How Music Works

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

By: John Powell

Narrated by: Walter Dixon

Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Critic reviews

"Powell conveys the material with enough humor and cocktail party facts to keep the book light and fun." ( Publisher's Weekly)

Gives you the understanding and the connections

Would you consider the audio edition of How Music Works to be better than the print version?

I have only been through the audible version

What was one of the most memorable moments of How Music Works?

The explanation of connection between the various frequences

What about Walter Dixon’s performance did you like?

Everything was ok, very clear reading

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No

Very good

Actually I liked it read by an American with intermittent blurbs read by the British author. It was really neat. I learned a lot and had fun listening. Highly recommended! The narration is wonderful. Add a little multi media with some music thrown in, and you have a winner! Loved it.

Best book on music theory

This book tied threads together for me in a way no other text could. As a music theory book it is far better than the book with the same name by David Byrne (sorry David). Powell reduces everything complex and daunting about music theory to algebraic fundamentals. I think there is something here for every level.
The narrator is great and I love the author popping in at intervals with his wonderful accent to demonstrate a concept.
Please write more books, Powell! Perhaps one about the process of creating music?

I tremendously enjoyed this book

It was great - I’ve been looking for a book like this for years. Very easy to follow.

Something for everyone.

I enjoyed this book beginning to end. It provided a wide variety of information, examples and stories about music that anyone could gleam insight from. Very entertaining and educational.

Funny and inspiring

What made the experience of listening to How Music Works the most enjoyable?

The examples and the author's comments at the end of each chapter

Who was your favorite character and why?

The author

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, it is a book to study slowly

Interesting, but needs less words and more music

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Even if the author makes a good effort for giving the listener complete explanations, he misses the opportunity of using music to make his point. Sentences fall short to explain musical concepts and being an audiobook he could have made a great product if he had put more "beautiful sounds" and music in it to help the reader train his ear and develop a musical imagination.

Best music book on audible

Very interesting for novice and expert alike. Audiobook is great because it provides music samples to illustrate points.

Depends on what you know coming into this book

As a musician, I soak up almost anything related to music. This presentation is somewhat of a music 101 on various levels - so if you personally have a solid understanding of music fundamentals, you could easily pass by this book as it will likely be extremely repetitive regarding music fundamentals. That said, I still picked up a couple of interesting tid bits here and there, though not sure the trade of time for this book was personally a good use of time. There are also multiple attempts to spice up the book with humor - you'll either be amused or will be rolling your eyes when those offerings emerge.

increased my knowledge of music

Any additional comments?

I'm not a musician, but was interested in learning the theory of music. This book delivered brilliantly.