Ten top music books

Howard Goodall is an award-winning composer of choral music, stage musicals, film and TV scores, is well known as a TV and radio broadcaster, and from 2007-11 was England’s first ever National Ambassador for Singing.

For the past 15 years Goodall has written and presented his own TV documentary series on the theory and history of music. For these he has been honored with a BAFTA, an RTS Judges’ Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Education in Broadcasting and over a dozen other international broadcast awards. In January 2013, Howard Goodall’s Story of Music, 6 hour-long films for BBC2 will be broadcast, with an accompanying book.

For the Guardian, Goodall named ten of his favorite music books, including:

Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties by Ian Macdonald

The only book you need to read on the Beatles and their musical impact. I say musical, because Macdonald, like me, is not at all interested in their roles as fashion icons, leaders of change in teenage morals, social and gender politics, the Swinging Sixties blah blah blah. They were important musicians. You don't need to know anything else.

Read about the other entries on Goodall's list.

--Marshal Zeringue