David Byrne: How architecture helped music evolve

[tooosweeet]

He's not a very good speaker to be honest, a lot of his points were incoherent and unorganized, and he didn't really end the speech on point. Instead of summarizing how the environment evolves and inspires music, he spent minutes on whether people still have the same amount of passion and joy for music......................... yeah.

[neilcolleenmartinez]

People paid money to hear him? Retar-Ted.

[johnnybigoode]

LOL @10:20

That's the best they could do.

[MarkTheBrains]

Lol that's the guy who made the song that came with every new Windows XP computer.

[1313lakers]

Hey check out my Hunger games book reviews

[JGMStudio]

Lol

[tbyrd62us]

Genius!

[LonelyViewBand]

@ 13:38 "God damnit, I am SO f*cking genius it's scary."

[Jose345o]

Interesting stuff, but he seems incredibly nervous up there.

[Dobydoves]

Song

[heindeljify]

Just plain stupid.

[heindeljify]

Just plain stupid.

[SALESPRODUCTIONS]

You may say to yourself - my God - what have I done ?

[dagstur1]

Feel I should correct something.

The organ was not born in church; remember the Roman circus?

Sadly, most churches don't remember their organs until well after they're built. Thank goodness the old ones are still with us. New churches try to be good lecture halls.

[MentalEminence]

@dagstur1

Are you questioning the very fabric of our churches? ! You filthy liberal!

[LuckyLuciano859]

WaTcH mY PlAyLiSt tO bEcOmE iNfOrMeD

[zexfrost0]

Can someone tell me name of the song at 0:35?

[luclrnt]

@zexfrost0 'A Clean Break' off The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads

[zexfrost0]

@luclrnt Thanks. :)

[insomniacgrace]

wow, this is so cool and amazing talk. Thanks for having this video posted. Impressive and terrific topic shared.

[TheNellamaria]

Very interesting!

[leconfidant]

David Byrne is a god. The album he did with Eno - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts - is my favourite album of any kind of music. He should get a Nobel Peace Prize just for that.

[superhakujin]

@leconfidant Thanks for suggesting that album - I just picked it up and gave it a quick listen. I won't say it's my new fave but it's certainly provocative. I thought I heard hints of everything from New Wave to Yoko Kanno... I wonder how many artists this album influenced! Speaking of which, you might like Downtime by the Kleptones - it's a little less ambient, but similar in tone and full of interesting samples.

[leconfidant]

@superhakujin Oh I didn't say it was easy. But it's rewarding. The more I play it the more I like it. There's a Wikkipedia page on it.

[bread0666]

fuck. yeah.

[markwinnington]

i think the conclusion should be - music genre and type is born inside a venue and venues are suited to fit an already born style of music. For example, acoustically speaking only - The organ was born in a church as it was an instrument that relied on high reverberation times (6-10secs) - churches then continued to be built to suit organs.

[joedaviso]

He hit himself in the face with his guitar while he was touring, hence the lisp induced by a brace he was wearing.

[BayviewFinch]

I would say that the music comes first, then the venues follow suit.  It's cool though how David Byrne brought up this connection between architecture and music, and he's always interesting to listen to.

[jkfalse]

my mind boggles

[scotty]

A thought provoking point of view.

[dr2050productions]

Excellent talk: so right and fun to watch. The "conclusion" was nonsense, unfortunately. I was hoping that Byrne would say something about music, and about what kind of architecture comes next, or at least how to bring dynamic range back to music... oh well.

[tigerfishgirl]

This is what musicians have known for a very long time... what i found really interesting was hearing about the way those birds adapt their communication methods. Glad I had the patience to wait for that little revelation *grin*

[rufibarbatus]

13:10 ANGRY BIRDS! :D

[Slemfarfar]

Eventually I got to know why U2 changed as their popularity grew during the 80's

[whitelark87]

Does anybody know the name of the composer and/or piece that plays during the gothic cathedral stint? [3:13] It is glorious and haunting... I'd like to give it to my iPod as a present.

[arkhangelsk]

@whitelark87 the composer is thomas tallis, and the piece is 'spem in alium,' a motet for 40 voices, which he composed around 1570 or so. isn't it stunning?

[whitelark87]

@arkhangelsk ohh, it is. thanks so much! this is incredibly helpful. I'm so glad someone knew the name of the piece!

[johnytoreno]

this explains everything,



[beejayOK]

great insight into the contexts and form of music

[menkaur]

i never thought about the music like that.

cool stuff

[PhattyMo]

LOL... at 2:08  "So I asked myself".....aaannd the song started playing in my head.

[hunkydorian]

Observations but no point. But gosh, I hate those synthesizer zzzzhhongs.

