Stendhal Syndrome
The frisson of music
July 11, 2007 Filed in: The real
world
"The Murder of Mystery: How Silicon
Valley joined the superstitious fringe as the
enemy of open inquiry" penned by Jaron
Lanier in Discover Magazine, September 2006,
begins sadly, thus: "Last week I had a jarring
conversation with one of the most influential
figures in Silicon Valley. Me: I wish more kids
were learning to be musicians. He: In 10 years
computers will be able to ... generate music
better than human musicians ... There might be
good reasons to teach kids music, but creating a
new generation of professional musicians is not
one of them."
I say sadly, because though we don't necessarily know a lot about the relationship between music and human beings, there is something clearly wonderful between the two. Farhad Manjoo's review of Daniel Levitin's book This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of A Human Obsession in Salon: "Why human beings make and enjoy music is, in Levitin's telling, a delicious story of evolution, anatomy, perception and computation -- a story that's all the more thrilling when you consider its result, the joy of living in a world filled with music ... The brain systems they discovered explain why music -- whether in high school or in life beyond -- can touch you so deeply: Our brains seem to have evolved to maximize musical ability. Indeed, Levitin argues, music has been essential to our very success as a species." There's Paul Robertson's research in this area (Music: an ancient medium for a new millennium is the text of a talk he gave in 2000). And I can't wait for Oliver Sacks' upcoming book Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain.
Rapture from listening to some special piece of music can be a Stendhal Syndrome experience. The 1993 Arts & Antiques article The Stendhal Syndrome by Alexander Theroux is a much more wonderful portrayal than the Wikipedia version I point to, but it's not on the web. A small passage: "I remember a friend of mine being transported - weeping - as he sat on the floor, feet crossed, listening to Wagner's great opera, Tristan and Isolde."
And speaking of weeping while transported: If you haven't yet read about the experiment with the marvelous violinist Joshua Bell, set up by Gene Weingarten and the Washington Post, do so: Pearls Before Breakfast and also the follow-up commentary.
I say sadly, because though we don't necessarily know a lot about the relationship between music and human beings, there is something clearly wonderful between the two. Farhad Manjoo's review of Daniel Levitin's book This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of A Human Obsession in Salon: "Why human beings make and enjoy music is, in Levitin's telling, a delicious story of evolution, anatomy, perception and computation -- a story that's all the more thrilling when you consider its result, the joy of living in a world filled with music ... The brain systems they discovered explain why music -- whether in high school or in life beyond -- can touch you so deeply: Our brains seem to have evolved to maximize musical ability. Indeed, Levitin argues, music has been essential to our very success as a species." There's Paul Robertson's research in this area (Music: an ancient medium for a new millennium is the text of a talk he gave in 2000). And I can't wait for Oliver Sacks' upcoming book Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain.
Rapture from listening to some special piece of music can be a Stendhal Syndrome experience. The 1993 Arts & Antiques article The Stendhal Syndrome by Alexander Theroux is a much more wonderful portrayal than the Wikipedia version I point to, but it's not on the web. A small passage: "I remember a friend of mine being transported - weeping - as he sat on the floor, feet crossed, listening to Wagner's great opera, Tristan and Isolde."
And speaking of weeping while transported: If you haven't yet read about the experiment with the marvelous violinist Joshua Bell, set up by Gene Weingarten and the Washington Post, do so: Pearls Before Breakfast and also the follow-up commentary.