Hearing with the Mind

Overview & Synopsis

In Hearing with the Mind: Proto-Cognitive Music Theory in the Scottish Enlightenment, Carmel Raz synthesizes two of the most exciting current approaches to music, cognitive psychology and social history, by focusing on the remarkable work of John Holden (1729–1772). A Glaswegian merchant potter by day, Holden was one of the first musical thinkers to propose a detailed account of how the human mind perceives music. Raz investigates Holden’s proto-cognitive music theory and its afterlife in the writings of the Scottish siblings Walter (1745–1814) and Anne Young (1756–1813?), situating their lives and productions within the context of the Scottish Enlightenment. Hearing with the Mind thereby shows how the contributions of relatively marginalized figures in the history of music theory reflect Britain’s social transformations—and global entanglements—in the rising age of empire.