276. Daniel J. Levitin with Brian Nova and Marc McKennon: Music, Healing, and Human Biology

Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series

Have you ever thought about music not just as entertaining, but as something healing? Research suggests that the benefits of music can go beyond just jamming to catchy tunes. Neuroscientist and New York Times best-selling author of This Is Your Brain on Music Daniel J. Levitin explores this idea in his new book, I Heard There was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine.

Levitin’s recent release discusses music as one of humanity’s oldest medicines and explores the deep connections between music and healing that have been found across the globe. I Heard There Was a Secret Chord explores the curative powers of music, showing us how and why it can be one of the most potent therapies today. He gathers and synthesizes 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 incorporates interviews with multiple musicians, from Sting to Kent Nagano to Mari Kodama. And Levitin himself is not only an acclaimed scientist but an award-winning musician and composer in his own right, living the very nexus he explores in his work. I Heard There Was a Secret Chord makes an argument for the critical role music has played in human biology, illuminating the neuroscience of music and its profound benefits for people of all ages who engage with it.

Daniel J. Levitin is a neuroscientist, musician, and the author of four New York Times best-selling books, including This Is Your Brain on Music. He is dean emeritus at Minerva University, professor emeritus at McGill University, and visiting professor at UCLA. A saxophonist, guitarist, bass player, and vocalist, he has worked as a producer and recording consultant.

Brian Nova is considered one of the top Jazz Guitarists/Vocalists in the nation, in addition to being Director of Jazz Studies at Seattle University from 1990-1996. Nova has 7 recordings of his own as well as appearing on 70+ artist’s recordings. His latest CD release, The Brian Nova Collective, features Brian’s Trio with many of his favorite artists like Shelly Berg, Laurence Hobgood, Tom Scott, Larry Dunlap and others.

Marc McKennon is a talented multi-instrumentalist and scientist from Seattle. Starting out on the piano, he branched out to stringed instruments, eventually falling in love with the dobro. Although it is traditionally a bluegrass instrument, Marc fearlessly takes his dobro into the realms of jazz, rock, folk, country, and pretty much anywhere else he can. When he isn’t playing music, he is engaged in cancer and neurologic drug research and development as a PhD organic chemist.

Buy the Book I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine

The Elliott Bay Book Company