Daniel Levitin

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Daniel J. Levitin
cognitive neuroscience of music, cognitive psychology
Institutions
Academic advisorsRoger Shepard, Michael Posner, Douglas Hintzman, John R. Pierce, Stephen Palmer
Notable studentsRegina Nuzzo, Susan Rogers
Websitedaniellevitin.com levitinlab.com

Daniel Joseph Levitin,

This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, (Dutton/Penguin 2006; Plume/Penguin 2007) which has sold more than 1 million copies.[2]

Levitin is a James McGill Professor Emeritus of

music cognition, neuroanatomy, and directional statistics.[4][5]

His five books have all been international bestsellers, and collectively have sold more 3 million copies worldwide:

A Field Guide to Lies: Critical Thinking in the Information Age (2016) and Successful Aging
(2020).

Levitin also worked as a music consultant, producer and

The Grateful Dead.[12] Records and CDs to which he has contributed have sold more than 30 million copies.[11][13]

Biography and education

Born in

Oregon Health Sciences University
.

As a

Levitin Effect, that long-term memory preserves many of the details of musical experience that previous theorists regarded as lost during the encoding process.[19][20][21][22] He is also known for drawing attention to the role of cerebellum in music listening, including tracking the beat and distinguishing familiar from unfamiliar music.[20]

Outside of his academic pursuits Levitin has worked on and off as a stand-up comedian and joke writer, performing at the

National Lampoon stand-up comedy competition regionals in San Francisco in 1989, and has contributed jokes for Jay Leno and Arsenio Hall, as well as the nationally syndicated comic strip Bizarro. Some comics were included in the 2006 compilation Bizarro and Other Strange Manifestations of the Art of Dan Piraro (Andrews McMeel).[24][25]

Music

Levitin began playing piano at age 4. He took up clarinet at age 8, and bass clarinet and saxophone at age 12.[26] He played saxophone (tenor and baritone) in high school; at age 17 he performed on baritone with the big band backing up Mel Tormé at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.[27] He began playing guitar at age 20 and has been a member of bands including The Alsea River Band (lead guitar), The Mortals (bass), Judy Garland [band] (bass), The Shingles (lead guitar), Slings & Arrows (bass), JD Buhl (bass and guitar). He also played on recording sessions for Blue Öyster Cult, True West, and the soundtrack to Repo Man.

He continues to perform regularly and has played saxophone with

David Byrne; and appeared on vocals with Renée Fleming, Neil Young and Rosanne Cash.[28][29] In the fall of 2017 he toured the West Coast with singer-songwriter Tom Brosseau
.

He began writing songs at age 17. His songwriting has been praised by a number of top songwriters including Diane Warren, and Joni Mitchell, who said, "Dan is really good at what he does, and creates rich images with his words and music."[30]

He released his first album of original songs, Turnaround, in January 2020 with a performance with his own band at the Rockwood Music Hall in New York City, followed by seven shows with Victor Wooten's Bass Extremes band in Los Angeles, Oakland, and Phoenix, and a performance of one of the album's songs "Just A Memory" with Renée Fleming, Victor Wooten and Hardy Hemphill sponsored by John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.[31]

Music producing and engineering

Daniel Levitin
TwinTone Records

In the late 1970s, Levitin consulted for M&K Sound as an expert listener assisting in the design of the first commercial satellite and

M.C. Hammer but passed.[34]

After 415 was sold, he formed his own production and business consulting company, with a list of clients including

Interpretations: A 25th Anniversary Celebration (1995; updated and released as a DVD in 2003) by The Carpenters. Levitin returned to the studio in 2002, producing three albums for Quebec blues musician Dale Boyle: String Slinger Blues (2002), A Dog Day for the Purists (2004), and In My Rearview Mirror: A Story From A Small Gaspé Town (2005), the latter two of which won the annual Lys Blues Award for best Blues album.[36] He helped Joni Mitchell with the production of her three most recent albums, Shine
, Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting to Be Danced, and Starbucks' Artist's Choice: Joni Mitchell.

In 1998, Levitin helped to found

Philips Electronics, and AT&T.[37] He was an occasional script consultant to The Mentalist
from 2007 to 2009.

Writing career

Levitin began writing articles in 1988 for music industry magazines

Billboard, Grammy, EQ, Mix, Music Connection, and Electronic Musician, and was named contributing writer to Billboard′s Reviews section from 1992 to 1997. He has contributed to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New Yorker,[38] and The Atlantic.[39]

Levitin is the author of

Seed Magazine
as one of the best books of 2008. It was also nominated for the World Technology Awards.

