Meaning of Music

Music, in all its versatility, is deeply rooted in our lives: in concert halls, churches, theatres, pop and jazz venues, and via the media. We encounter music at home and in the street, at work and in our leisure time, and not infrequently at birth and death. But what is music, and what does it mean to humans? How do weprocess it, and how do we create it? Musicologist Leo Samama discusses these and many other questions while shaping a vibrant picture of music's importance in human lives both past and present. What is remarkable is that music is recognised almost universally as a type of language that we can use to communicate without words. We can hardly shut ourselves off from music, and considering its primal role in our lives, it comes as no surprise that few would ever want to. Able to traverse borders and appeal to the most disparate individuals, music is both a tool and a gift, and as Samama shows, a unifying thread running throughout the cultural history of mankind. -- from back cover.