Byrne is a character like Groucho Marx or Marilyn Monroe: Unique. Not a smooth speaker but he does good work elsewhere.

[TheDiscoMole]

it was ok, interesting, nothing that special as he didn explain why different music sounds better to our minds in different settings

[EveryHumanBeing]

Perhaps.... All THose folks who played and got their start at CBGB'S could have forked over some of the BILLIONS of dollars they earned and helped KEEP CBGB"S OPEN instead of letting them CLOSE it DOWN !!!!!

[BrianJ1962]

Nice to see he's still got that 'wild' glint in his eye ;-)

[LIGHTRONIX]

wow I'm glad I saw this. This really speaks to me as an electronic musician. I've always been fascinated with architecture and acoustics and reverb. It feels as though I finally just inserted the skinny blue tetris piece into a vertical gap in my mind...

[JMsoprano]

Excellent. This is something musicians - especially amplified singers - deal with constantly. I'm teaching music appreciation and history of rock and roll in the fall, and I will definitely be using this clip as a springboard for other assignments.

[MarkBade]

This was like having a hero teach a college course....haha....it was very True Stories 20 years later....What's the name of that CBGB tune?

[bearswilleatme]

Ah, now we have the commercial at both the beginning and the end. Pretty soon we won't be allowed to fast forward through them.

[sjkdec18]

Does anybody know the name of the song that was recorded at CBGB? (Time: 00:35)

[pinkled]

@sjkdec18 Talking Heads- A Clean Break

[sjkdec18]

@pinkled Thanks so much!

[kornkid13]

Maybe he means the acoustics OF the architecture? :D

[jjohnson3030]

I'm pretty sure he means acoustics not architecture

[MusicBySav]

Wow that's something I haven't thought about. Thanks TED! =]

[SSPX3]

hmmm, i dunno about this one guys... seems like he's taken common sense and romanticised it. FFS stop raping the word architecture.

[ddovey]

@SSPX3 As soon as you stop misappropriating the word "rape"

[unmedication]

@SSPX3 I agree. It is statement of the obvious.

What would have been amusing something like playing punk rock in a church or African music in a swimming pool.

[unmedication]

@SSPX3 And you just play "your social environment", not "your architecture". Duh !

[MilesB1975]

I am trapped in an elevator, please help , music sucks!

[kagitsune]

This will completely change how I listen to music!

[solanaceaesolarium]

glad to subscribe to TED. many interesting, relevant posts. *doors and windows open ;)*

[jezmundberserker]

Crazy 'ol David. Gotta love him.

[Devoti]

lol david byrne is insane, but in a very good way... got to love him!

[BaileysBeads]

This title sounds as if it came straight out of a TEDtalks title generator

[MajDigi]

This guy is so tweaky, he's hard to watch.

[SIT805]

That's not the Bayreuth Festspielhaus at 05:00...

[vlegeltje]

why did he make such a leap in reasoning at the end? Did he feel that because he was at TED he had to make more of a moral point at his speech? I liked it till that part

[TritonAlias]

@vlegeltje I think he was just trying to give an example of how the information he had already shared implies things that are far more "important" to most people. He was trying to inspire the few people who had already decided to barely listen because his topic was music and architecture, not politics. I agree with you that it could've been done much better, though. I think this was the worst TED talk presentation I've seen, yet. That doesn't negate its message, though, either. :)

[tabletopphoto]

@TritonAlias

What makes it the worst?

[TritonAlias]

@tabletopphoto It was the worst presented TED talk I've yet seen mainly due the lack of public speaking skills by Mr. Byrne. It was difficult to watch; the flow was terrible, the ideas were a bit haphazardly presented, and the overall message was very unclear. The key words here, though, are "I've yet seen." I'm not trying to compare this to every other TED talk in existence, only commenting on it in comparison to the other ones I've viewed.

[tabletopphoto]

@TritonAlias

Wow. I had no trouble with any of it and got it all

[TritonAlias]

@tabletopphoto You seem to be implying that because you feel you understood the presentation it must not be in need of improvement. Good luck with that.

[breaneainn]

Bloody David Byrne pops up after 20 years, and in a few short sentences, completely messes with everyones head.

[breaneainn]

so the end defines the beginning contrary to linear time.

Will we ever quantify purpose or group intent?

My head hurts and I'm going to be sick.....

[HDvideosaregood]

What was his point?

[rock3tcat]

Yeah we need more people like him thinking about these problems that effect all of our lives. World Hunger? Who cares, as long as my music is groovy.... :D

[Deathinmusic]

Very interesting ideas

[sbarbozag]

he shouldnt be talking music, what he really is talking about is communication. birds sing that way so they can be heard by other birds, their singing has adapted to their context, just like our ways of communicating have adapted to our surroundings, that could be architecture or nature. when a singer wants to be heard or communicate something to the audience, he tries to make it in the best way he can with the instruments and place that he counts with.architecture changes the way we communicate

[corotor12345]

@sbarbozag

True that... very true. And smart too, as a matter of fact, very accurate. Nice.

