How Music Works cover art

How Music Works

The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond

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How Music Works

By: John Powell
Narrated by: Walter Dixon
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About this listen

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.

©2010 John Powell (P)2010 Gildan Media Corp Creativity & Genius History & Criticism Instruction & Technique Music Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Science Piano Celebrity Musician Guitar

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Critic reviews

"Powell conveys the material with enough humor and cocktail party facts to keep the book light and fun." ( Publisher's Weekly)
All stars
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But there are some parts that could have been better. The narrator for example could have sung the examples mentioned instead of reciting them monotonously. Nonetheless, supplementary musical material by John Powell himself is inserted every now and then, taking advantage of the audiobook format. The appendix can't be appreciated completely in such format, so I skipped the boring part where the narrator is enumerating a lot of things (like having someone read a dictionary to you).

Generally good

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This is a good book and explains the physics of musical instruments very clearly. The author seems to have a foot in the physicists’ camp and the musicians’ camp which he combines very well.

The only down-side is that the book seems to have been written as a printed book first and then simply read out for Audible.com, missing out on the benefits an audio book could give when describing music. When you describe notes, volume, pitch, harmonies or the moods which different styles of playing evoke, you really need to give audible examples. When the narrator tells us that a scale that goes tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone gives better musical punctuation than tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone, tone-and-a-half, semitone, it’s hard to follow; but if someone played it you’d understand in an instant. To address this, the author inserts his own comments and examples at the end of each chapter, played on instruments, which does help a lot.

The book goes on to explain a little about musical notation but unfortunately, when teaching that, a printed book _IS_ what you need because it's difficult for an audio book to describe the notation - you need to see examples written down.

Despite these problems this book does a great job at making things as clear as it could. To do better you'd need to find some kind of multi-media presentation where the author has really used each format to its best and interleaved them well.

Btw there is a strange error in the book where the narrator tells us that musicians indicate a sharp note by writing a pound sign. The correct symbol is a ‘#’ which is often found on non-UK qwerty keyboards on the 3 key, where the ‘£’ is in the UK, and I can only imagine that there has been some technical slip-up here and the narrator has read it out unquestioningly.

Interesting but doesn't make best use of format

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An enjoyable book - well written and the technical information is explained very well so that anyone can understand it. Parts will be boring for those with musical training, but there is enough other substance to ensure that everyone learns something. The audio 'illustrations' at the end of some of the chapters are useful too. I think it is a brilliant book for people who are perhaps learning an instrument and are wanting to understand where all the technical intricacies originated.

Enjoyable

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I really enjoyed this audiobook. As someone who has dabbled a bit with music it helped explain some of the concepts. The problem I sometimes have with this format is it flys past before I can properly comprehend so if you are studying music ( and not just someone with a passing interest) a standard book may be better. There were some bits where I was thinking I’d love to see that as a picture or chart.

Enjoyable listen on Music

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This book is an objective and analytical approach to understanding music. This style of analytical approach is my favourite way of understanding things, and the author is doing a fantastic job explaining music in this way.
The book is easy to understand, not to mention the good banter that pleases every reader/listener.

Good introduction to the science of music

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So THAT is why melody works! And why loudness is so hard to measure... If you are just mildly interested in how music works and why it by-passes the brain to reach directly to the soul, then this is a work that will keep you glued to your earphones. Its is well read but, and this is the best part, well illustrated in music by the author with his end-of-chapter appearances. So its a treat, whatever music you enjoy. And even though I've been a broadcaster and closely involved with music for over fifty years there was plenty to learn and marvel at in this book by John Powell. I'd love to do an interview with him!

Music is my business

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The author is British and litters his prose with words like "some bloke". The American narrator sounds stupid and unconvincing reading British colloquialisms, he was a *very* poor choice.

It's as if you heard the Queen saying "darn tootin!" and "oh my god dude", but in a serious way, and for hours.

The general exposition here of the concepts is good and I feel like I've got a better handle on basics like keys, chords, scales etc. I don't think there's any substitute for really studying though, and there were places where, without a graph or diagram, it's just hard to follow.

The American narrator sounds silly

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A concise overview of music basics, easy to follow and quite enjoyable. Covers basics of tuning and the principles of how instruments work. Very uswful for anyone completelt new to music theory.

Nice for layman

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I appreciated the simple explanations of the technical chapters so much that I bought the paperback too. I also bought one for two friends. It’s the book I’ve been looking for, for years!

Harmony, Scales, Keys and Rhythm chapters were pure gold

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Brilliant once you start listening , it just flows .. more over you get expose to the sound samples right then an then... it feels like as proper lecture.

Most appropriate book to be an audio book

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