A Field Guide to Lies was published by Dutton/Penguin Random House in 2016, and released in paperback in March 2017 under the revised title Weaponized Lies. It appeared on numerous best-seller lists in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.,[46][47] and is the most acclaimed of Levitin's four books, receiving the National Business Book Award,[48]
the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction, the Axiom Business Book Award, and was a finalist for the Donner Prize.

Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives was published by Dutton/Penguin Random House in January 2020 and debuted at #10 on the New York Times bestseller list[49] in its first week of release, and at #2 on the Canadian bestseller list, and stayed on the Canadian bestseller lists for more than six months. It was named an Apple Books book-of-the-month and Next Big Idea Club selection. It was published by Penguin Life in the U.K. as The Changing Mind: A Neuroscientist's Guide to Ageing Well; it debuted at #5 on the Sunday Times Bestseller List.[50] It was named by the Sunday Times as one of the best books of 2020[51]

In popular culture

In The Listener TV series, actor Colm Feore says his performance of the character Ray is based on Daniel Levitin.[52]

Levitin consulted on the legal strategy used by

Stairway To Heaven.[53][54]

Media appearances

From September 2006 to April 2007 Levitin served as a weekly

commentator on the CBC Radio One show Freestyle. Two documentary films were based on This Is Your Brain on Music: The Music Instinct (2009, PBS), which he co-hosted with Bobby McFerrin, and The Musical Brain (2009, CTV/National Geographic Television) which he co-hosted with Sting. Levitin appeared in Artifact, a 2012 documentary directed by Jared Leto. His television and film appearances have reached more than 50 million viewers worldwide.[55]

Levitin had a cameo appearance in The Big Bang Theory at the invitation of the producers, in Season 8, Episode 5, "The Focus Attenuation". He appeared in the opening scene, sitting at a table in the Caltech cafeteria over Sheldon's right shoulder. In January 2015 he was a guest on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week program alongside cognitive scientist Margaret Boden.[56]

In 2019–2020 he was a script consultant and on-air guest for Season 8 of National Geographic's Brain Games. In 2020, he appeared in Stewart Copeland's Adventures in Music series on BBC 4,[57] discussing the evolutionary basis of music and the neuroscience of music.

Awards

Selected publications

Books

  • The Billboard Encyclopedia of Record Producers (1999). New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, E. Olsen, C. Wolff, P. Verna, Editors; D. J. Levitin, associate editor.
  • Foundations of Cognitive Psychology: Core Readings (2002), Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press
  • Foundations of Cognitive Psychology: Core Readings, Second Edition (2010), Boston: Allyn & Bacon/Pearson Publishing
  • This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession
    , (2006), New York: Dutton/Penguin. (released in the U.K. and Commonwealth territories by Atlantic, 2007). (appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List both in hardcover and paperback)
  • The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature (2008), New York: Dutton/Penguin and Toronto: Viking/Penguin. (New York Times bestseller)
  • The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload (2014), New York: Dutton/Penguin Random House and Toronto: Allen Lane/Penguin Random House and London: Viking/Penguin Random House.
  • A Field Guide to Lies: Critical Thinking in the Information Age
     (2016), New York: Dutton/Penguin Random House; Toronto: Allen Lane/Penguin Random House; London: Viking/Penguin Random House
  • Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives (2020), New York: Dutton/Penguin Random House; Toronto: Allen Lane/Penguin Random House; London: Penguin Life.

Scientific articles (selected)

Discography

Filmography

Film
Year Film Role Notes
1984 Repo Man Self, musician
1997 Close To You: Remembering the Carpenters Self, Consultant to the producers PBS
1998 The Carpenters: Harmony and Heartbreak Consultant to the Producers A&E Biography
2009 The Music Instinct Self, writer, consultant PBS Nova
The Musical Brain Self, Writer; Consultant CTV/National Geographic
2012 Artifact Self
What Makes a Masterpiece Self BBC 4

