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How Music Works
How circumstance and creativity collide in tune
How Music Works sets out to explain the workings of music from ancient history up to now. Writing from an insider’s perspective, David Byrne delves into different aspects of popular music, based on current research, music history, technical knowledge and his life-long career in the new wave band Talking Heads.
- Anyone who wants to understand the inner workings of the music business
- Anyone interested in music’s relationship to its surroundings
- Anyone who wants to find out why music is so important to humans
David Byrne is a Scottish-born artist, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and cofounder of Talking Heads. He’s received many awards, including an Oscar and a Golden Globe, and is the author of Bicycle Diaries and The New Sins.
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How Music Works
- Read in 16 minutes
- Audio & text available
- Contains 10 key ideas
Synopsis
How Music Works sets out to explain the workings of music from ancient history up to now. Writing from an insider’s perspective, David Byrne delves into different aspects of popular music, based on current research, music history, technical knowledge and his life-long career in the new wave band Talking Heads.
Key idea 1 of 10
It’s our surroundings, not just our emotions and skills, that determine the kind of music we make.
Think about a piece of music that affects you. Do you believe that it came from a “place within” the artist?
If the answer is “yes,” you’re not alone: most people believe that music emerges out of some interior emotion. Consider how easy it is to conjure up an image of a composer suddenly arrested by inspiration, and furiously scribbling down an already fully formed composition.
We also usually assume that musical compositions depend solely on their creators’ abilities. For instance, most people think that Western medieval music is harmonically “simple” because composers hadn’t yet developed the ability to use more complex harmonies.
But these assumptions are wrong. It actually works the other way around: we create music that fits the context available to us.
For example, long notes and slowly progressing melodies work beautifully in stone-walled Gothic cathedrals, since sounds will resonate for a long time in this setting. Medieval music that was played in these cathedrals had to be harmonically “simple” because shifting musical keys would result in dissonance, as notes overlapped and clashed.
Furthermore, with the introduction of new technologies came new ways of singing. The arrival of the microphone, for example, meant that singers no longer needed great lungs to project their voice. This led people like Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby to change their vocal dynamics radically; they thereby became pioneers in the practice of singing “to the microphone.”
But this phenomenon of adapting music to its surrounding context is not limited to humans. Research shows that the songs of different animals have evolved to fit their environment. In San Francisco, for example, birds have gradually raised the pitch of their singing so they could be heard above the increased traffic noise. And, in the last few decades, whales have adapted their calls to be heard over the increased shipping noise.
Key ideas in this title
- It’s our surroundings, not just our emotions and skills, that determine the kind of music we make.
- The advent of recording technology has changed how we create and listen to music.
- The composition and sonic quality of music has changed with the advent of digital technology.
- Whether a band is recorded individually or together greatly affects the resulting music.
- Collaborating is an important part of music’s essence and can be an aid to creativity.
- Declining record sales have made the music business more flexible.
- The venue matters; if it’s suitable, a vibrant music scene can emerge around it.
- Encouraging amateurs to make music can have widespread social and cultural benefits.
- Far from being mere entertainment, music is a part of what makes us human and it impacts our well-being.
- Final Summary
