The Story of Music: From Babylon to the Beatles, How Music Has Shaped Civilization

In this pedantic survey, composer Goodall ploddingly chronicles the innovations and inventions that have shaped the development of music (though classical music is the main focus). He presents some interesting facts—for example, the oldest list of musical instruments dates from 2600 BCE and a Mesopotamian clay tablet that lists various instruments, including the lyre, and provides instruction on playing a lute. In the Middle Ages, Guido of Arezzo came up with a method of notation to aid his choristers in singing songs, and Hildegard of Bingen “added ornamentation and melodic detail outside of the strict confines of standard method” as she composed her own chant tunes. He points out that by 1500 all the main families of musical instruments existed, and he traces briefly the ways that Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Wagner, Schoenberg, Philip Glass, and Steve Reich, among others, influenced the development of music. (Jan.)