Music

How Music Works

How Music Works

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  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2021-10-16 08:54:05
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：David Byrne
  • ISBN：0857862529
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Summary

Best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the iconic band Talking Heads， David Byrne has received Grammy， Oscar， and Golden Globe awards and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame。 In the insightful How Music Works， Byrne offers his unique perspective on music - including how music is shaped by time， how recording technologies transform the listening experience， the evolution of the industry， and much more。

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Reviews

Ian Moody ，

Rules — Byrne is democratic but discerning， open and opinionated。 Worth it just for the final chapter。 More than anything， made me want to listen to and make music， what more can you ask for？

Finn McCrohan ，

This was a thought provoking and engaging read， full of references to other artists and thinkers。

Carl Alguire ，

This guy is an eclectic and passionate explorer and creative genius。 I have no interest in music as a business but I really enjoyed this read。

John ，

Not really about how music works and more about how David Byrne’s life in music has unfolded。 At the same time， it’s not a memoir nor is it an instructive text。 I am a fan of Byrne—the book held my interest—though it would have benefited from picking a lane。 He’ll never write a tell-all on the Talking Heads days， so he should have gone all-in on the analytical mode。 （3。5）

Peanut ，

Gtudtjfty

Michelle ，

This was a pretty epic undertaking for Byrne to cover multiple aspects of music including his own experiences throughout his career， but it’s worth reading for the chapter on “Amateurs” alone。 According to Byrne， process & expression > outcome & creating products， and we would be better off learning how to make music rather than music “appreciation” and how to be creators rather than good consumers。 Hallelujah， amen。A favorite tidbit I learned:His song “One Fine Day” was inspired by reading Vale This was a pretty epic undertaking for Byrne to cover multiple aspects of music including his own experiences throughout his career， but it’s worth reading for the chapter on “Amateurs” alone。 According to Byrne， process & expression > outcome & creating products， and we would be better off learning how to make music rather than music “appreciation” and how to be creators rather than good consumers。 Hallelujah， amen。A favorite tidbit I learned:His song “One Fine Day” was inspired by reading Valentino Achak Deng’s story， told by Dave Eggers’ in “What is the What”。 ❤️ 。。。more

Sarah Elliott ，

Some interesting points but personally I didnt really get the point of it。 Half memoir， half analysis and I didnt really like the structure。

Chi ，

Really informative

Robyn ，

So interesting - wide breadth of coverage

Suneet Bhatt ，

Enjoyed the read and learned a lot。 It flowed。 It felt like a rambling speech at times。 Or someone waking up and sharing their dreams。 Byrne is a hero。 This should be five stars but I struggled to buy some of his more powerful extrapolations on musics role in the world。

Cold Cream 'n' Roses ，

David Byrne of Talking Heads upends the idea that artistic inspiration is how music works: rather， concert venues， acoustics， recording technology， and business determine how music works。

Álvaro García Aragón ，

If you want to know how important technology and the overall changes in our society have affected how music is created， this is your book; but if you are interested in getting a little scoop into how Byrne's brilliant mind works， this might also be for you。 An absolute smash。 If you want to know how important technology and the overall changes in our society have affected how music is created， this is your book; but if you are interested in getting a little scoop into how Byrne's brilliant mind works， this might also be for you。 An absolute smash。 。。。more

Alexis ，

🎼 Muy completo este libro de este artista multifacético David Byrne （recomiendo escuchar sus discos en particular el American Utopia que me gustó mucho）🐦 El primer capitulo Byrne se encarga de explicarnos sobre las bases de la música y su creación desde lo primigenio。 Todo con un tono muy amable y fácil de digerir sin tantos tecnicismos o documentación muy compleja que haría que alguien no estudioso de la música （como yo） se espante。 🕺Luego nos vamos a un repaso de la biografía del autor y cómo 🎼 Muy completo este libro de este artista multifacético David Byrne （recomiendo escuchar sus discos en particular el American Utopia que me gustó mucho）🐦 El primer capitulo Byrne se encarga de explicarnos sobre las bases de la música y su creación desde lo primigenio。 Todo con un tono muy amable y fácil de digerir sin tantos tecnicismos o documentación muy compleja que haría que alguien no estudioso de la música （como yo） se espante。 🕺Luego nos vamos a un repaso de la biografía del autor y cómo la música le ha afectado a lo largo de su carrera artística y su incesante búsqueda。 Seguido esto comenzamos a adentrarnos en el área del “negocio” de la música， sobre las tecnologías y el origen de la búsqueda del humano por tocar， escuchar y crear música。✅ Me encantó， un libro con una muy bonita diagramación， imágenes para complementar y varias notas。 Tengo este libro muy rayado y lleno de post-it （si， soy un pecador） para resaltar todas esas frases que suelta David Byrne sobre sus reflexiones sobre la música。 << La música puede ayudarnos a superar momentos difíciles de la vida， cambiando no solo cómo nos sentimos por dentro， sino también cómo sentimos todo lo que nos rodea。 Es muy poderosa >> 。。。more

