Why Do People Sing?

Why Do People Sing? On Voice

Paperback (24 May 2019)

Save $8.39

  • RRP $18.91
  • $10.52
Add to basket

Includes delivery to the United States

10+ copies available online - Usually dispatched within two working days

Publisher's Synopsis

In Why Do People Sing? Paddy Scannell explores some of the mysteries at the heart of vocal communication. What explains the communicative musicality of the voices between parent and child as a baby learns to talk? Can readers of fiction hear the voices of authors and characters within soundless written texts? How has radio affected voice, talk, music, and singing, and how has it made them public in new ways? And by putting the voice into recordings, to what extent have broadcasting technologies provided a radically new resource for historians? These questions and more are explored in the first three chapters. In the final chapter, Scannell boldly puts into words the inexpressible experience of listening to singing, wherein the glory of the human voice finds its purest expression.

This highly original book makes a distinctive intervention by stressing the inherently positive qualities of talk (rather than language) as the basis for communication. Concise and beautifully written, it is suitable for students and scholars of media, communication, and other disciplines across the humanities, as well as general readers with an interest in this fascinating topic.​

About the Publisher

Polity Press

Book information

ISBN: 9781509529438
Publisher: Polity Press
Imprint: Polity Press
Pub date:
DEWEY: 302.2242
DEWEY edition: 23
Language: English
Number of pages: 180
Weight: 214g
Height: 140mm
Width: 216mm
Spine width: 10mm