A book review of The Shortest History of Music: From Bone Flutes to Synthesizers, Hildegard of Bingen to Beyonce – 5000 Years of Instrument and Song by Andrew Ford
Stars: ***
The Experiment (2024)
History>Music
240 pages
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.
Summary: From prehistoric songwriting to digital recording, discover the history of the world’s favorite art form. No other art is as popular―or pervasive―as music. With just a few clicks, anyone can cue up (and critique) Chopin or Cher, The Bangles or The Beatles―even the brand-new Beyoncé. But things weren’t always this way.
In this brisk, breakneck history under 300 pages, award-winning composer, author, and broadcaster Andrew Ford replays the dramatic evolution of music, from early oral songs to the first orchestras (and their wealthy patrons) and from the emergence of recording technology to the multibillion-dollar industry we know today. The Shortest History of Music explores the immense influence of religion, politics, and the economy on world music, what led humans to make music in the first place, and why―in every era―we are irresistibly drawn to listen to it. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read.
The Shortest History of Music
I was looking into this book because my son was doing ancient music history and I was feeling this out to see if perhaps I’d want him to read part of it. We ended up not using it but I read the book myself as I find history of certain things interesting (microhistory).
The book is very thorough for being a shortest history but that means the beginning sections of ancient music was very dry. It’s not that ancient music history is boring, but being so detailed about a type of music that was fairly basic was a bit much for me.
The later chapters are more interesting but it is still a dry book by nature. One thing that makes it more interesting is the book includes 30+ black and white photos that go with what is being talked about. There are drawings, paintings, photos and even sheet music and music show posters.
Overall the book isn’t full of twists and turns and colourful photos but it is an accurate beginning history of music if that is something you are looking for.
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