fellowship program with conductor Teddy Abrams. Lallerstedt sits on the Coudert Institute board of directors where he curates a select concert series featuring emerging young artists from the Curtis Institute. He is married to Metropolitan opera soloist Brenda Boozer.
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SOURCE Archway Publishing
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