Five Straight Lines

A sweeping and lively account from a master of the subject.

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'Fascinating ... Composer Andrew Gant is a masterful guide, introducing readers to the major players and key themes of an entrancing topic.' BBC History Magazine

Whether you prefer Baroque or pop, Theremins or violins, the music you love and listen to shapes your world. But what shaped the music?

Ranging across time and space, this book takes us on a grand musical tour from music's origins in prehistory right up to the twenty-first century. Charting the leaps in technology, thought and practice that led to extraordinary revolutions of music in each age, the book takes us through medieval Europe, Renaissance Italy and Jazz era America to reveal the rich history of music we still listen to today. From Mozart to McCartney, Schubert to Schoenberg, Professor Andrew Gant brings to life the people who made the music, their techniques and instruments, as well as the places their music was played, from sombre churches to rowdy taverns, stately courts to our very own homes.