Listening to Music

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 480 pages
• Published by: Wadsworth Pub Co; 5 Pap/Com edition March 30, 2007
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0495401412
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0495401414
• Book Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 1 inches
• Weighs: 2.7 pounds

Product Description
This chronological text, which covers all the major periods in music history, offers instructors and students particular help in developing listening skills in three ways: First, a free "Introduction to Listening" CD comes packaged with each student copy of the text. This CD plays all of the music discussed in the music basics chapters of the text and provides an audio guide called "Instruments of the Orchestra." The guide presents the instruments and then tests students' ability to recognize them by themselves and in various combinations. Second, every chapter in Wright's text offers unique listening exercises. It is the only music appreciation book to have listening exercises built into and fully integrated with the text. Third, interactive listening guides and listening quizzes for all of the music in the text are available free via download from the Schirmer website. More than any other music appreciation text, LISTENING TO MUSIC challenges students to develop and refine their listening skills. Wright covers traditional Western music from medieval to modern, and integrates non-Western music throughout the text where appropriate, drawing comparisons between music of Western and other cultures. Concluding chapters discuss popular music and its impact on the world of music. Musical examples from each historical period are discussed within their social context, giving students a broad sense not only of a piece's composition, but also of its historical and cultural meaning. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About The Author
Craig Wright (Bachelor of Music, Eastman School of Music, 1966; Ph.D., Harvard University, 1972) taught at the University of Kentucky for one year and has taught at Yale University for the past thirty-two years. He is the author of numerous scholarly books and articles on composers ranging from Leoninus to Bach. Wright has also been the recipient of many awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Einstein and Kinkeldey Awards of the American Musicological Society, and the Dent Medal of the International Musicological Society. In 2004 he was awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Chicago. He has coauthored (with Bryan Simms) MUSIC IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION (Thomson Schirmer, 2006). --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Listening to Music (with CD) (Paperback) Wright's book is a great introduction to the Western tradition, and a fair introduction to the world's music as a whole. I know that there are cheaper alternatives out there, especially "The Vintage Guide to Classical Music," which I also recommend. But in this case, the CDs are worth the extra money. They correspond with the listening exercises in the book, and before long you really can tell an oboe from a french horn, a cello from a, well, a tuba, and so on. You learn to recognize and pay attention to meter, key, etc.... You really get on your way to understanding classical music, from which genuine appreciation can grow. He also gives a fairly solid introducion to music as a whole, not only the classical Western "art music" tradition, but jazz, blues, rock, world music, and so on. I can say that, to my knowledge, no other book out there does that. I don't think any introduction is needed before this book; it can be the first you ever read on music even if you have no background whatsoever. The book to follow up this is, IMO, Fred Plotkin's "Classical Music 101" and Copland's classic, "What to Listen For in Music." I learned a lot from this book and his course, which I failed when I was in college--evidently, attendance was mandatory after all! And I thought the teaching assistant having a crush on me would help.... Shame on me! Comment | | (Report this)