The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It by Philip Ball (Guardian Unlimited)

14 February 2010, 7:20 pm

Steven Poole tunes in to an engaging analysis of the sound of music How do we hear music? As the science writer Philip Ball's book shows thrillingly, listening to Lady Gaga is a hugely complex mental activity. It is already strange that we hear a single note played on the violin or piano as a single note, rather than a chord of harmonic overtones. Add harmony, polyphony and rhythm, and the brain ...... Read More »

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