Preview

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Point of Distraction

By: Will Eaves
Narrated by: Will Eaves
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $14.51

Buy for $14.51

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

A memoir by the 2019 Wellcome Prize winner Will Eaves that looks at the creation of six piano pieces.

What lies behind the creation of a piece of music? Does it spring fully formed from a composer’s mind, or take shape in the recesses of the brain, revealing itself in stages over time? Is the creative act deliberate or happenstance? An inspired vision or the result of practice?

Will Eaves, author and musician, shares his experience of writing eight new piano pieces after many years away from the keyboard. Some of the music is found in old notebooks and teenage enthusiasms, some of it is caught on the wing – a response to the resurgence of the natural world during COVID lockdown. None of it is what he is meant to be doing.

But then not all artistic interests are primary or professional interests. Sometimes it’s the second-string activities, the diversions, that bring work – and life – into focus.

The Point of Distraction is a unique account of music-making that embraces Bach, film, jazz, literature, neuroscience and the mystery of willpower in its search for meaning. At its heart is a love of skill, an openness to self-doubt, and a belief that we are all more than our declared aims.

©2024 Will Eaves (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The Point of Distraction

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.