{"id":4398,"date":"2023-03-13T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2023-03-13T13:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/?p=4398"},"modified":"2025-03-27T12:13:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T16:13:12","slug":"arachnophonia-music-as-biology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/2023\/03\/arachnophonia-music-as-biology\/","title":{"rendered":"Arachnophonia:  Music as Biology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> <em><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/tag\/arachnophonia\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Arachnophonia<\/a>   (\u201cArachno\u201d = spider \/ \u201c-phonia\u201d = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the <a href=\"https:\/\/library.richmond.edu\/music\/index.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Parsons Music Library<\/a>\u2018s collection.<\/p>\n<p>All links included in these posts will take you to either the <a href=\"https:\/\/richmond.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01URICH_INST\/1fl54dq\/alma9921082303606241\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">library catalog record for the item in question<\/a> or to <a href=\"https:\/\/scholars.duke.edu\/person\/purves\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">additional relevant<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/music.si.edu\/feature\/music-and-science\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">information from<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kennedy-center.org\/education\/resources-for-educators\/classroom-resources\/media-and-interactives\/media\/music\/connections\/connections\/science--music\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">around the web<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s installment of <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/tag\/arachnophonia\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Arachnophonia<\/a> is by student manager Esther (class of 2025) and features <a href=\"https:\/\/richmond.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01URICH_INST\/1fl54dq\/alma9921082303606241\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a book about the connections between music and biology<\/a>.  Thanks, Esther!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/richmond.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01URICH_INST\/1fl54dq\/alma9921082303606241\"><strong><em>Music As Biology: The Tones We Like and Why<\/em> by Dale Purves<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/files\/2023\/02\/Music-As-Biology.jpg?resize=329%2C500\" alt=\"Music As Biology: The Tones We Like and Why by Dale Purves\" width=\"329\" height=\"500\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/files\/2023\/02\/Music-As-Biology.jpg?w=329&amp;ssl=1 329w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/files\/2023\/02\/Music-As-Biology.jpg?resize=197%2C300&amp;ssl=1 197w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 329px) 100vw, 329px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The innate attraction we have towards music as humans have always fascinated me. Nicknamed the \u201cuniversal language,\u201d music seems to be so deeply embedded into society. The way it evokes certain emotions within us feels like a concept too abstract to be explained. Why do we enjoy certain combinations of tones over others? How does music remain the same or change over time and cultures? Why do different scales induce different emotions? <a href=\"https:\/\/richmond.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01URICH_INST\/1fl54dq\/alma9921082303606241\"><em>Music as Biology<\/em> by Dale Purves<\/a> was an interesting read that helped me formulate concrete ideas about some of these questions through a biological perspective.\u202f <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/scholars.duke.edu\/person\/purves\">Dale Purves<\/a> is a highly accomplished neuroscientist who is currently a professor at Duke University. His lab studies the neurobiological underpinnings of our perception to different stimuli, including sound.\u202f\u202fDr. Purves takes an empirical approach to music, incorporating data and research from biology to support his arguments on how we react to music. He provides additional links to more information on certain questions throughout the book if you were interested in further research as well. Overlapping music theory and biology offered a refreshing insight into how we perceive music. I highly recommend <a href=\"https:\/\/richmond.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01URICH_INST\/1fl54dq\/alma9921082303606241\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">this book<\/a> to anyone interested in music or science! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editor\u2019s note: Arachnophonia (\u201cArachno\u201d = spider \/ \u201c-phonia\u201d = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library\u2018s collection. All links included in these &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/2023\/03\/arachnophonia-music-as-biology\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[61217,231704,15223,15242],"tags":[61217,230861,5854,10,15234,227230,206842,227229,227228,227232,227233],"class_list":["post-4398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arachnophonia","category-arachnophonia-arachnophonia","category-collection","category-promotional","tag-arachnophonia","tag-arachnophonia-22-23","tag-biology","tag-books","tag-collection-2","tag-dale-purves","tag-esther","tag-music-and-science","tag-music-as-biology","tag-musical-perception","tag-neuroscience"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgMV3E-18W","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4398"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4402,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4398\/revisions\/4402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}