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    How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond
    How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond
    How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond
    Audiobook8 hours

    How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond

    Written by John Powell

    Narrated by Walter Dixon

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    An Enthralling Investigation Into The Mysteries Of Music

    Have you ever wondered how off-key you are while singing in the shower? Or if your Bob Dylan albums really sound better on vinyl? Or why certain songs make you cry?


    Now, scientist and musician John Powell invites you on an entertaining journey through the world of music. Discover what distinguishes music from plain old noise, how scales help you memorize songs, what the humble recorder teaches you about timbre (assuming your suffering listeners don't break it first), why anyone can learn to play a musical instrument, what the absurdly complicated names of classical music pieces actually mean, how musical notes came to be (hint: you can thank a group of stodgy men in 1939 London for that one), how to make an oboe from a drinking straw, and much more. With wit and charm, and in the simplest terms, Powell explains the science and psychology of music.

    Clever, informative, and deeply engaging, How Music Works takes the secrets of music away from the world of badly dressed academics and gives every one of us-whether we love to sing or play air guitar-the means to enhance our listening pleasure.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAscent Audio
    Release dateNov 24, 2010
    ISBN9781596597068
    How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond

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    Reviews for How Music Works

    4/5

    70 ratings11 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This book gets into the very technical details of how music is organised, not simply by listing out the seemingly arbitrary conventions which govern it, but by explaining them through the principles of physics and mathematics that led to their existence in the first place. As such, the book offers a lot of background knowledge that many well-trained musicians do not know, or at least do not know in full scientific depth. Beginning with the pronouncement that the actual pitches of our current standard notes were decided on by a committee early in the 20th century, and that they differed from region to region before that--something that was news to me, and will forever change the way I listen to Mozart--, Powell explores why exactly the intervals between pitches are exactly what they are, why the pentatonic scale was hit upon by so many different cultures as a convenient scale to tune to (because those are the pitches that harmonics of strings will naturally give you), who calculated the necessary frequency differences for our modern 12-step notation system, how far apart the holes in a flute have to be, what makes the decibel system so silly, and more. With a rather Pythonesque wit, the author hits on topics that answer questions I now feel sheepish for never having thought to ask and raises more of them in the curious music-lover's mind (I find myself now wondering exactly why, in terms of frequencies, a tritone sounds bad, and why a harp has an upward bend in the neck if the strings should be decreasing in length as you ascend). Powell is at his best when he pokes holes in seemingly unanswerable aesthetic questions, citing research refuting the association of moods with specific keys and offering an actual physiologically based definition of what makes some sounds music and others not. I lost a bit of interest near the end of the book when he began expounding more of the music theory aspects of pitches and rhythm, with less reference to the physics and maths behind them, but maybe that's just because those are the bits I already know. If you loathe numbers and want to keep your head in a dream-world where good music is solely defined by the fact that you like it, this is probably not the book for you, but if you're remotely interested in how things work, whether you're an avid music buff or not, this is a jolly good read, and far more concrete than similar attempts by authors like Oliver Sacks and Daniel Levitin. You could win quite a few admiring glances at cocktail parties, or get a few more Trivial Pursuit questions right, after reading this one.
    • 4/5
      With a lot of humor and avoidance of technical detail, Powell breaks down everything about music including physics, acoustics, decibels, rhythm and melody, and musical scores. Despite the simplicity of the book, I still find myself challenged in remembering all that I learned, but I suspect that this is a good introduction to music for most readers.
    • 4/5
      As the title says, this is a book about how music works -- but about how it works in physical sense, not in an artistic or emotional sense. This took me aback, since I'd expected (having foolishly failed toread the write up or the reviews) something about sense and sensibility.But I am very glad I got the book, and read it. The author sets out to make the mechanics of music clear even to readers with no musical education. I am just such a one, and the book does indeed make a lot of things very clear, starting with what makes a sound musical. It proceeds through picth and frequency, tonality, intervals and scales, keys, modes, and on and on.I learned a lot from the book, and enjoyed doing so. The style is very clear and simple, the organization is excellent, and the examples are well chosen. Only time will tell whether or not having read the book enhances my appreciation of music, In the meantime, I have learned a lot of stuff that is fun to know.My only question about this book is whether it might be TOO clear and simple for readers who already know a lot about music. I can"t judge that, but such readers might want to read reviews by their peers.
    • 4/5
      Exactly what it says, an overview of the basics from instruments to writing to physics. Well done, even if I knew most of it already, I still learned something by the fact that it’s so clearly written.
