Uncommon Measure: A Journey Through Music, Performance, and the Science of Time

A virtuosic debut from a gifted violinist searching for a new mode of artistic becoming

How does time shape consciousness and consciousness, time? Do we live in time, or does time live in us? And how does music, with its patterns of rhythm and harmony, inform our experience of time?

Uncommon Measure explores these questions from the perspective of a young Korean American who dedicated herself to perfecting her art until performance anxiety forced her to give up the dream of becoming a concert solo violinist. Anchoring her story in illuminating research in neuroscience and quantum physics, Hodges traces her own passage through difficult family dynamics, prejudice, and enormous personal expectations to come to terms with the meaning of a life reimagined--one still shaped by classical music but moving toward the freedom of improvisation.

Author: Natalie Hodges
Publisher: Bellevue Literary Press
Published: 03/22/2022
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.55lbs
Size: 8.10h x 5.10w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781942658979

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 11/29/2021
Library Journal 12/01/2021 pg. 84
Kirkus Reviews 12/15/2021
Booklist 02/15/2022 pg. 11

About the Author

Born and raised in Denver, Natalie Hodges has performed as a classical violinist throughout Colorado and in New York, Boston, Paris, and the Italian Piedmont, as well as at the Aspen Music Festival and the Stowe Tango Music Festival. She studied English and music at Harvard University and is pursuing an M.F.A. at Emerson College in Boston. Uncommon Measure (forthcoming from Bellevue Literary Press in 2022) is her first book.