Music Between Your Ears explores the profound power of music to influence brain function and well-being.
Why does music touch you so deeply — and what are the scientific mechanisms behind this phenomenon? In Music Between Your Ears, Dr. Samuel Markind explores the intriguing relationship between music and brain function. Grounded in evolutionary history, Dr. Markind illuminates the pivotal role music plays in human survival and procreation. From communication and caregiving to social bonding and partner selection, music has molded the human species and continues to shape our lives in remarkable ways. Music can actually improve our minds!
This book combines insights from neuroscience and psychology – in user-friendly terms – illustrated by helpful drawings and personal stories. Together, they present compelling evidence for music’s life-enhancing potential. Through vivid examples, Dr. Markind highlights the brain’s instinctive capacity for music: from newborns’ natural affinity for rhythm and melody to the effect that music has on brain development throughout life. Music also helps people learn at any age and in any condition, so it can improve speech, movement, and memory in both healthy individuals and those suffering from illness or injury.
Dr. Markind encourages readers to engage actively with music. Whether through singing, dancing, or instrument playing, the benefits of active participation are profound and accessible to everyone, regardless of musical background. This book, filled with straightforward and practical suggestions, is an inspiring guide for anyone seeking to enrich their life through music.
Music Between Your Ears shows how the act of engaging with music can profoundly impact your mental, physical, and emotional well-being. And the benefits of music go far beyond entertainment—they’re essential to the very fabric of what makes us human.
Buy The Book
Preorders begin July 30, 2025
Music Between Your Ears Wins
The 2026 Independent Press Award
Independent Press Award
2026 Distinguished Favorite
Music Between Your Ears has been selected as a 2026 Independent Press Award Favorite in the Category of Music.
See the announcement on Johns Hopkins Press:
https://www.press.jhu.edu/awards/independent-press-award
and on Independent Press Awards:
https://www.independentpressaward.com/2026-favorites/9781421452371
Praise for Music Between Your Ears
Click here to view the book’s full set of endorsements
Author Talks & Book Signings
March 2026
New England Regional Conference of the American Music Therapy Association
I had the pleasure of speaking at last week’s New England Regional conference of the American Music Therapy Association in Portsmouth, NH. I wish to thank the conference organizers for offering me this opportunity.
We often find ourselves insulated in our professional silos. So, it was a mind-widening experience to engage in conversations with people in a field that’s both related to yet distant from neurology. The presentations I attended over the course of the day were outstanding, ranging from music therapy in palliative care to using improvisation as a clinical tool plus a keynote talk on building community with music. Moreover, the conference attendees I met were young and dynamic, portending a bright future for the field.
I spoke about one of my favorite subjects, entrainment. Entrainment refers to our ability to match our body movements with a musical rhythm. This is a very special skill that humans possess. With music, multiple people can move together in concert, coordinating their movements to the same external rhythmic source.
Entrainment yields two strikingly powerful evolutionary benefits. One, it is productive: people acting synchronously can accomplish a greater amount of work than the same number of individuals working separately. Two, it is pro-social: moving in rhythm with one another leads to greater trust and generosity among people. As one expert commented, “Making music together is simultaneously building a community together, which is considered by many to be the most adaptive and the most evolutionarily significant aspect of musical experience worldwide.”
The Book: Chapter by Chapter
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Past Events
Saturday, February 28, 2026 in Woodbury, CT
Guests joined Sam in the Gallery Space at Woodbury Public Library for a talk on why music touches us so deeply. Through vivid examples, Dr. Markind highlighted the brain’s instinctive capacity for music: from newborns’ natural affinity for rhythm and melody to the effect that music has on brain development throughout life. Music also helps people learn at any age and in any condition, so it can improve speech, movement, and memory in both healthy individuals and those suffering from illness or injury.
Date: Sat, 2/28/2026 from 2:00 to 3:00 PM
Place: Woodbury Public Library
269 Main Street South, Woodbury, CT 06798
Monday, Dec. 8 at 7PM at Byrd’s Books in Bethel, CT
Author talk and book signing
This author event of Music Between Your Ears: How Musical Engagement Powers the Human Brain by Samuel Markind was held on Monday December 8, 2025.
Date: Mon, 12/8/2025 at 7:00 PM
Place: Byrd’s Books
178 Greenwood Ave., Bethel, CT 06801-2530
Book Launch—Tuesday, October 28 at 7PM in Bethel, CT
Launch of Music Between Your Ears
Yesterday, 10/28, was my book’s publication date. It marked a milestone for me: I am truly now a published author. Thirty people gathered at a cozy local independent book store to celebrate this momentous occasion with me … and to learn about the book. I described my personal journey to becoming an author, read a short section of the book, engaged everyone musically with a group sing-along, and answered people’s questions. And then I experienced how it feels to be an author signing the book he created and nurtured. It’s thrilling!
Thank you to everyone who helped me realize this achievement. Special thanks to Alice Hutchinson at Byrd’s Books in Bethel, CT, for warmly welcoming me and Music Between Your Ears into her store and for being so supportive of my book launch. Please visit Byrd’s Books if you’re in the area.
Date: Tue, 10/28/2025 at 7:00 PM
Place: Byrd’s Books
178 Greenwood Ave., Bethel, CT 06801-2530
Dr. Markind spoke at the 2025 Creativity & Madness conference in Santa Fe. Presented by the American Institute of Medical Education, this meeting ran from July 31-August 3, 2025.