    • 3/5
      Interesting approach, I was surprised he was able to avoid naming the notes as long as he did. Strong on the physics and acoustics. Humor veered a bit too the cornball on occasion.
    • 3/5
      This book is a technical book about music, how it works and what it is. It discusses the physics of music in very non-technical and easy-to-understand terms. It also covers some of the history, and why things are the way they are. According to the author, the target audience is everyone, whether a neophyte to music or an aficionado. I disagree with this assessment. I found the book interesting, but low in information density and primarily of use to those who haven't studied much music. The book does cover all the major details of music. I also felt the author does a good job of making it understandable. Even though I have studied music, I felt John Powell helped me solidify my understanding of a number of topics. John Powell also interjects his humor into the book, making it more palatable for those who already know the information he is covering. However, I felt he went overboard and could have used a lot less. At times, it got rather old. Due to the low density of information, the book is a fairly fast read without sacrificing the ability to retain information. The book also includes a CD. The CD contains sound tracks that compare different elements of music. For instance, one of the tracks compares and discusses the sound from a guitar string played from different positions, focusing on the quality and timbre of the sound. The CD is short, but has a few interesting elements to it. You will probably listen to it once and forget about it.If you don't know much about music, this book would probably be a good place to start. Otherwise, I don't think it provides much value.
    • 5/5
      This is one of the most amusing true books about music that I've ever read. The author goes into a deep enough explanation of terms so that the lay-person isn't bored to tears yet it suits the more knowledgeable musician. The writing is fun and the jokes are great--if directed a little more toward a British sense of humor. As a music teacher, I highly enjoyed the book and I know my non-music friends will enjoy it just as much!
    • 4/5
      How Music Works is right up my alley, as I studied music and have an interst in science as well. John powell not only knows about both science and music, he has an entertaining style of writing that is informative and humourous. His clear descriptions of musical terms illustrate the history and the science of music so that the reader should understand just why a violin is harder to learn for the beginner than a guitar or the piano. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to knkow more about music but they should be prepared to read it carefully. He does explain alot about musical notation and things like modes and while it is quite technical you don't need to study it, just pay attention. I believe this could be used as a textbook to supplement the practical study of playing music for the novice and the seerious student.Bravo to Mr. Powell!
    • 4/5
      How Music Works is a fantastic introductory book for the musically interested, but otherwise musically uneducated reader. John Powell writes in a breezy conversational style, never talking down to his reader. He discusses the very basics of acoustics, melody harmony, rhythm, and instrumentation. I think he does a marvelous job tying everything up into a complete package that an interested lay reader should appreciate. As a trained musician, I found myself wanting more from the book, but I cannot fault it for that. Music - and more specifically music theory and acoustics - can seem an arcane field to those who are interested but have had no training. I will certainly recommend this book to people I know who tell me that they'll never be able to understand music. How Music Works should be able to set the initiated reader on to the path of learning, well, how music works.
    • 5/5
      'How Music Works" is very well researched and presented in a clear and concise manner with some fun facts and humor to boot along with a bonus CDIf you like music you will simply LOVE this book..Also don't forget to recommend this to your audiophile/musician friends as well..I recently discovered the New Yorker music critic Alex Ross and his books on 'Music' and feel that this is an excellent companion to the aforementioned worksSimply Put, this is another excellent title by the EPIC Publisher Little, Brown and Co
    • 4/5
      John Powell’s How Music Works starts with the basics and does a good job of explaining the difference between sounds we accept as musical and those we reject as noise. The secret is that music has a regular repeating waveform. He then goes on to provide a hodgepodge of other interesting information, such as how two instruments (say a xylophone and a saxophone) can play the same note but sound different. (It has to do with the harmonics, or secondary frequencies that each instrument generates.) All of this is pretty interesting if you, like me, have a child who is very interested in music and you want to understand some of the basics a little better. He goes on to deal with such interesting subjects as why ten instruments don’t sound ten times as loud as one instrument. (Since they aren’t all exactly in phase, some of the waves cancel each other out. Just the way your noise-canceling headphones work.)If these examples sound interesting, you’ll enjoy the book. It is as easy read, though it does give the impression of being thrown together somewhat haphazardly, and occasionally the author oversimplifies things too much. Powell throws one-liners into almost every paragraph, which becomes a bit old after a while, making me want to check to make sure this volume didn’t have a yellow and black cover with the word “Dummies” in the title. To his great credit, he is wide-ranging in his tastes and understands the virtues of all types of music from classical to jazz to rock to folk.On the accompanying CD, Powell provides some examples, mostly using his guitar, that illustrate things such as the difference between a major and minor key, vibrato and rubato, etc. All in all the short time it takes to read this book is well worthwhile.