John Whaley ，

David Byrne’s book， in particular the chapters focusing on music as born of context and circumstances and music as an amateur aggrandizement （only to be bastardized by our capitalist fetishizing）， is so damn fun and interesting and informative and nerdy and good。 I couldn’t recommend this book any more highly。 One of the best I’ve read in my recent adult life。 If you love music and you enjoy meandering the meanings of “it all，” then you will be well served adding this to your queue。#bookreview # David Byrne’s book， in particular the chapters focusing on music as born of context and circumstances and music as an amateur aggrandizement （only to be bastardized by our capitalist fetishizing）， is so damn fun and interesting and informative and nerdy and good。 I couldn’t recommend this book any more highly。 One of the best I’ve read in my recent adult life。 If you love music and you enjoy meandering the meanings of “it all，” then you will be well served adding this to your queue。#bookreview #bookstagram #readorelse #musicisbest #davidbyrne #talkingheads #howmusicworks #read #makemusic #musicmatters #readersofinstagram #recommended #books 。。。more

Tim Rose ，

I love Talking Heads music and David Byrne is clearly a genius。 I was fascinated by many parts of this book。 Perhaps I listened too quickly， but it became too much。 Would be better to read a chapter at a time， with breaks in between。 Loved chapter 2 describing his musical evolution。

Rob ，

In a time when attending music concerts isn't so available， this engaging page-turner of a book was a joy to read。 In a time when attending music concerts isn't so available， this engaging page-turner of a book was a joy to read。 。。。more

Maximum ，

Really thoughtful book on music and the music industry from a musician who I greatly respect。 I'm glad I read it。 Really thoughtful book on music and the music industry from a musician who I greatly respect。 I'm glad I read it。 。。。more

Ellen F ，

The first chapter had some interesting insights about how music adapts to its surroundings。 After that， though， I found nothing to interest me。

Kelli Chen ，

3。5

Jedtime Stories ，

My new Bible。

Clicky Steve ，

This is a rare book in that it is by a musician （David Byrne of the Talking Heads）， and talks about many different areas of music and our relationship to it。。。 from the history of music and general philosophy of sound to different approaches to music round the world， to specific industry financials。 There isn't really anything else that covers such a wide breadth of content relating to music in such an accessible way。 David's writing style is very interesting and easy to digest， and I enjoyed th This is a rare book in that it is by a musician （David Byrne of the Talking Heads）， and talks about many different areas of music and our relationship to it。。。 from the history of music and general philosophy of sound to different approaches to music round the world， to specific industry financials。 There isn't really anything else that covers such a wide breadth of content relating to music in such an accessible way。 David's writing style is very interesting and easy to digest， and I enjoyed this book a lot。 My only criticism is that perhaps it tried to take on a bit too many different areas， and it could feel a tad fragmented in places。 I would read a full series of books on the included topics from the author。 。。。more

Valentina López ，

Fui muy fan de las partes en que hablaba de la música en sí pero se me hicieron eternas las partes sobre su experiencia en la industria y en la banda， fueron la mitad o puede que más de todo el libro， no están mal hechas ni nada por el estilo， pero a veces me sentía leyendo un libro sobre talking heads y no sobre música en general。 De igual manera es un libro muy bueno y recomendable en especial a personas aspirantes a musicos。

Filip Grac ，

If anybody is at least mildly interested in music， this book is a must read。David Byrne with his patiently curious style guides the reader through wide range of aspects that are necessary to understand music as a social， psychological and neurobiological phenomenon。 In carefully constructed chapters， Byrne gradually presents to us holistic view upon music， which will briefly explain not only its history， production， evolution， distribution or marketing， but also all sorts of mystical and anthrop If anybody is at least mildly interested in music， this book is a must read。David Byrne with his patiently curious style guides the reader through wide range of aspects that are necessary to understand music as a social， psychological and neurobiological phenomenon。 In carefully constructed chapters， Byrne gradually presents to us holistic view upon music， which will briefly explain not only its history， production， evolution， distribution or marketing， but also all sorts of mystical and anthropological aspects。While guiding us through all these dimensions of music， Byrne provides us multiple adequate examples from his own carrier as well as from his colleagues， predecessors and collaborators。 Even though Byrnes's multidisciplinary scope shows music in all its complexity， I have to say that book eventually also touched upon the phenomena that were completely unappealing to me。 This applies especially to the chapter BUSINESS AND FINANCES that provided such an exhausting explaination of all sorts of business models and economical aspects of music that I had really struggled to finish it。To sum up， Byrne invested a lot of effort and research to provide the readers with holistic view upon music。 I see myself coming back to most of the chapters in this book not only to remind myself what a powerful， inspiring and connecting phenomenon music is， but also about the various possibilities it could be。 。。。more

