John Powell, a scientist and musician, answers questions about harmony, timbre, keys, chords, loudness, musical composition, and many more in this intriguing and original guide to acoustics.

So, what is music, anyway? -- What is perfect pitch and do I have it? -- Notes and noises -- Xylophones and saxophones : same notes but different sounds -- Instrumental break -- How loud is loud? -- Harmony and cacophony -- Weighing up scales -- The self-confident major and the emotional minor -- I got rhythm -- Making music -- Listening to music -- Fiddly details. Naming and identifying intervals ; Using the Decibel system ; Tuning an instrument to the pentatonic scale ; Calculating equal temperament ; The notes of the major keys. Accompanying CD: How to get different sounds from a guitar string -- Can you guess what this instrument is? -- Why some notes clash and others get along together -- Different ways to accompany a tune -- Ancient and modern scales -- 3,000-year-old music : ancient harp tuning -- The horrible out-of-tune bamboo whistle -- Confident majors and emotional minors -- How to bring tears to the eyes of the audience -- The magnificent drinking-straw oboe.