David Byrne: How Architecture Helped Music Evolve

Since the break-up of Talking Heads in 1991, David Byrne has made a good career for himself as a solo artist, working in film and music, and also becoming an active supporter of cycling. Overtly intellectual, Byrne has given lectures on a great variety of topics – from Carl Jung to the ways in which venue and context shape artistic creation.

The TED talk above was given in February 2010 in Long Beach, California, and here David Byrne presents his ideas on the interrelationship between music and architecture. A transcript of this talk can be found on the TED Talks page.

Byrne was not the first to explain the link between music and architecture. In 2002, renowned architect Daniel Libeskind delivered a Proms Lecture on that very topic (find the audio stream here) and, in 2007, Jonathan Cole presented his own lecture, “Music and Architecture: Confronting the Boundaries between Space and Sound,” at Gresham College, London. But it is Byrne’s talk that approaches the subject from the practical point of view of a musician.

By profession, Matthias Rascher teaches English and History at a High School in northern Bavaria, Germany. In his free time he scours the web for good links and posts the best finds on Twitter.

Your Favorite TED Talk Ever?

What’s the best TED Talk ever? That’s the little debate taking place on Reddit.com, and the answer is not obvious, seeing that TED now has over 500 talks available in its archive. (You can find a constantly updated list of every TED Talk in a Google spreadsheet here.)

Now, what are some of the Reddit favorites? Here are five talks that get frequent mentions.

Meanwhile, it’s worth mentioning that TED keeps its own running list of its 10 most popular talks. Some good ones here. And now your turn. Tell us your favorites in the comments below, and don’t be shy.

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