How Music Works

It would be difficult to praise this book too much.Clearly at age 60 David Byrne has had a lot of experience in the world of music and has had a lot of time to think about it and he has graciously decided to share his thoughts here.The book starts out as a sort of anthropological look at music in general, then continues as he explains how the actual space in which the music is created (a small tavern, a concert hall, or a forest, for example) influences what type of music is produced. Or how technology changes and influences music.There is quite a bit of musical autobiography here as he discusses his work with Talking Heads, and subsequent projects. Personally the first five Talking Heads albums (especially #1 and #2) were and are incredibly important and influential in my own personal history, and even in my development from a youth to an adult; but after the fifth album I moved in a different direction musically than Byrne did and honestly, unless I heard it on the radio, I have never even listened to his subsequent works - so it was interesting read about them here.As the book progresses Byrne explains much about the technical processes involved in recording music and the business side of music - that is to say different ways in which the music is marketed and sold. It's all fascinating, the writing is just right - I never actually thought "Oh, get over yourself!" even during the autobiographical sections, (this demonstrates the perfection of his writing style), the illustrations were interesting, and physically the hard cover McSweeney's edition is in itself a work of art.This is interesting - I recommended this book to my Dad, who is 76 years old. He knows who David Byrne and Talking Heads are and he never really liked them at all (but I know he got to hear a lot of their music, probably against his will, as I lived in his house during my five year infatuation with Talking Heads) but he loved the book stating he thought Byrne was a genius!Actually I will just go ahead and quote his email review - I don't think he will mind:"I've mentioned this book, recommended to me by Michael, to each of you whom I've seen in the past week or so. I found "How Music Works" by David Byrne to be fascinating and it's opened up to me new ways of looking at music in the world. I'll leave it to the Amazon description which I've included to give you a general overview. I have never been a 'Talking Heads' fan but that doesn't matter while reading this thing. This guy is a genius and his observations are very stimulating, thought provoking. He knows whereof he speaks and, though I didn't grasp some topics. I am really glad I tried."

Like a lot of music I discover, I feel like I'm late to the party for this book. It came out ten years ago, but was updated some in 2017. I think It is still immediate and relevant, the only minor changes in music business the near death of the CD and the takeover of streaming. Overall I think it is well deserving of a classic, "must read" for music fans. This is one of the best books I have read in a while. There is entertaining history and numerous personal stories from Byrne, but before and after that he adds insightful and profound chapters on music history, how we think of music and how that keeps changing. Later there is terrific commentary on succeeding in music business, succeeding in creating a "scene" and how to better teach the next generation. The last chapter was partially over my head, but no less important. That's ok because I have a feeling this may be on my re-read list. I have to appreciate that David Byrne, despite his success and the fact that he must know this is an awesome book, uses this platform to promote music itself, and not so much David Byrne.Finally and oddly for me, I would say don't skip the chapter on the music business. I think I always kind of thought of musicians as somehow spoiled rich people who had more money than they knew what to do with. That also goes for actors and athletes in my small brain. But this book somehow conveys the reality that they are all "temp" workers, working gig to gig, choosing to pursue their art/heart over perhaps more rational/longer term professions. Ok a lot of them are still rich. But after reading this I think . . you guys deserve all the money you can get.

