Musical Cognition: A Science of Listening [Hardcover]

The overall attitude and ideas of this book are superb. It is short and arguably over-priced though. The message that music is a subjective experience in the mind of the listener is great, as is the scientific focus.

He discusses how music is distinct from language or from abstract sound. Sections describe issues with perfect pitch (how it isn't really useful for music compared to relative pitch, and that is why it doesn't develop strongly in most people; yet studies show that most of us have some absolute pitch sensitivity); beat induction (how newborn babies feel the beat, how evidence shows cockatoos do too -- though Honing is uncomfortable for some reason with the idea); how every listener is musical, and a few other subjects.

There is a lot to get into about understanding the experience of listening to music. I like that Honing doesn't make everything about cultural associations but deals with the essence of music itself. However, he doesn't get into depth much, so you just get a surface impression of the concepts without learning that much.

I recommend asking your local library to get a copy so everyone can read it once. It isn't a book all that worthwhile to own.

I thought of giving it 3 stars, but it deserves 4 for being the right attitude, enjoyable writing style, and all around decent content; it is just a bit short and minimal.

I wrote a thorough review at my website (see my comment here)

› Go to Amazon.com to see the review  4.0 out of 5 stars