你为什么喜欢这个？

/*本文来自节选The Economist April 27th 2019，以下进行双语对照赏析：*/

THE ADAGE that “writing about music is like dancing about architecture” has been ascribed to Elvis Costello, Laurie Anderson and Thelonious Monk, among others. Undaunted, in “Why You Like It” Nolan Gasser attempts to explain the ineffable ways music produces sensations in listeners’ brains: its power to move people to tears, evoke awe and induce involuntary toe-tapping. Plus the odd proclivity of sad songs to seem uplifting.

“创作音乐就像在建筑上跳舞”，这句格言，常常被Elvis Costello, Laurie Anderson, Thelonious Monk等人引用。然而，在Nolan Gasser的《你为什么喜欢这个》(Why You Like It)一书中，他毫不畏惧、惊骇世俗地试图解释，音乐会以一种不可言说的方式在听众的大脑中制造特殊情感：音乐的力量能让人流泪、唤起人心中的敬畏，并让人不由自主地随着音乐踩拍子。还有，人们去听那种虽然悲怆但却又鼓舞人心的曲子，也是一种怪异的癖好。（吴和平点评：个人听过的Two Steps from Hell乐队的作品就是这种风格）

Mr Gasser rose from playing the piano in American malls to featuring in Steve Miller’s backing band; he has a PhD in musicology from Stanford. But his analysis relies most on his stint at Pandora, a pioneering music-streaming service. He presided over an algorithm that, by recommending new tracks based strictly on the musical characteristics of users’ favourites, purports to sift out ulterior considerations such as fashion. One listener was aghast at the results: “Oh my God, I like Celine Dion!” “Why You Like It” is similarly clarifying.

(Why You Like It)一书的作者，加塞尔（Nolan Gasser），以前是在商场里面弹钢琴的草根艺人，后来他逆袭成为史蒂夫 · 米勒(Steve Miller)伴奏乐队的成员。他曾在斯坦福大学获得音乐学博士学位。但他对于音乐的分析工作主要依赖于在潘多拉公司的工作（潘多拉这家公司从事开创性的音乐流媒体服务）。 他支持研发了一种计算机程序算法，严格根据用户喜爱的音乐推荐新曲目，目的是为了剔除诸如时尚这些东西造成的不可告人的影响干扰。一位听众可能会对算法的推荐结果感到震惊：“哦，天哪！我喜欢席琳 · 迪翁!”，在"Why You Like It"这本书中，作者澄清了类似音乐推荐算法的原理。

Human beings really can feel the groove, Mr Gasser writes; “individually and communally” they have a unique ability to lock into a beat. This propensity for “entrainment” may be an evolutionary advantage, enhancing as it does the “capacity for collaboration”. Likewise, he explains, people are suckers for repetition. Most kinds of music, from pop and rock to jazz and classical, rely on the repetition of melodies, harmonies and so on.

加塞尔在书中这样说：“人类真的能感觉到这种状态，无论是个人的感觉还是群体的感觉，他们有一种独特的能力去锁定一种节奏。这种被带节奏的倾向可能是人类的一种进化优势，是一种伴随着人类的“协作能力”增强，一起提高的东西。同样，他也在书中解释说，人们也喜欢重复的旋律。大多数音乐，从流行乐和摇滚乐，到爵士乐和古典音乐，都依赖于旋律、和声这些东西的重复。

Why? Repetition allows people not merely to “listen to the music, but listen along with it…by virtue of the fact that on some level…we know what’s coming next.” This in turn explains how surprise governs musical responses. Composers play on emotions by “thwarting, delaying or granting…what our ears expect to hear.” Recalling the words of John Peel, a DJ, on the attraction of The Fall, a post-punk band—“They are always different, they are always the same”—Mr Gasser concludes that fans “want to hear material that is at once fresh and familiar”.

为什么?“重复，不仅能让人们“听”音乐，还能让人随着音乐一起听……因为在某种程度上……我们知道接下来会听到什么”，这反过来解释了，人们在听音乐过程中感受到的震撼，是如何支配人们对音乐做出反应。作曲家通过“阻挠、拖延或给予……我们的耳朵期望听到的东西”来利用听众的情感。这让我们想起，"The Fall"这个后朋克乐队的DJ，约翰•皮尔(John Peel)，为了增强他的乐队吸引力，做出的评价——“它们总是不同的，他们又总是相同的”——由此，加塞尔得出结论，歌迷们“希望听到既新鲜又熟悉的东西”。

He takes on “the paradox of negative emotions”. Scholars speculate that sad music spurs secretion of prolactin, a consoling hormone produced at times of mental torment (and by lactating mothers). The payoff is heightened by the “absence of an actual sad event”. In other words sad songs, like other kinds of tragic art, appeal as a source of safely vicarious sentiment.

他（加塞尔）提出了“负面情绪悖论”。学者们推测，悲伤的音乐会刺激人体分泌催乳素，催乳素是一种安慰激素，在人类精神上受到折磨时，以及在人类母亲处于哺乳期时产生。” 当“真正的悲伤事件缺席”时，这种产生催乳素的现象会增加。换句话说，悲伤的歌曲，像其它种类的悲剧艺术一样，作为一种安全的情感代入，对人们是具有强烈吸引力的。

This is a work of staggering erudition and breadth. Mr Gasser extols the artistry of Taylor Swift beside that of Cheb Mami, an Algerian singer; he advises hip-hop fans to check out Haydn. It ought to be read in the company of a streaming service and the tracks it dissects—as a 21st-century version of the best-album guides prized by musos during vinyl’s heyday. In taxonomising the responses music elicits, Mr Gasser identifies the peak high as “frisson”, characterised by “thrills and chills”. Fewer than one in three listeners report feeling this, he writes, but “it is far more common amid avid music lovers”. “Why You Like It” is a gateway to this exalted state.

这本书是一部涉猎极其渊博的作品。加塞尔先生赞扬了Taylor Swift和阿尔及利亚歌手Cheb Mami的艺术性。他还建议嘻哈乐迷们去试着欣赏Haydn的作品。当你在享受音乐流媒体服务、欣赏剖析音乐时，读读这本书吧，它可以被称作作为21世纪版本的“最佳音乐专辑指南”，勘比在黑胶唱片鼎盛时期，被音乐人所珍视的那种最佳专辑指南。在对音乐引起人们的反应进行分类的过程中，加塞尔先生将音乐的高潮定义为"颤栗"，它的特征是"刺激和寒颤"。他写道 ：“只有不到三分之一的听众中会有这种感觉，但是在狂热的音乐爱好者中，这种颤栗的感觉要普遍得多”。《你为什么喜欢这个》这本书是通往这种巅峰境界的大门。

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（译者注：加塞尔（Nolan Gasser）写的这本书，在美亚可以搜到，感兴趣的朋友可以看看。）

The Economist April 27th 2019  - Books and Arts - Book Review: How music works

The beat goes on - Why You Like It, By Nolan Gasser.

Explaining the mystery of music.

The evolutionary advantage of feeling the groove—and the appeal of sad songs.