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Science assures us of that.
Experts in all fields are singing the same tune.
Anthropologists, evolutionary biologists, neurosurgeons, and psychologists
have all come to the same conclusion while taking different paths to reach it.
They believe the "musical" area in the brain created human nature.
have all come to the same conclusion while taking different paths to reach it.
They believe the "musical" area in the brain created human nature.
Music is as universal as language.
It predates agriculture. Some scientists believe it even existed before language, its melodies promoting the cognitive devolopment necessary for speech.
Americans spend more money on music than they do on prescription drugs or sex. The average American spends more than five hours a day listening to it. Obviously, it is important to us.
It is important to FRENCH QUARTER NOCTURNE as well.
http://www.amazon.com/FRENCH-QUARTER-NOCTURNE-ebook/dp/B004YTMNRG
And with a title like that that, it should come as no surprise. It is important to the lead character, Samuel McCord, too.
It is no coincidence that he owns a jazz club. A jazz club he named after his wife, Meilori.
Music to him has become a remembrance of shadows, an echo of times spent with friends, and a glimpse into a time when he was loved.
He is a monster who mourns the loss of his humanity. So much so that he nutures it in the souls of those who pass his club, lost and hungry.
McCord sees life in terms of music.
When he first views the flooded streets of New Orleans, he hears Bette Midler singing, "I think It's Going To Rain Today," especially the refrain "human kindness is overflowing."
He championed the tragic jazz legend, Billie Holiday. His wife's favorite song was Billie's "You Go To My Head." He often hears it throughout the novel.
And when he is facing his death before overwhelming odds, he once again hears that song before murmuring the one name he promised himself would be the last on his lips : "Meilori."
Here is the Canadian legend, Diana Krall, singing YOU GO TO MY HEAD: {I like to think of this video as Diana rehearsing in the smoky haze of Meilori's.}
It predates agriculture. Some scientists believe it even existed before language, its melodies promoting the cognitive devolopment necessary for speech.
Americans spend more money on music than they do on prescription drugs or sex. The average American spends more than five hours a day listening to it. Obviously, it is important to us.
It is important to FRENCH QUARTER NOCTURNE as well.
http://www.amazon.com/FRENCH-QUARTER-NOCTURNE-ebook/dp/B004YTMNRG
And with a title like that that, it should come as no surprise. It is important to the lead character, Samuel McCord, too.
It is no coincidence that he owns a jazz club. A jazz club he named after his wife, Meilori.
Music to him has become a remembrance of shadows, an echo of times spent with friends, and a glimpse into a time when he was loved.
He is a monster who mourns the loss of his humanity. So much so that he nutures it in the souls of those who pass his club, lost and hungry.
McCord sees life in terms of music.
When he first views the flooded streets of New Orleans, he hears Bette Midler singing, "I think It's Going To Rain Today," especially the refrain "human kindness is overflowing."
He championed the tragic jazz legend, Billie Holiday. His wife's favorite song was Billie's "You Go To My Head." He often hears it throughout the novel.
And when he is facing his death before overwhelming odds, he once again hears that song before murmuring the one name he promised himself would be the last on his lips : "Meilori."
Here is the Canadian legend, Diana Krall, singing YOU GO TO MY HEAD: {I like to think of this video as Diana rehearsing in the smoky haze of Meilori's.}
Music is important in my life, both in listening to it and playing it. And I do give iTunes a good chunk of change every year.
ReplyDeleteI've never paid for sex, but since I have a wife, it does cost me. However, worth every penny!
Alex:
ReplyDeleteI hope your wife doesn't read your comments! :-)
I have a broad eclectic taste in music -- so both McCord and Victor share my tastes -- though both are different one from the other!
I hope you enjoy BATTLESHIP this weekend. It will be next weekend before I can go! Rats! Thanks for visiting and staying to chat, Roland
I love that music is so much a part of your story. You've inspired me to involve it more in my own work!
ReplyDeleteHi Roland .. I'd love to do some reading on this subject .. one day. But can so easily believe the way everyone's coming round to this thought .. and we've sung our stories over the millennia ..
ReplyDeleteLove Diana Krall .. cheers Hilary
Heather:
ReplyDeleteI think of my novels as prose movies. So for every movie there must be a soundtrack! :-) In BEST OF ENEMIES, the shade of Victor haunts Alice. And she is comforted whenever she hears a melody he is filling her head with, for that means he is still with her -- if only in a spectral way.
In one of later chapters, LAST DANCE, he manages to manifest himself in a ghost body, and while they cannot touch, they dance, placing their hands right above the other's palms, flowing with the waltz Victor is filling Alice's mind with -- all the while surrounded by Sidhe, waiting for the tune to end so that they may kill both of them.
I'm glad you are thinking of putting music in your novels. I believe if the reader can hear the melody mentioned in the prose, it makes it more intimate somehow. Thanks for visiting. AT&T is still having me in exile!
Hilary:
THE WORLD IN SIX SONGS by Daniel Levitin is a good book. I've just started it on my Kindle. I think songs help to make us a community in a sense. I love Diana Krall, too! Just don't tell her husband! LOL. Roland