With the advent of modern cognitive neuroscience and its new tools of studying the human brain live, music as a highly complex, temporally ordered and rule-based sensory language quickly became a fascinating topic of study. By studying the physiology and neurology of brain function in music, we can obtain a great deal of knowledge about the perception of complex auditory sound stimuli; time perception and rhythm processing; the differential processing of music and language of two aural communication systems; biological substrates of learning versus innate talent in the arts; and processing of higher cognitive functions related to temporality and emotion. The main goal of the book is to bring the knowledge in the arts and the sciences together and review systematically our current state of study about the brain and music, specifically in rhythm. Underneath that overarching goal, the book was written with three supporting goals in mind: (1) to create a theoretical and structural framework for understanding the nature and structure of rhythm as a critical building element in music, and how rhythm shapes critical features in the way the brain perceives time and music; (2) to review the current state of research on rhythm and brain function; and (3) to introduce a historically new paradigm for biomedical applications of music to therapy and medicine and critically examine their scientific and clinical evidence. This book will be of interest for the lay and professional reader in the sciences and arts as well as the professionals in the fields of neuroscientific research, medicine, and rehabilitation. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.