Consciousness, Literature and the Arts
Archive
Volume 4 Number 3, December 2003
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Synder,
Bob. Music and Memory: An Introduction. Cambridge MA.: MIT Press, 2000.
pp289 ISBN 0-262-69237-6 pbk $
Reviewed
by
Music,
in one style or another, in one way or another, touches all peoples. Music
and Memory, by composer, video artist and teacher Bob Synder, tries to
explain why music influences so many people. Originally conceived as a text for
Synder’s undergraduate music composition classes at the School of Art
Institute of Chicago, Music and Memory proposes that our appreciation and
understanding of music may be linked to cognitive factors and “to the nervous
system’s ability to process information” (xiii). In other words, the text
attempts to reinforce the lyrical phrase, “I got the music in me” through
the use of scholarly rigor and evolving theoretical positions.
The text is divided into two
parts. Part one contains nine chapters dealing
with cognitive psychology with a specific focus on memory states. Synder
spends a great deal of effort explaining short term and long term memory,
closure, categories and schemas as frameworks for experience and memory. Within
these first hundred pages, he provides detailed descriptions and diagrams of the
neurological circuitry that creates the different memory types. Despite part
one’s concentration on psychological explanations, music is never far from the
surface. For example, wile examining schemas as the “large network of memories
with potential associative connections” (96), Synder brings music into the
discussion by stating that “schemas in the form of musical patterns and styles
are largely responsible for our feelings of expectations while listening to a
piece of music” (96) His constant interweaving of musical links to the
scientific data retrieves Part one from spiraling into a neurological abyss.
Thus, implicitly or explicitly, Part one contains a rhythmic flow where the
reader willingly succumbs to the current of scientific information because that
information will eventual shore-up on the banks of musical significance.
Clearly, Synder’s main argument
is dependent upon the reader’s understanding of cognitive psychology and
current theoretical consideration. Synder states “this book is about memory
and how it effects our perception of the world and our experience of music”.
To validate this thesis he uses qualitative evidence in one area of research and
then transfers those findings to the realm of music.
Part Two is the musical
manifestation of part one. Here, the text discusses melody, rhythm, meter, and
form in order to further the statement that “in music that has communication
as its goal, the structure of the music must take into consideration the
structure of memory – even if we want to work against that structure” (3).
In this section, the lucid writing, generous musical examples, notes, listening
suggestions, and detailed glossary signifies the author’s consideration for
his audience. The breadth of the material in this energized latter section is
excellent for students interested in linking psychology to music composition and
comprehension. The fact that Synder recognizes that the shifting planes of
research may alter his statements lends further credibility to his scholarly
integrity and dedication to an interdisciplinary study of music and memory.
However, this book is not for
everyone. Certainly, the reader does not have to have musical training; yet, the
depth of Synder’s argument makes an understanding of music and psychology to
be beneficial. Overall, Music and Memory reads like a well-written and
enthusiastic course text. Although Synder mentions in the Preface
how the individual’s cultural and experiential knowledge influences
musical perception, his interest is in describing how “the human nervous
system is subject to universal cognitive constraints, some of which impinge on
possibilities for musical structure” (xvii). And he remains faithful to this
task. But his suggestion that the concepts in this text be applied to music of
other cultures could be of particular interest for those interested in arts
education. While beyond the text’s scope, reader’s can transfer Synder’s
interesting findings and ask how music can influence the acquisition of various
types of knowledge. Can his musical connections with cognitive theory provide
the scientific evidence needed to save music programs in formal education? Can
his discussion of memory distinctions and cognitive concepts
in relation to the origins of certain kinds of musical structures be a
possible theoretical framework for the application of music to enhance the
construction of sequences of information? Music and Memory, by Bob Synder
is thoroughly researched and presented. Like our favourite piece of music, the
concepts presented in this text, while complex and at times complicated, stay in
our memory so that we are left humming a new tune with new possibilities.