Explaining The Complex Science Behind Music With Plain Style

By Tori Horman

        When learning new things, I often find myself getting frustrated when the author uses confusing language to describe a concept. It makes me feel as though I’m not smart enough to grasp what is being talked about, and so I often give up trying to learn about it. One hobby that I’m very passionate about is music. I enjoy listening to it, as well as playing it. Because of this, the book Why You Love Music: From Mozart to Metallica--The Emotional Power of Beautiful Sounds by John Powell caught my attention and I had pick it up. In this book, Powell uses plain language to describe the psychology and science behind music. Powell has a master’s degree in music composition, as well as a PhD is physics. Some of the topics in the book can be quite complex, for example, the chapter discussing how notes are formed by combining sound waves, but the author does his best to break things down so that the average reader is able to understand. In addition to this, he writes in a casual, conversational tone, often with bits of humor sprinkled throughout.

            Two of the most prominent plain style strategies in this book are the avoidance of jargon, abstraction, and euphemism and lower level of formality. The author defines any terms that the reader may be unfamiliar with, often using analogies and examples of things that readers are familiar with. Taking a concept that the reader may be familiar with and using that to illustrate how something works allows them to better visualize what is going on. Page 205 reads, “When you improvise, you don’t allow yourself total freedom. You choose your notes carefully, according to the rules appropriate to whatever genre of music you are playing- and there are always rules. Rule-free improvisation would be like rule-free conversation: a frustrating, unrewarding mess. This comparison with conversation is quite useful because conversations are improvised.” Like musical improvisation, a conversation is not scripted, but there are rules to follow based on context. By making this comparison, readers who do not have a background in genres of music that use improvisation can better understand how it has rules. This quote also uses “you” to refer directly to the reader, thus lowering the level of formality. Another way the author does this is by adding humor and personal comments throughout the book to keep the reader entertained.

            In addition to explaining musical concepts the reader may not be familiar with, the book also breaks down scientific concepts regarding sound and how our brains process it. For example Page 122 of Chapter 9 says, “Your eardrums are like tiny, highly sensitive trampolines that react quickly to changes in air pressure.” Comparing an eardrum to a trampoline allows the reader to visualize something they are familiar with. The book goes on to explain how your eardrum reacts to musical notes in particular saying, “When you hear a musical note, however, there is a repeating pattern to the pushes and pulls on your eardrum. If you hit a piano key, twang a guitar string, or blow into a saxophone, you set up a trembling vibration in the instrument and the air around it…. The regular to-and-fro vibration of the instrument produces a pattern of repeating ripples of pressure in the air that push and pull on your eardrum.” In this explanation, the author uses active voice and simple sentences to explain the process of sound traveling to the eardrum. Active voice is particularly important when explaining processes like this because it’s important for the reader to know what is doing what (the vibration produces a pattern, the ripples of pressure push and pull on your eardrum, etc).

Some people may argue that plain style limits the reader from getting the full picture. They claim that advanced scientific concepts cannot be broken down very well into simpler language without losing some much-needed information. However, texts in plain style are a great starting point for conveying information to someone with no prior knowledge of a topic. Someone who is completely unfamiliar with the complex workings behind a topic is not going to find an article full of jargon and official style helpful. If the reader wants to dive deeper, they can seek out more advanced texts once they are more familiar with the basics. This book cites several studies throughout the text, so that readers can seek out information presented in its original more complex context once they are familiar with the basics. For example, chapter 8 centers around explaining a variety of studies done by researchers on musical talent. These studies are summarized and cited in the bibliography at the back of the book which has all of the sources cited by chapter so the reader can easily seek out the sources they are most interested in for further reading.

            Overall, plain style is important when first introducing readers to more complex topics. Although I am someone with a background in music, I don’t know all of the science behind it, or how creates certain psychological reactions in people. I learned a lot from this book that I feel will benefit me as a musician, as well as allow me as a listener to think about music in a new way. If this information was presented in a more complex way, I would have struggled to grasp it a lot more and admittedly not even bothered to learn about it in the first place.