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A dynamic and expansive tour through 40,000 years of music, from prehistoric instruments to modern-day pop songs

Music is an intrinsic part of everyday life, and yet the history of its development from single notes to multilayered orchestration can seem bewilderingly complex.

In his dynamic tour through forty thousand years of music, from prehistoric instruments to modern-day pop, Howard Goodall leads us through the story of music as it happened, idea by idea, so that each musical innovation-harmony, notation, sung theater, the orchestra, dance music, recording-strikes us with its original force. Along the way, he also gives refreshingly clear descriptions of what music is and how it works: what scales are all about, why some chords sound discordant, and what all postwar pop songs have in common.

The story of music is the story of our urge to invent, connect, rebel-and entertain. Howard Goodall's beautifully clear and compelling account is both a hymn to human endeavor and a groundbreaking map of our musical journey.

Howard Goodall is an Emmy, Brit, and BAFTA Award-winning composer of choral music, stage musicals, and film and television scores and a distinguished broadcaster. In recent years he has been England's first ever National Ambassador for Singing, the Classical Brit Composer of the Year, and Classic FM's Composer-in-Residence. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2011 New Year Honors for services to music education.

Simon Vance is an award-winning actor and an AudioFile Golden Voice with over fifty Earphones Awards and thirteen prestigious Audie Awards. He was named Booklist's very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009.