[breaneainn]

@sbarbozag weird, so the end product justiifies the method of it's creation...in fact..influences it's own creation by the mere fact that it exists....

yikes

[corotor12345]

@breaneainn

Almost sounds like Heisenberg's theory LOL. Things only exist under specific context and... oh, well, it's too long to explain.

[breaneainn]

@corotor12345 ..begs the question...did he design his talk around the acoustics of the ted-talk auditorium?

[briansmobile1]

Brilliant insight by David Byrne.

[quosmo1]

blah

[caseyforever]

As the venue gets worse (or at least less fancy) the music get's more innovative. changes faster and is the edge. i love classical but it doesn't reflect the world i've grown up in, nor the future i'm headed for. (and yes, i do say this knowing that a lot of most modern music is crap, but there's endless amounts of forgotten classical composers who sucked too, and not everyone had access to an orchestra to lead, so it was music for the elite, by the elite.)

[corotor12345]

@caseyforever

And being a part of the elite society class is... wrong? Hmmm, I don't know, I may be mistaken but I sense some resentment in that. Some repressed feelings against the slightly luckier group of people who happen to have contributed in history just as much as the middle and lower classes do every day. Equity means tolerance, opinions are opinions, and when over-critical or offensive, should be kept to ones self. In my opinion... which is not harmful. =)

[caseyforever]

@corotor12345 i won't get into a discussion about what it takes to be the 'elite of society' and whether what it takes and what it's taken historically is ethical. what i was saying is the 'music of the people' from the past is largely forgotten as it had no way to survive (no recordings). a common composer had no access to an orchestra. classical, though remembered was not widely the music of the people. 2.personally classical music does not really reflect the world i live in, nor it's future.

[caseyforever]

@corotor12345

i didn't have a lot of room to write what i was really trying to say and kept having to reduce words hahahah but i did need to add that i don't know where your lengthy comment came from. if you re-read what i said i think you'll find that it has little to do with anything i said. i said it was music for the elite by the elite. they made it... they heard it. simple. nothing condescending.

personally, for me, culturally, that's rarely where the real action and innovation happens.

[alexds9]

what a bunch of worthless bullshit...

[ExMachine]

I wonder if he's been reading John Gray...

[swizzlecheeks]

The man is a musical genius.

[timidgothica]

wonderful!

[wasjunk]

its so nice to see my two favorites thing talked about.

by a man i have a great amount of respect for ......

[harveyts3]

I enjoyed this talk.

[chikechild]

I practically live in concert halls. Maybe that's why my music sounds the way it does.

[MrDarkbloom]

Nice talk. Even if it was a bit messy in the last two minutes, he gets a pass from me.

[IslandHermit]

He seemed to lose his way a bit right near the end, but other than that it was an interesting talk.

[EyeMonniker]

That's pretty interesting stuff.

[idiallin]

this is a pretty bad ted talk

[geganobo]

@idiallin

If you're not a musician it may not be interesting

[kalaway]

Good topic. Could have been better presented.

[Grymyrk]

In conclusion, pop music sucks.

[LokiClock]

Two TED firsts! Someone with something interesting to say about music, and someone with something interesting to say about architecture!

[takigan]

@LokiClock

Have you watched the TEDtalk by Benjamin Zander. THAT was a profound music talk.

[LokiClock]

@takigan Of course I was just being flippant. But I hadn't seen that one before, it's very good.

[mostlylogical]

@LokiClock lol

[cireyar]

i live in a shithole and death metal plays well in here

[iamandrewros]

@cireyar i lol'd

[briansmobile1]

@cireyar Well expressed sir! I respect your input.

[corotor12345]

@briansmobile1

I'm sorry, I think I missed that input. Is he criticizing Death Metal? Or is he arguing that Byrne has no point? Or what is he doing...? How does shit hole co-relate to metal? Maybe I'm biased, but I just don't understand... what's the connection?

[TheBlitz1]

@cireyar Best comment...

[alexhamster1134]

@cireyar 

[otur1]

Sound evolutionists, repent!

[ThroneofEden]

Great video. I liked that he tried to tie it in, although a little bit vague, to concepts of evolution and adaptation in the end. It would actually have been interesting he spent more time showing the more specific similarities between musical creation and adaptation to architectural design.

In the end, he nicely de-mystifies the process of musical creation. He shows that it's not magical inspiration but a co-existence between inspiration and adaptation and almost a form of compromise.

