Book Description

Music has a profound influence on our lives; affecting how we think, how we act, how we feel-even who we are. By learning more about the intimate relationship between music and ourselves, we can begin to harness that power and better our lives. A classical pianist, Draper writes about the ways in which the great works of the classical canon can help us cope with grief, give dimension to the mysteries of beauty and faith, aid us in recovery from illness, inspire us to create, or just give us a boost of energy.

This unique guide includes an extensive music bibliography with selections to suit moods, calm nerves, inspire, and heal. Anyone from the novice to the aficionado will find new ways to hear music as they never have before.

"A lovely, lyrical, elegantly useful guide for all of us, healthy or ill, who want to reap full benefit from the wonderful world of music." (Barrie R. Cassileth, Ph.D., Chief, Integrative Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center)

From Publishers Weekly

A pianist offers a classical music lesson with New Age overtones in this look at the healing power of music. The first half of the book contains a concise explanation of how to listen to music and defines musical terms like pitch and dissonance. But when Draper sounds off on music's power to "balance the emotions, restore equilibrium and positively affect our well being" (she recommends an "emotional shower of music"), some readers may want to tune out. In her attempt to maintain a breezy tone, Draper is a bit too fast and loose with the science behind her assertions. She makes unsupported statements like "numerous studies have shown that... we learn better when thinking is linked to feeling" and tells the unsubstantiated story of a teacher who recovered her eyesight through daily doses of Debussy. Still, Draper's love for music is contagious. She provides a useful set of listening exercises, or music breaks, at the end of each chapter, as well as an extensive "listening bibliography" for enhancing every aspect of life, from work to sex. Asterisks throughout the text mark pieces that are on the book's companion CDs, available separately from Spring Hill Music. (Feb. 1) Forecast: Don Campbell popularized the idea that music has discernible, positive effects on learning and development in The Mozart Effect (1998), a sleeper that has attracted legions of fans. Though Campbell's blurb on this book has a generic ring, it should help guide his readers to Draper's effort to extend his ideas on the benefits of music into the realm of emotional health.

From Booklist

Music both expresses moods and emotions and evokes them from listeners. The right music at the right time can change one's emotional state from, say, depression to elation, from sadness to joy. Employing her own life experiences and those of others with whom she works as a music teacher, pianist, and presenter of music therapy techniques, Draper describes how music relates to nature, the psyche, and the expression of mood. Citing numerous musical examples, many of which are on two CDs that may be separately ordered, she discusses musical form, tonality, and harmony, and shows how they were used by composers of the last three centuries. She then considers how to listen to music and to let it change one's mood, and suggests various listening exercises to facilitate the experiences she discusses. Easy to read, the book thus neatly introduces the ways in which music is constructed and how music can help restore order and happiness in one's life. Recommended especially for those who want to cope better with frenetic present-day society.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Alan Hirsch

Book Dimension

Height (mm) 202 　　　　　　 Width (mm) 129