There's a Song for That is a motivational book about music and music therapy. It examines how music functions in our everyday lives and the power music possesses to promote learning, coping, and positive change. This collection of abbreviated research and personal anecdotes explores music's history and evolution, how music benefits the brain and body, and music therapy as a behavioral science. Learn how to integrate music therapeutically for yourself and your loved ones through drumming, songwriting, chakra work, and a multitude of music-based interactions. As the author reflects on a life of music and a career in music therapy, you may discover your own song for that tradition, emotion, memory, person, and occasion. Find your tempo and use your voice. Apply a new understanding of music to grow, prosper, and secure a positive mindset. Life is a song. Live out loud!

Échantillon de lecture

II. Exposition

"Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team, Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland." -Billy Joel

What exactly is music? At its simplest definition, music is a series of sounds and silences. My mentor, colleague, and friend, Barbara Crowe (2004) described "the phenomenon of music" as "an acoustic event involving specific combinations of sound moving over time."

Music is form, harmony, and expression. It is notes on a page, tempo, and dynamics, as instructed, articulated, and delivered. It is performed with various instruments and vocal techniques. It is an art form and a cultural activity. Music can be divided into multiple genres and sub-genres. We hear music live at concert and theater venues, and as an integral part of most media.

Music is one of the universal cultural aspects of all human society. It is a defining element of worship, ritual, and healing. Music is interchangeable with learning, history, and social identity. Consider how cohorts of abysmally treated individuals have bonded through the blues or spirituals. How folk music can bring fractured souls together to support and heal. How protest songs tell the ugly stories of unimaginable truths.

Music-effected benefits result from music's multiple functions. Crowe identified the following purposes of music: for pleasure/entertainment, aesthetic response (a response to "the beautiful" in art and nature), as a support to basic humanity, to touch the Divine, for communication, for its effects on activity level, and for support of human culture.

Music is both a process and a product. It is a function of nearly all aspects of everyday life, which we will examine further in later chapters. Let's first take a look at some basics.

A few definitions: Pitch refers to the high-low quality of a musical sound, determined by the frequency of its tone. Rhythm is a pattern of time, a recurring movement of sound, the relationship of tones over time (involves duration, beat, meter, tempo, and accent). Melody is a sequence of tones, a contoured movement of pitches and durations that form the main part of a piece of music. Harmony is the simultaneous occurrence of musical tones; it is the relationship of notes to each other, whether consonant (pleasant) or dissonant (tension-inducing). Form is the overall design of the music and how it progresses. Most world music traditions have culturally determined forms, including Western music with its sonatas and symphonies (overture, development, exposition, recapitulation, finale...wait a minute, this sounds familiar...) Timbre is also known as tone color-the unique character or quality of the sound as it relates to resonance and overtones. Dynamics is the variation in sound intensity or loudness-how quietly or loudly music is played or performed (pp or pianissimo is very soft; ff or fortissimo is very loud). Dynamics give music, particularly live music, its variety and personality.

I promised a painless history lesson, so let's explore the genres and artists. The following compilation is an extremely abbreviated history of music periods, popular genres, composers, and artists, reflecting significant events and innovations. This is by no means comprehensive and does not reflect any biases, although I can honestly say I have heard of every one of these composers/artists and I possess a majority in my music library. Apologies if I inadvertently omitted any of your favorites. Write me and set me straight!

Countless synapses were firing (as were the wiki searches) in generating this list of music factoids. So much periphe