Byrne begins his wide-ranging historical, technological, psychological and sociological examination of music with a novel insight: architecture of musical venues shape composition and instrumental arrangements. Regarding huge gothic cathedrals, intimate nightclubs, and jungle camp sites, room reverberation, volume of space, and audience vocal ambience dictate modal versus scale works, instrument development, and performance dynamics. The great revolutionary divide was recording technology, and musicians discovered that what works live does not necesarily achieve the same result on vinyl, tape, CD, or .mp3, and vice versa. Expectations often lead to disappointment and the performance and performer suffers. With such an interesting introduction, the book offers much promise. It almost fulfills expectations with both personal and general tidbits and theses that reward the reader, though for myself his personal examples are somewhat weaker.The second chapter is an musical autobiographical section describing the evolution of his music and stage attire over the succeeding eras of rock. In his world travels, his encounter with Japanese and Balinese traditional music and theatre art had a profound influence on the development of his stage craft. One of his suits clearly had classic Japanese origins.Chapters 3 and 4 return to musicology with an expansion of the role of technology, recording and playback. The historical account is amusing when considering the delusions of reality instilled by each new device on the unconditioned and uneducated ear. The ideal of recordings was and remains an actual live performance, particularly among classical music fans; but the alternative worthy philosophy is the electronic creation of uniquely shaped sound itself, as with tape editing, synthesizers and digital programming, and electric instrument design. Oddly, computerized editing of recordings to achieve perfection in tempo, pitch, and so forth proved imperfect to the ear and lacking in warmth and positive emotional value. Byrne does not elaborate in later chapters, but recordings (and its transmission over radio) changed society by uniting peoples, speeding musical development, and (for instance, in Brazil) of overturning governmental policy of approved musical forms. I do not share Bryne's lament about the calculus-like wave sectioning of digital CDs over analogue LPs because of psychoacoutics, an aging ear, and the fact that speakers are yet analogue in their cone movement and shaping. Of interest is Byrne's belief that we are now so awash in music, indeed private music on personal .mp3 players and smart phones, that live performances are becoming more important, as that increasingly rare commodity, silence. I enjoyed Bryne's relating, in brief James Burke fashion, the connection of the Chinese mouth organ, the shen, to digital computers.Chapter 5 is again more personal with Bryne's experiences in a recording studio and the art, engineering, and strategy of creating an album. Entire books have been written and documentary films have focused on this subject, but the use of computers on mixing boards is a new phenomenon.The following chapter discusses his collaborations. He had already mentioned his albums with Brian Eno, but now Byrne moves beyond Talking Heads by developing music with Caetano Veloso and choreographer Twyla Tharp and creating with Norman Cook [Fatboy Slim] a theatrical piece on the Philippine's Imelda Marcos.Chapter 7 is all about the business and financial side of the music industry. There are pie charts. He explains the very recent changes in industry, when musicians can edit and mix their music on their laptop computers and distribute it via digital download and cloud companies and promote themselves with YouTube videos and have kickstarter campaigns to get public underwriters. The giant brick & mortar record shops (Tower, Borders, Virgin Megastore) are no more and the power of music labels are severely diminished. This chapter should be read by anyone considering how to create and promote their own music; he describes various business models.The next chapter furthers practical advice on the choice of venues, song material, the courage to be different, responsibility to band members and fellow musicians, and so on. It is a peculiar chapter for such a book.Chapter 9 pulls back to a shotgun approach critical of musical elitism and lauding the amateur musician. In the days before mass-marketed recordings, there was a piano in the parlor. Even in the 1960s, every kid (yours truly included) had an acoustic guitar, singing folk songs. Until very recently, courses in music appreciation were dedicated only to classical music and rarely jazz. Governmental and corporate funding erected costly symphony halls and museums. Byrne seems to ignore the reality that these measures were to preserve and encourage endangered music styles and that the masses are doing fine in supporting pop and avant-garde culture, filling stadiums and arenas and small local music joints. Symphony halls are not restricted to dead European composers; I have heard contemporary American, Japanese, Argentinian, Iranian, and other world composers. Still, the point is taken when middle and high schools do not offer music and art classes and other nations support amateur musicians, music clubs, and youth bands and orchestras. Music and art should not be passive art forms.The final chapter covers music as a human, biological, and indeed metaphysical essence. This historical and anthropological section sketches prehistorical, ancient, and early modern musical instruments, musical sciences, and philosophies. Everything vibrates, from atoms to planets. He does not include it, but string theory of matter involves vibrating strands of energy. Bryne briefly mentions the differing scales of music across the planet, the relationship of language and speech to music, neurological imprinting of music and its performance, music in religious rituals [Taliban and similar zealots aside], the natural ambient music appreciated by John Cage and the composed ambient music of Satie, Eno, and Feldman, and various other aspects of music. Bryne can only touch upon these large subjects as he closes the book. While it may lead to further reading, I find the section too scattered to be truly effective.This grand book, with its padded cover, offers a little of everything to everyone. Fans of Bryne, as leader of the Talking Heads or as musicologist, will surely find much to appreciate here. I do think, however, that he could have prepared two smaller books, one dedicated to the practice of musicmaking today and one to music's historical and anthropological aspects.

El libro es sumamente interesante para quienes estamos interesados en la música.

Muy centrado en la música pop.

Trotz des Titels erklärt David Byrne - Gründer der Talking Hads und seit 50 Jahren im Musikgeschäft - nicht wie "Musik funktioniert". Musiktheorie findet man ebenso wenig, wie psychologische Betrachtungen - von einem Teelöffel im letzten Kapitel abgesehen. Stattdessen liefert Byrne Einblicke wie das Musikgeschäft fuktioniert und vor allem wie es sich im Laufe des 20. Jahrhundert durch neue Technologien geändert hat. Ebenso legt er die eigene Band- und Sologeschichte da, und schreibt über das Schreiben von Musik, von Lifeperformances und wie (und ob) man von Musik leben kann. Dabei zeichnet er ein komplexes und natürlich sachkundiges Bild. Gelegentlich mag man meinen, dass er sich selbst etwas zu sehr als Maßstab nimmt, aber andererseits, ist er nun einmal erfolgreich und er weist auch darauf hin, dass sein Werdegang nicht immer reibungslos verlief.Insgesamt ein sehr interessantes, tiefrgündiges Buch über das Musikgeschäft und über populäre Musik als Kunstform mit vielen lesenserten Denkanstößen!

An enjoyable and informative read, and lots of common ground if you’ve been in anyway involved in the music industry over the last 30+ years.Will now revisit all the Talking Heads albums with renewed interest

David Byrne and Talking Heads were influential to my life in ways that verge on embarrassing. They were that essential slice of the punk/new wave scene that said with neither smirk nor rancour, “Give it a shot. What have you got to lose?” The punk as affirmation school, as it were. This book is filled with the inquisitiveness, if not wisdom, of one who has spent his adult life in the public eye yet remains curiously untouched by it all and retains a deep sense of ‘What happens if we try this,” essential to every artistic adventure and adventurer.