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January 11, 2017

John Powell on how lyrics and the music they are set to affect emotions

    As John Powell points out, the effects of the two can sometimes run oppositely:

    The power of lyrics to alter our response to a tune was demonstrated in an experiment carried out in 1994 by the psychologists Valerie Stratton and Annette Zalanowski, who played the song “Why Was I Born?” (written by Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern in the 1920s) to two groups of listeners. When the tuneful, pleasant music was played by itself, it cheered people up, but when the lyrics (a sad refrain about unrequited love) were included, it had the opposite effect.

    (Quoted from page 21 of Why You Love Music by John Powell. Little, Brown and Company, 2016.)

    To hear Helen Morgan singing “Why Was I Born?” click here.

    For a brief biography of John Powell, click here. For images of or relating to John Powell, click here.

January 11, 2017 |

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Books by H. Charles Romesburg

  • H. Charles Romesburg: The Life of the Creative Spirit

    H. Charles Romesburg: The Life of the Creative Spirit
    Practically all of the quotations in this blog's posts are collected in "The Life of the Creative Spirit."

  • H. Charles Romesburg: How About It, Writer?

    H. Charles Romesburg: How About It, Writer?
    Based on a study of more than 12,000 essays from the very best literary magazines, this book provides writers with lists of thousands of classic forms of opening sentences, titles, transition sentences, ways of saying "for example," and ways of closing nonfiction pieces. When you are writing an essay and want a hint for a better or fresh way of saying what you mean, looking through the lists acts on the imagination, stimulating your creativity. From Lulu Press (ISBN 1-4116-2862-4, 194 pp., softback), it's $16.95 when ordered from Lulu.com/Romesburg , and $22.95 from bookstores. To view its cover, click on www.cnr.usu.edu/romesburg/how_about_it_writer.htm To view its title page, contents, and first two chapters, click on: www.cnr.usu.edu/romesburg/how_about_it_writer_preview.pdf

  • H Charles Romesburg: Best Research Practices

    H Charles Romesburg: Best Research Practices
    The Saunterer’s new book (2009), Best Research Practices explains how to plan and carry out reliable experiments, how to conceive and circumstantially support research hypotheses, how to test research hypotheses with the hypothetico-deductive method, how to discover cause and effect, and more. It’s based on his examination of 5,000 top scientific articles, studying the methods used to produce reliable knowledge. Preview it on-line by going to the following link: http://print.google.com/print?isbn=9780557017836

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