How Music Works: A Listener's Guide To Harmony Keys Chords Perfect Pitch And Otheh - Softcover

Powell, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1846143152 ISBN 13: 9781846143151

Publisher: Particular Books, 2010

Synopsis

Have you ever listened to an incredible piece of music and wondered exactly why it makes you want to dance or cry? Are you mystified by how musicians just 'know' what notes to play next when they're improvising? Or why certain notes sound great together and others clash? Discover the answers in this ear-opening tour of how music works. John Powell, a classically-trained composer and a physics professor, decided to write this entertaining, pain-free guide to the ingredients of music when he discovered that all the other books on the subject gave him a headache. Here he reveals the often little-known facts and fascinating science behind what we listen to, explaining the basics of harmony, scales, chords, keys and rhythm in a way that's easy for everyone to understand. He also shows us why a note has a different sound to a normal noise, why Chinese people are more likely to have perfect pitch, and even why Beethoven and Led Zeppelin are musically similar. This book reveals things that people who play music should know but often don't, and will help all of us - even if we can't read a note - increase our listening pleasure.

About this title

About the Author:

John Powell holds a PhD in Physics from Imperial College, London and a Masters' Degree in Music Composition from Sheffield University. He divides his time between scientific research, running a laser firm and composing music, and is a Visiting Professor of Materials Science (specialising in laser research) at The University of Nottingham (UK) and The University of Lulea (Sweden).

From 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.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Particular Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1846143152
• ISBN 13: 9781846143151
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416