Why Music Moves Us

Music has extraordinary power to move us, but how and why does it affect us? What is going on, emotionally, physically and cognitively when listeners have strong emotional responses to music? This is a highly readable, original and philosophically important book for anyone who has ever been moved by music.

Music has extraordinary power to move us, but how and why does it affect us? What is going on, emotionally, physically and cognitively when listeners have strong emotional responses to music? This is a highly readable, original and philosophically important book for anyone who has ever been moved by music.

'Combining philosophy, psychology, and music history, Why Music Moves Us is a remarkable multidisciplinary achievement. Bicknell offers a fresh take on the emotional power of music by exploring a neglected but vital element of the Romantic aesthetic: the musical sublime'

• Theodore Gracyk, author of Rhythm and Noise and Listening to Popular Music

'For Bicknell, who fully understands music's ability to arouse and represent emotions, music is of moral benefit in educating them' - Times Literary Supplement

'...a more collaborative approach to understanding music...' British Journal of Asthetics

Autorentext
JEANETTE BICKNELL teaches philosophy in Toronto, Canada. She has written widely on aesthetics and philosophy of music.

Inhalt
Preface Acknowledgements The Tears if Odysseus History: Music Gives Voice to the Ineffable Tears, Chills and Broken Bones The Music Itself Explaining Strong Responses to Music (I) Explaining Strong Responses to Music (II) The Sublime Revisited Conclusion: Values References Index