Experiencing Sound

The Sensation of Being

Author: Lawrence Kramer

Hardcover

New

$42.40

Or pay later with

Free 30 day returns Secure transaction

Check delivery options

Hardcover

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Description

From the winds of Mars to a baby's first laugh, a prolific philosopher-composer reflects on the profound imperative of sound in everyday life.

Experiencing Sound presents its subject as fundamental to all experience—sensation, perception, and understanding. Lawrence Kramer turns on its head the widespread notion that vision takes pride of place among the senses and demonstrates how paying attention to sound can transform how we make meaning out of experience.

Through a series of brief, lyrical forays, Kramer shows that sound, whether heard or unheard, is the object of a primary need and an essential component in the sensation of being alive and the perception of time. It is something that we may suffer—or be made to suffer—as well as enjoy. Like its predecessor The Hum of the World, this book ranges widely across music, philosophy, literature, art, media, and history, from classical antiquity to the present, as it invites us to experience sound anew.

Critic Reviews

“In Experiencing Sound, Lawrence Kramer captures all sorts of heard moments, and in superb prose. . . . Rarely has the mixture of music and sound been so eagerly explored." Wall Street Journal
“Full of examples. . . encouraging the reader to rethink the sound of music and the music of sound." Inside Story

About the Author

Lawrence Kramer is Distinguished Professor of English and Music at Fordham University. He is the author of fifteen previous books, including The Thought of Music, The Hum of the World, and Music and the Forms of Life. He is also an award-winning composer whose works have been performed throughout the United States and Europe.