Steve Portigal ，

I gave up after a chapter and a half， and just paged through the rest of it。 This is a great example of a book I wish I had read， but lack the persistence to actually read。 It covers so many aspects of music: recording， performing; Byrne's own experiences and the history and his contemporaries and his influences， etc。 But it's a bit dry throughout。 It'd make a good text for a year-long course。 I gave up after a chapter and a half， and just paged through the rest of it。 This is a great example of a book I wish I had read， but lack the persistence to actually read。 It covers so many aspects of music: recording， performing; Byrne's own experiences and the history and his contemporaries and his influences， etc。 But it's a bit dry throughout。 It'd make a good text for a year-long course。 。。。more

Ryan Goodyear ，

David Byrne has a cool brain。 I loved getting his take on how different external factors shape the creation of music。 The middle of the book was far more autobiographical than I expected， but not in a bad way。 He does a good job of bringing in different historical threads and puts forth some possibilities without claiming to be authoritative as a historian， linguist， neurologist， etc。Gems: Ch 1--claim that hip-hop is created to be played in the car--Walkman in 1979 created a “very small room” fo David Byrne has a cool brain。 I loved getting his take on how different external factors shape the creation of music。 The middle of the book was far more autobiographical than I expected， but not in a bad way。 He does a good job of bringing in different historical threads and puts forth some possibilities without claiming to be authoritative as a historian， linguist， neurologist， etc。Gems: Ch 1--claim that hip-hop is created to be played in the car--Walkman in 1979 created a “very small room” for listening--music evolves to fit the venues in which it is played--“Genius seems to appear when a thing is perfectly suited to its context。”Ch 2--“when it comes to clothing it is next to impossible to find something completely neutral。 Every outfit carries cultural baggage of some kind。”--“There are two conversations going on at the same time: the story and a conversation about how the story is being told。”--“The way one sees things， and the expectations one brings to a performance。。。is completely determined by the venue。”Ch 3--“A sonic scaffolding has been maintained， despite the fact that the materials it is made of have been radically changed。” - in regards to artificially generated sounds mimicking real instruments。--vibrato on strings emerged as ‘cheating” to avoid recording a permanent off-pitch note--Bing Crosby wrote a personal check that sped up the process of tape recording--people beyond the actual musicians influence the music （theme）Ch 4--“Slivers and bits might fool the ear into believing that they represent a continuous audio spectrum （psychoacoustics at work）， but by nature they are still ones and zeros; steps rather than a smooth slope。”--“All software has inherent biases that make working one way easier than another”--“Marketing and promotion aren’t very cost-effective for one song at a time， so temporarily we still market and acquire songs in clumps。” （seems prescient for the increasing prevalence of true single releases in the short number of years since this book was published） --“For me， music is becoming dematerialized， a state that is more truthful to its nature， I suspect”Ch 5--“Deconstruct and isolate” - great look into how unnatural it feels for a live band to play in isolation booths--“In the West， the presumption of a causal link between the author and performer is strong。 For instance， it’s assumed that I write lyrics （and the accompanying music） for songs because I have something I need to express。 And it’s assumed that everything one utters or sings （or even plays） emerges from some autobiographical impulse。 Even if I choose to sing someone else’s song， it's assumed that the song was， when it was written， autobiographical for them， and I am both acknowledging that fact and at the same time implying that it’s applicable to my own biography。 Nonsense！ It doesn’t matter whether or not something actually happened to the writer--or to the person interpreting the song。 On the contrary， it is the music and the lyrics that trigger the emotions within us， rather than the other way around。 We don’t make music--it makes us。 Which is maybe the point of this whole book。”--“Now it has become accepted that the author can be the curator， the guiding sensibility， rather than the singer。”--“Sometimes it seems as if writing a group of songs is like getting groceries or doing the laundry--banal things I do more or less on a day-to-day basis。 We deal with the issues involved in our mundane activities as they come up， and songwriting might be viewed similarly， as the response to specific and even pedestrian needs。 It might seem that in our day-to-day activities there is no overall plan at work， no consideration of where things are ultimately going。 So too， sometimes， with the process of writing songs。 Little decisions are made invisibly every minute， and the cumulative effect， and the often unspoken principles that have guided them， define what appears to be， in retrospect， a conscious plan， with an emotional center and compass。 What begins as a random walk often ends up taking you somewhere， somewhere that you later realize was exactly where you wanted to go。Ch 6--“Players inevitably add things that the songwriter might not have thought of， so you often end up with something very different than from what a solo musician would have arrived at on his own。”--“Over time， you internalize the tendencies and playing approaches of your fellow players…”--“Simplicity is a kind of transparency in which subtle nuances can have outsize effects。”--“。。。we communicated by referencing music that we all loved。”--“There are not a lot of languages for describing and passing on music outside of traditional notation--and even that method， though almost universally accepted， sacrifices a lot。 The same piece of written music can sound completely different depending on who plays it。。。When musicians play together and record， they come up with terms--real and invented--to try to communicate musical nuance…The vagueness and ambiguities of notation allow for this， and it’s not an entirely bad thing。 A lot of music stays relevant thanks to the opportunities for liberal interpretation by new artists。--“Complete freedom is as much curse as boon。”--“The encouragement， coaching， hyping， and prodding that tends to happen in person。。。might not happen [when tracks are emailed]”Ch 7P209 features an incredible graph showing CD sales absolutely dwarfing cassette/LP/download sales--“What it felt like to be young， energetic， and frustrated”--“Amateurism， or at least the lack of pretension associated with it， can be liberating。”Ch 9--“Every educational system was designed to meet the needs of 19th century industrialization。”--Mirror effect - same neurons fire in our brain as firing in the person we are observing--Regions of the brain that fire when hearing music include muscular， auditory， visual， and linguistic--“The way we imagine what our senses do is affected by our cultural biases as well as by the way our language limits our perception。 What we refer to simply as the sense of touch actually includes separate sensors for vibration， texture， temperature， and movement--each of which could have qualified as a separate scene， should our culture have deemed them important。 The Hausea in Africa identify only two senses: seeing and experiencing。 。。。more

