The Science of Music: How Technology has Shaped the Evolution of an Artform

by Andrew May

An investigation into the relationship between science and music – from Pythagoras to the Moog synthesizer.

In this new title in Icon's Hot Science series, Andrew May traces how important science is in all aspects of music. After the basics of acoustic science and the history of sound waves, he explores how musicians have played with the scientific parameters of sound to apply algorithmic rules to create music.

The role of science in music can be seen most obviously in the development of electronic technology, which has revolutionized how humans create, record and listen to music. The book also covers the complex world of brain science behind the creation of music, and the way we listen to and perceive it, and the frightening question of whether some form of AI would ever be able to create music on a par to that created by humans.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

Published March 16, 2023

About the author

Andrew May is a former scientist with an MA from Cambridge University and a PhD in Astrophysics from Manchester University. After a thirty year career spanning the academic, government and private sectors, he has now settled in the South-West of England where he works as a freelance writer and consultant on subjects as diverse as defence technology, history, physics, Forteana and New Age beliefs.

Reviews

[Jemma Yusuf · Rating 2 out of 5]

It had some really interesting concepts but equally sections of boring repetitive information.

The musical algorithms was by far the worst section, it included about 6 pages of information worth reading with the others dragging on about some topic that was not related to the chapter, it made it a drag to read through.

Furthermore, I felt the book attempted to consolidate all potentially candidates for music science rather than picking an aspect, diving deep AND, what I thought the book lacked most was real current world implications.

It definitely gave me things to think about but overall it was topics that I feel most musicians already know and therefore didn’t really serve much purposes.

[Thijs Versantvoort · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I had read the backside of the book more carefully, I wouldn't have picked the book. I expected more on psychology and the neuroscience part of music, but instead it was a summary of electronic innovations and mathematical research. If I were into that I would have loved it, possibly. It's arrogantly written like a fanboy too, which made it difficult to keep me invested.

It's a short and informative read, at least.

[Ceren · Rating 3 out of 5]

loved the last part when he focused more on the psychology, our brain and music but only cause that’s what my research was about. overall, detailed and easy to read, i just couldn’t get the attention span to read it in one go

[Vardaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fun, helped me learn about some interesting things. The math portion was sort of a slog for me but I think that’s more due to not really understanding that much music theory. I loved the brain portion as it covers how different keys have different emotional affects (duh) but more interesting was to see how different composers favored their keys and in which combination. Also talks about how information like this and generally about music can be collected and analyzed which is how the music industry can pump out hits as they’re essentially just analyzing what everyone wants.

Also lists a bunch of open source music softwares/DAWs so that’s useful

[Pallavi Vishwanath]

An interesting book about some basics of music and its history. How technology played an important role in bringing out the music we hear today. Was hoping it would a comprehensive study including Indian music and its theories but was missing. Overall an interesting perspective of how the building blocks of music were discovered, studied and implemented in technology.

[Abbie Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting points to take away. Though not sure how well you'd fare through most of it if you didn't already have a maths and music-y background. Or how I feel about Wikipedia being cited so much.