Wired for Music

A Search for Health and Joy Through the Science of Sound

By: Adriana Barton

Narrated by: Adriana Barton

“Beautifully written… a riveting account of how melodies and rhythms connect us, and help us deal with alienation and anxiety.”—Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score

In this captivating blend of science and memoir, a health journalist and former cellist explores music as a source of health, resilience, connection, and joy.

Music isn’t just background noise or a series of torturous exercises we remember from piano lessons. In the right doses, it can double as a mild antidepressant, painkiller, sleeping pill, memory aid—and enhance athletic performance while supporting healthy aging. Though music has been used as a healing strategy since ancient times, neuroscientists have only recently discovered how melody and rhythm stimulate core memory, motor, and emotion centers in the brain. But here’s the catch: We can tune into music every day and still miss out on some of its potent effects.

Adriana Barton learned the hard way. Starting at age five, she studied the cello for nearly two decades, a pursuit that left her with physical injuries and emotional scars. In Wired for Music, she sets out to discover what music is really for, combing through medical studies, discoveries by pioneering neuroscientists, and research from biology and anthropology. Traveling from state-of-the-art science labs to a remote village in Zimbabwe, her investigation gets to the heart of music’s profound effects on the human body and brain. Blending science and story, Wired for Music shows how our species’ age-old connection to melody and rhythm is wired inside us.

©2022 Adriana Barton (P)2022 Greystone Books

Critic reviews

“Music, as much as language, is part of our essence as human beings. Since time immemorial every group of people has expressed who they are with music and employed it as a social glue and a healing elixir. Wired for Music seamlessly chronicles the universal power of music, rhythms, and synchrony to establish and maintain human connections, joy, and empathy. Beautifully written from both the heart and the intellect, it gives us a riveting account of how melodies and rhythms connect us, and help us deal with alienation and anxiety. May every parent and teacher—everybody who aspires to make our world a better place—read this wonderful book.”—Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score

“Witty and soulful, this will delight music fans.”—Publishers Weekly

"If you’ve ever drifted away from a once-loved piano in the basement or an old guitar in your closet, this book will lead you home. Barton reminds us that our relationship with music doesn’t have to be quite so complicated. Smart, healing, enlightening, and uplifting. It’s pitch-perfect. I just loved it."—Dr. Jillian Horton, author of We Are All Perfectly Fine: A Memoir of Love, Medicine and Healing

Enlightening, comforting and entertaining!

I just finished this audiobook and such have grief that it’s over! Wired for Music was moving, enlightening and somehow comforting as well. It was a wonderful weaving of personal story and science read beautifully by the author Adriana Barton who has a lovely voice!