Gregp ，

6 out of 10More of a Talking Heads biography than I wanted。

Daniel Sánchez ，

It's a good book， I learnt some useful things about the music industry and how it's changed through the years， some chapters were really good but others were full of David Byrne's carrer which I didn't like cause I'm not a huge fan of Talking Heads， and even though he wrote a lot about himself in music and not about music in general， that's what I didn't like。 Some chapters need more research， in the last chapters he talks too much about a bunch of theories around the musical perception of the h It's a good book， I learnt some useful things about the music industry and how it's changed through the years， some chapters were really good but others were full of David Byrne's carrer which I didn't like cause I'm not a huge fan of Talking Heads， and even though he wrote a lot about himself in music and not about music in general， that's what I didn't like。 Some chapters need more research， in the last chapters he talks too much about a bunch of theories around the musical perception of the human being but when I search the articles on internet some were considered as old-fashioned or juste like fake。 He mentioned something about sound of universe "the sound of universe is music， there is an audio on internet， you can listen to it and it's music" I searched that information on YouTube and it was a fake post which was clearly produced by someone。 Even though I enjoyed the book， I just skipped some parts because he was talking to much about Talking Head's journey 。。。more

Shawn Baran ，

Endlessly interesting， illuminating， thought-provoking， inspiring， and entertaining。 This book rules。

Isabelle | Nine Tale Vixen ，

DNF @ 7%I will cheerfully admit to not having known who David Byrne is， though I think I've heard of Talking Heads — so I had no prior expectations of this book， which is just as well。 Even just within the first chapter it felt incredibly disorganized， frequently name-dropping or wandering into an "I wonder whether 。。。" that could have a concrete answer if the author had just done a bit more targeted research， eventually reiterating the same limited point。 DNF @ 7%I will cheerfully admit to not having known who David Byrne is， though I think I've heard of Talking Heads — so I had no prior expectations of this book， which is just as well。 Even just within the first chapter it felt incredibly disorganized， frequently name-dropping or wandering into an "I wonder whether 。。。" that could have a concrete answer if the author had just done a bit more targeted research， eventually reiterating the same limited point。 。。。more

Alex Watson ，

It’s a real pic-n-mix selection of a book， by which I mean: the theme is music， the topics are vast - from concert hall architecture to the music of the spheres to the economics of recording - and there’s no central argument or thread。 What there is， however， is passion， depth of knowledge， great first hand anecdotes and real specificity。 I enjoyed the chapters on venues a lot。

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=How Music Works

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=How Music Works&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,How Music Works&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0