Review of Mark Katz's Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music

Before the phonograph, when the final note of a piece of music finished, it would only exist in our memories. In Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music by Mark Katz, the author explores how music progressed from a rare indulgence to what is now a readily available commodity for solitary consumption or presentation to either the engaged or passive audience. Starting with Edison’s phonograph, Capturing Sound provides a chronological analysis of technology’s relationship with music. Katz proceeds to such topics as how early recording had a lasting influence on modern violin performance, the DJ’s re-contextualization of the phonograph as a musical instrument, and how digitization of music accelerated new musical genres while also causing the perceived downfall of the music industry.  Music did not develop as an art independently from technology, nor did technology develop without music’s influence. As applied science became more involved with music, technology and artists changed together. Some musicians and composers conformed to imposed limitations while others embraced the newfound abilities of technology. By drawing upon several pertinent historic technological advancements, Katz considers how artists and audiences contemporaneous to these events responded to them. Within these specific case studies the reader is exposed to the fine details of technological influences on music. The scope is then widened to provide a sense of how the impact of technology spread elsewhere in music. Within Capturing Sound’s 221 pages, Katz reveals what preserving sound has done to music and how it functions in our lives.&nbsp