David Byrne on How Architecture Helped Music Evolve

Written by Trevor Malkinson

This is a fascinating TED talk by David Byrne formerly of the Talking Heads. As an enormous music fan who's seen music in many different kinds of venues over the years, the insights in this talk made so much sense. Why did Joni Mitchell kind of fall flat when I saw her in a giant sports arena? Why did The Arcade Fire seem to lose something in the open air? Why can only certain bands fill- both sonically and in terms of numbers- a football stadium? Byrne's talk makes sense of these things. It also brings forth an excellent (four-quadrant) awareness of the interrelatedness of all things in the world. You can't separate the music out from a whole series of possible contexts- the building it's being made in or for; the technology involved in recording or listening; or the needs and behaviors of the social setting. Brilliant.

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2 comments

Comment Link Thursday, 07 October 2010 22:01 posted by jwood
Architecture is "frozen music"… Really there is something in this; the tone of mind produced by architecture approaches the effect of music. --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Comment Link Friday, 08 October 2010 19:59 posted by Trevor Malkinson
Juma, I think this is a very interesting point. Wittgenstein also has a great line about architecture:

"Remember the impression one gets from good architecture, that it expresses a thought. It makes one want to respond with a gesture". (Culture and Value)

What that line and the one you mention highlight for me, is how much causal or generative power architecture itself has. Makes one wonder, in the case of music, about what's producing what. However, what I like about the Byrne piece and these passages is that they point to a *relational* causality, one much different than the linear billiards-ball type causality of the modern mind. In this case (music and architecture) you have influence going in both directions at once, which is a much more complex and interesting understanding of reality it seems to me. Everything bumping into everything, creating sparks, no final separation anywhere.