[caseyforever]

loved that! as a musician it seem especially telling. very cool.

[test123ok]

very insightful !

did anyone notice how much his head shakes from side to side ?

[sandslash123]

@test123ok @test123ok I think that he is trying to make as much contact with whole audience as possible

[organdva]

Great¨!¨

[gremy0]

definitely one on the most unique ideas I've seen on TED I loved it. Then again, although I love music and play a lot of guitar, I have studied next to nothing to do with in depth musical theory so maybe it is blindingly obvious. Had to add "music's only a theory not a fact you cant teach me that!!!"

[Waranoa]

Interesting idea :) I like the inclusion of the walkman/mp3 player.

[firemarshall007]

This video was so interesting, I liked the comparison between West Africa and the gothic cathedral.

[LesGomez]

Interesting but a bit longwinded and disjointed. As a musician I think this is largely intuitive. Of course the music sound level will fit the venue, but there have been many small venue acts who translate very easily into huge stadiums after they hit it big. Does their music always change that noticeably?

[MidiPunk]

Very interesting!



[Sylocat]

This ain't no party,

this ain't no disco,

this ain't no foolin' around...

No time for dancin'

or lovey-dovin'...

I ain't got time for that now!

[GirlyVoice]

Xenakis?

[adsilcott]

David Byrne is the man... maybe in music more than TedTalking, but still the man. I'm surprised he didn't talk about the project he did that turned an old building into a musical instrument: watch?v=M1D30gS7Z8U

[9claudius]

The Wagner opera house shown is NOT Bayreuth. How could you omit it from your lecture?

[TheEnDBG]

Why hattin' on Car Audio? He showed some shitty "things" that are not even called "systems". Look around the forums and you can see tons for cars made with months and months of work for both Sound Quality to represent the sound as it was recorded in a studio and SPL for the ones who love the low end... not this ghetto shit he showed, but world breaking records for decibels or just daily... it is a hobby, an addiction.

We love music...

[bluebalute]

@TheEnDBG I did not and still do not believe that David Byrne was hating on car audio. He expressed a personal opinion on possibly not liking the music but each to his own and I think that was his attitude. If you are also referring to the photos that he used then you should also notice that he used that kind of thing in other places in his talk. It is called humor and it is funny. Odd thing is that I think he, like you, also loves music.

[Waranoa]

@TheEnDBG I also don't think he's hating on car audio; he works together with Fatboy Slim and NASA for one thing; which is great music but also adapted to modern venues, including cars. He might not like CRUNK or BOOTY BASS (but maybe he does :)) but he certainly doesn't dislike car audio.

[AppA]

Environment is crucial.

[bjbjbjbjbj]

wicked



[Kargoneth]

Woo! Talking Heads

[defect530]

my dad constantly watched "stop making sense" in concert

I always loved the huge over sized suit he wore :D

[VigilantnotMilitant]

I still love you intensely David Byrne!

[AtheistCitizen]

"encore" after all, comes from the word "ancora" which means simply "again"

[NewgroundsOwnSBB]

I'm very interested in the study of sound/music/reverberation and the like, but I found this talk too boring and obvious to handle

[VigilantnotMilitant]

@NewgroundsOwnSBB, srsly I feel like I could have presented this talk better.

[NewgroundsOwnSBB]

@VigilantnotMilitant Wait who are you?

[tenisplayer]

extremely good talk...

[TheFusionIcon]

Sooooo . . . as the architecture gets worse, so does the music.

[munsking]

@TheFusionIcon

sure would explain all the modern music

[TheFusionIcon]

@munsking Precisely.

[otur1]

@TheFusionIcon

Have you missed Lou Reed 'Walk on the Wild Side', 'Perfect Day', 'Satellite of Love', those were performed in shitty environments.

[TheFusionIcon]

@otur1 I wasn't being entirely sincere with my comment and actually I haven't heard of any of those titles. Thank you for the suggestions.

[RiddickTheKiller]

@TheFusionIcon Not.

[soulsanctuarymusic1]

@TheFusionIcon yeah churches fucking suck! lol

[TheFusionIcon]

@soulsanctuarymusic1 LOL

[airventilation]

very interesting

[chocomalk]

Brilliant talk.

[KnightsofEmerald]

Great talk, thanks!

[artofcows]

interesting thoughts

[Crunch0r]

@grvyrd1

lordkatakos is first..

MUAUAHAAHHA...

[grvyrd1]

actually it looks like zarkoff45 was back @ya

[lordkatakos]

Pretty solid

[zarkoff45]

@lordkatakos

It was solid for the first 3 quarters of the talk, but he got a little flaky toward the end by bringing up an overly broad topic that didn't quite relate - politicians faking sincerity. I still faved this one.