How Music Works

I really enjoyed reading How Music Works, and I think that's saying a lot, because I am neither a Talking Heads fan nor a musician. Byrne's writing is casual and easy to read. He favors an impartial tone for most of the book, but opens up with more personal insights in the chapters “Creation in Reverse,” “Amateurs!” and “Harmonia Mundi.” This is where I found Byrne's candor and curiosity most engaging. He makes one hell of an amateur ethnomusicologist for an art-school-dropout-turned-pop-icon.

Aspiring musicians will find the chapters, “In the Recording Studio,” “Collaborations,” and “Business and Finances” incredibly insightful. Byrne uses his own financial history to illustrate different ways to cover the costs of recording, distribution, touring, etc. I really admired not only his transparency (when do celebrities voluntarily share their finances?), but also his attention to detail.

As a primer in music history and ethnomusicology, How Music Works has provided a great jumping off point for plenty of personal research.

“Music was the main poetic metaphor for that which could not be preserved.” -Walter Murch