David Byrne on How Architecture and Music Interact

Here's a bit of nerdy awesomeness for your Friday afternoon: David Byrne (of Talking Heads) gives a TED Talk about how different rooms (performance venues) affect music. He talks about how Talking Heads started out at CBGB and how that club's acoustics affected the band's music -- discrete rhythms could be heard, lyrics were understandable, and the room had very little reverb. Those factors influenced the music, as opera and concert halls influence those kinds of music. As Byrne has taken his music into new venues, he's found that the room really affects what kind of music you can realistically deliver. It's great stuff.

Byrne's talk is not just for music nerds, though -- he gets into how birds tailor their calls to their environment in nature, as well as a brief history of classical music and various rooms that famous composers wrote their music for. Check it out: