Music is one of humanity's oldest medicines. From the Far East to the Ottoman Empire Europe to
Africa and the pre-colonial Americas many cultures have developed their own rich traditions
for using sound and rhythm to ease suffering promote healing and calm the mind. In his
latest work neuroscientist and New York Times best-selling author Daniel J. Levitin ( This Is
Your Brain on Music ) explores the curative powers of music showing us how and why it is one
of the most potent therapies today. He brings together for the first time the results of
numerous studies on music and the brain demonstrating how music can contribute to the
treatment of a host of ailments from neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and
Alzheimer's to cognitive injury depression and pain. Levitin is not your typical
scientist-he is also an award-winning musician and composer and through lively interviews with
some of today's most celebrated musicians from Sting to Kent Nagano and Mari Kodama he shares
their observations as to why music might be an effective therapy in addition to plumbing
scientific case studies music theory and music history. The result is a work of dazzling
ideas cutting-edge research and jubilant celebration. I Heard There Was a Secret Chord
highlights the critical role music has played in human biology illuminating the neuroscience
of music and its profound benefits for those both young and old.
