This stimulating very short introduction to music invites us to really think about music. Drawing on a number of accessible examples ranging from Beethoven to the Spice Girls to Chinese zither music, Nicholas Cook prompts us to call on our own personal musical experiences in order to think more critically about the roles of the performer and the listener, about music as a commodity and an experience, what it means to 'understand' music, and the values that we ascribe to music.