References

  1. ^ "Executive Turntable". Billboard. January 2000.
  2. ^ "Nielsen Bookscan". online.nielsenbookscan.net.
  3. ^ Laboratory for Music Perception, Cognition and Expertise[permanent dead link], daniellevitin.com
  4. ^ Parncutt, R.; Levitin, D.J. (2001). "Absolute Pitch". In S. Sadie (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. New York: St. Martins Press. pp. 37–39.
  5. S2CID 15346652
    .
  6. ^ "Oliver Sacks meets Jerry Garcia in 'This Is Your Brain on Music' by rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel Levitin'". Publishers Weekly. June 5, 2006.
  7. ^ "Books: Bestsellers: Top selling fiction and non-fiction titles (week of September 21". Maclean's. September 21, 2006.
  8. ^ "CHARTS Bestsellers (week ending Nov 05, 2006)". The Book Standard. November 5, 2006.
  9. Allmusic
    . Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  10. ^ James Sullivan (August 20, 2006). "He's Rocking the World of Neuroscience". Boston Globe. Retrieved August 22, 2011.
  11. ^ a b Ann McIlroy (March 12, 2001). "Dr. Rock 'n' Roll". The Globe and Mail.
  12. ^ Susan Dominus (March 18, 2007). "Rockin' Boffin". London Daily Telegraph, Seven Magazine.
  13. ^ "La musique pour maître à penser". Découvrir. November–December 2002.
  14. ^ "Levitin, Daniel J. 1957–". Contemporary Authors, 2005, at encyclopedia.com. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
  15. ^ a b c "Levitin, Daniel J.". Marquis Who's Who in America. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who LLC. 2002.
  16. ^ Gordon, Michael (April 8, 2019). "The Canons of Dr. Daniel Levitin". Journey2Psychology. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  17. ISBN 9781524744199
    .
  18. ^ "Stephen E. Palmer". PsychTree. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
  19. PMID 7984397
    .
  20. ^ a b D. Huron (2006). "Exploring How Music Works Its Wonders". Cerebrum.
  21. ^ "Common expressions: Levitin". Webster's Online Dictionary. Webster's. February 18, 2011. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
  22. ^ James Martin (Summer 2004). "A Mind For Music". McGill News. pp. 1–2.
  23. ^ Sussman, Deborah (August 21, 2014). "Daniel Levitin on Why Being Organized Is More Important Than Ever Before". Phoenix New Times.
  24. ^ Stein, Joel (February 11, 2016). "Study Shows Music Brings My Family Closer Together". Time.
  25. ^ "Levitin, Daniel J. 1957-". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  26. ISBN 9780452288522
    .
  27. ^ "Jazz Legend Mel Tormé to play Santa Monica Civic". Palos Verdes Peninsula News. May 5, 1974.
  28. ^ "Daniel Levitin to present at New Yorker conference". Mcgill.ca. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  29. ^ "Alumni Profile: Daniel Levitin '80". college.berklee.edu.
  30. ^ Spoken at McCabe's, Santa Monica, Sept. 8, 2017, after Levitin & Brosseau show there.
  31. ^ "Daniel Levitin, ft. Renée Fleming, Victor Wooten, & Hardy Hemphill - "Just a Memory" - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  32. ^ 415 Records
  33. ^ "Allmusic:Artist:Daniel Levitin". Retrieved September 14, 2006.
  34. ^ "This Is Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin On Music | Soundcheck | New Sounds". newsounds. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
  35. ^ Retrieved August 31, 2014
  36. ^ "Retrieved August 31, 2014". Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  37. ^ Retrieved August 31, 2014
  38. ^ "A Neuroscientist's Diary of a Concussion". The New Yorker. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  39. ^ "Amnesia and the Self That Remains When Memory Is Lost". The Atlantic. December 31, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  40. ^ Feuer, Alan. "New York Times". Retrieved November 15, 2007.
  41. ^ "Pick of the paperbacks 2008". The Guardian. London. December 21, 2008. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  42. ^ "Vancouver Sun". Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
  43. ^ Deahl, Rachel. "Deals: Week of February 4, 2013". PublishersWeekly.com.
  44. ^ "Best Sellers - Books - the New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  45. ^ "Bestsellers". www.theglobeandmail.com. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  46. ^ "Bestsellers". The Star. September 16, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  47. ^ "Hudson Booksellers Announces the Best Books of 2016". Prweb.com. October 31, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  48. ^ Robertson, Becky (April 27, 2017). "Award-winning book A Field Guide to Lies receives a new title post-Trump". Quill and Quire. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  49. ^ "Best Sellers". The New York Times. January 18, 2020.
  50. ^ "Best Sellers". The Sunday Times. March 8, 2020.[permanent dead link]
  51. ^ "Best Books of 2020". The Sunday Times. June 6, 2020.
  52. ^ Gayle MacDonald (June 3, 2008). "Listening for the Listener". Globe and Mail.
  53. ^ Robert Levine (June 9, 2016). "Inside the 'Stairway to Heaven' Lawsuit: Everything You Need to Know". Billboard.
  54. ^ M. Skidmore v. James Patrick Page, et al, United States Reports 16-56287 (United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit March 12, 2018) (""The panel found that…the two songs were not substantially similar under the extrinsic test.").
  55. ^ "Nielsen Television Ratings". Retrieved April 10, 2010.[permanent dead link]
  56. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Start the Week, Organising the Mind". BBC. January 26, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  57. ^ "BBC Four - Stewart Copeland's Adventures in Music, Series 1, Episode 1". BBC.
  58. ^ Thompson, Clive (December 31, 2006). "Music of the Hemispheres". New York Times: Section 2 Arts & Leisure, Page 1.

External links

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