Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation (Bradford Books)

Finally, a real five-star book about music. For some reason, there are thousands of books about language, but almost no serious ones analyzing the biology and psychology of humanity's other communication systesms. Every society has a highly developed musical tradition, every society uses music in countless ways including the most sacred religious ceremonies, and yet hardly anyone has stepped forward to analyze it as a basic communication channel for humans. David Huron's book is on surprise in music. He shows how music creates expectations of pattern, from simple rhythm up to very complex patterns (the concerto, the symphony...) that only sophisticated listeners know. Musicians notoriously love to play with these patterns, to surprise the listeners and thus create new pieces and prevent boredom. Huron distinguishes several types of surprise, on the basis of a highly sophisticated evolutionary and cognitive psychology as well as an astounding knowledge of music. He knows everything from the complexities of Beethoven and Schoenberg to the joik songs of the Saami of arctic Europe, and even knows what happens when you play the latter to rural folk in southern Africa. By contrast, such earlier works as Robert Jourdain's MUSIC, THE BRAIN AND ECSTASY were greatly limited by confining their attention to western classical and classical-derived pop forms, thus missing everything from cross-rhythms to alternative scales. Surprise presupposes a whole file of knowledge of patterns and schemas, and a deep cognitive and emotional investment in same. Huron takes these mostly for granted. Obviously, the next step is to figure out why people love complicated musical patterns in the first place. Especially, humans love the theme-and-variation type of play with patterns that dominates music from Elizabethan lute solos to jazz to ragas. These are not exactly surprising, especially when you know the pieces, but they are always delightful. Why? Huron mentions body rhythms, speech rhythms, and the like. There is obviously more. I think there is much more about pattern--in music and in general--that we need to study.

I got my degree in psychology in the 50's and did graduate work in the 60's. In the 90's I spent three years on a private research study I call the Architecture of Harmony. This study produced considerable data relating to how melodies and their harmonies interact with each other. I sought to find underlying facts (some psychological) as to what makes harmony in our Western music work. This study is still inconclusive, but not without some discoveries of several of the simple functions of melody and harmony and how they influence each other. I wrote up thirteen short paragraphs of findings to at least summarize some of the 'answers' or interrelationships the study produced. In my search for any other writings on this subject,I ran across the term 'amphibophony' ascribed to the writings of a gentleman in France or Spain. He was a mayor or military officer. He mentioned that he had found the bases for harmony that I certainly wished to read, but I had lost the reference. That's all I know of him. My further searching for his work was fruitless. And then I heard of someone who claimed to more about him and his work, but that led nowhere. Many educated musicians, mostly college teachers, claimed the answer(s) lay in the field of aesthetics. I can't help but feel that this is close to psychology as music is primarily a human construct. Huron's book helps some in my understanding of harmony, as he discussed tendency tones. I was also very interested in chord tendencies. At this moment, I have not finished the book as i loaned it to my business partner, Pete Mickelson, also interested in this stuff. After meeting Pete sixteen years ago we decided to invent HearFones to help singers hear how they really sound. (They really work!). I got very busy with that and still am.Thanks for listening,Raymond C. Miller

If I expect something in my life is my people or memories. So let’s expand. This book suggests that music simulates but what if you expect something sweet and good. Music makes you dreamfull. So this book is for musicians to make people dream.Let’s see the future of the industry.

Wonderful read! Required reading for the musically obsessed!

Everything is fine with your shipment.My name is computed wrong on your papers .My Last name is ZUR not AUR.Watching the keyboard I can understand how you made the mistake but please correct it in all your documents.Yours,Menachem Zur

I came to this book because I think Daniel Levitin recommended this book in his own "This Is Your Brain On Music", which was a good read but I felt it skimmed some details that I would've liked to know more about. This book goes very, very deep into musical expectation and its relevance in culture, listening habits, art, and for me it was an effective gateway into the field of psychology, even evolutionary biology. It never gets too preachy, always aware that expectation is just one element of music. It gets very dry at times, and if you've been to music school you can probably skip the number-crunching bits on cadential harmony and meter. Still, good reading.

Great information, and written in an accessible way. David Huron makes well-supported information fun to read! I HIGHLY recommend this book to any musician, regardless of field.

A great book even the introduction!Fast shipping and pleasant transaction. Thank you!

Reúne gran cantidad de información sobre música y estética experimental, una rama de la estética que no se puede ignorar. Lo leo desde la óptica de la música contemporánea, y es un libro que hace reflexionar. La modernidad también tiene sus tópicos, y un libro como este contribuye a ver cuántas afirmaciones se hacen sin pensarlas del todo.

I enjoy listening to many different types of music, but the scientist in me wants to know why I experience feelings when I hear certain notes, chords, scales, timings, rhythms and so on. I don't want the science to spoil my enjoyment, just to help me appreciate why a minor chord is sadder than a major,etc. This book describes how we anticipate what is coming next in a piece of music, and shows how an element of unexpectedness makes for a more interesting musical experience than baa baa black sheep played strictly 4/4 time with no feeling, and lots lots more besides. An interesting read. Very informative. Needs a bit of scientific knowledge to fully understand the explanations, but well pitched. This one will remain on my bookshel for some time!

The shipping was quick and the read, from what I heard from my boyfriend, is interesting and informative. Really helps one explore a different facet of music.

Huron did a brilliant job in presenting a critical overview on the relevant scholarship and in providing results and discussions from his own research. If you are interested in what a true music scientist has to say about the psychology of music expectation in a way that is not focused on the common practice period (or on a handful or genres, for that matter), this book is a must-have. Some would prefer more popular authors that are oriented at scientific dissemination (such as Daniel Levitin and Philip Ball, who actually quotes several works by Huron) and therefore would be much less useful to music scholars, but Huron is the real deal.

All as it should be