How Music Works
A listener's guide to harmony, keys, broken chords, perfect pitch and the secrets of a good tune
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4.4 • 25 Ratings
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- £9.49
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- £9.49
Publisher Description
·What is the difference between a musical note and any other sort of sound?
·What is harmony, and why does it sound good?
·Why is it easy to tell the difference between a flute and a clarinet even if they are playing exactly the same note?
·Why do ten violins sound only twice as loud as one?
·What is perfect pitch, and do I have it?
Discover the answers to these and many other questions in John Powell's charming, straight-talking and ear-opening guide to what music is and how exactly it works. Written by a composer with a PhD in physics, How Music Works is a unique and entertaining guide. Opening up the world of acoustics and the science of music to deepen our appreciation and understanding of what we listen to, How Music Works covers subjects from the difference between how we hear a musical note and any other kind of sound, to a brief history of the scale system, why a run of arpeggios sounds 'romantic' and why a flute sounds different to a clarinet. The perfect book for players and listeners alike.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this enlightening book, Powell, a British scholar and professor, sets out to explain how we experience music. He selects examples from all manner of disciplines music composition, simple mathematics, physics, engineering, history and offers his insights, such as how Bach s Prelude in C Major is similar to Led Zeppelin s Stairway to Heaven. In the first half, he defines the elements of music like pitch, frequency, harmony, rhythm, and decibel. Building on this foundation, Powell hits his stride in the book s second half as he demonstrates, using both classical and pop music, how musicians create sound and how we listen to it. Some of the information can get scientific but Powell conveys the material with enough humor ( I think the decibel was invented in a bar, late one night, by a committee of drunken electrical engineers who wanted to take revenge on the world for their total lack of dancing partners ) and cocktail party facts ( when we listen to Mozart s music nowadays, we are hearing it a semitone higher than he would have intended ) to keep the book light and fun. Included in the book is a 10-track CD.
Customer Reviews
Aha!
An excellent book with lots of aha moments, simple but effective explanations, good analogies, and a bit of humour to boot. The only way it could be improved would be by embedding audio samples in the text. It might also be helpful in the chapter which encourages the reader to learn an instrument to cover Klavarscribo and/or some of the music software which helps amateurs like me seem a lot better than they are, like Smule.
Joined the dots brilliantly
The tone is easy to follow and amusing to read. The author strips away all pretension and confusion that every music teacher I have ever encountered always hid behind. I feel empowered and inspired to learn more.
How Music Works
A simple and straightforward explanation of all those things that I never really understood to ask about music, and never had the guts to ask. Fantastic. One minor criticism Is the minimalist nature of the photos and illustrations - a little more investment here would attract a wider audience.