Maybe you're what composer Aaron Copeland called a "gifted listener." If so, you probably reap wonderful benefits from music. In her book "Music in Everyday Life," Tia Denora talks about how, for many of us, the power of music is profound — helping us connect with inner feelings, improve relaxation, and increase concentration and focus. Music can also help us define ourselves and connect with others.
Book Description
The power of music in everyday life is widely recognized and this is reflected in social theory from Plato to Adorno that portrays music as an influence on character, social structure and action. This book uses a series of ethnographic studies and in-depth interviews to show how music is a constitutive feature of human agency. Drawing together concepts from psychology, sociology and sociolinguistics it develops a theory of music's active role in the construction of social life and highlights the aesthetic dimension of social order and organization in modern societies.
Contents
List of figures viii
Preface and acknowledgements ix
1 Formulating questions – the 'music and society' nexus 1
2 Musical affect in practice 21
3 Music asa technology of self 46
4 Music and the body 75
5 Music asa device of social ordering 109
6 Music's social powers 151
Bibliography 164
Index 177
