Classical Music For Dummies
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Music
Classical Music For Dummies Details
Amazon.com Review In a time when school music classes (if they exist at all) teach their students the finer points of the themes from The Twilight Zone and Jaws instead of real music; when classical radio stations are converted to Lite Rock or switched to a "top 100" classical jukebox format; and when even churches increasingly favor banal "Jesus Is My Boyfriend"-style slop instead of Bach, Mozart, and Vaughn Williams, classical music may legitimately be seen as an endangered cultural species. Enter Scott Speck and David Pogue, who take out the unnecessary mystery, and offer an easy-to-swallow quickie education, ranging from Gregorian chants to contemporary composers such as John Adams and John Corigliano. If you can't tell an oboe from a bassoon, there's also a dandy guide to the instruments of the orchestra, and once you're through that information you'll know the difference between a concerto and a sonata. Best of all is the introduction to music theory, which actually makes a daunting subject seem easy. It's all supported by a helpful enhanced compact disc (it works in your CD-ROM drive; it plays on your stereo's CD player) containing more than an hour of representative musical tidbits from good EMI recordings. Although the tone is unremittingly flippant and the jokes are, for the most part, pretty bad, Classical Music for Dummies is one of the better works in this series, and really does provide a useful reference for a subject too often seen as arcane. Read more From Library Journal Though musicians and other music lovers continue to lament the lack of classical music enthusiasts, their concern may have diminished somewhat over the last 25 years. The "Hooked on Classics" recording series, Peter Schickele (a.k.a. P.D.Q. Bach), the Three Tenors, and the movie Shine are but a few of the media phenomena that have popularized classical music. Lately, some authors have taken a lighthearted approach to the genre, hoping to make it less intimidating; Barry Scherer's delightful Bravo! A Guide to Opera for the Perplexed (LJ 11/15/96) is an example not to be overlooked. It does appear, however, that with these two books from IDG's ever-expanding "For Dummies" series, classical music has finally arrived. Orchestrator, synthesizer programmer, music copyist, and vocal arranger Pogue and symphony conductor Speck have collaborated to make musical facts fun to peruse. In some cases, the information may seem oversimplified, but novices will come away with a fairly good idea of the important composers, the main periods of music, the instruments, the conductors, the artists, when to applaud at a concert or opera, and even what to wear to a performance. Icons throughout pinpoint tips, advanced information, listening guides, when to use the accompanying CDs, and stories to use in conversations. Both books are recommended for public libraries.?Kathleen Sparkman, Baylor Univ. Lib., Waco, Tex.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. Read more Review "This book is the perfect way to go from dummy to expert in classical music!" —André Watts, Pianist "Classical Music For Dummies should be the first book for anyone ages 5-105. Anyone from layperson to first-year conservatory music student should crack open this wonderfully diverse and enriching look into the world of classical music. I wish this book had been part of my beginning curriculum." —Tiny Kniffen, Principal Tubist, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra " Classical Music For Dummies engages the reader with its flawless pacing, humor, and wit. It is a 'classic' in its own right" —Barry Bowlus, classical music enthusiast Read more From the Back Cover Features tips on how to start a classical music collection Discover how much fun classical music can be! Are you baffled by Bach? Bewildered by Beethoven? Befuddled by Brahms? Relax! This friendly, funny, easy-to-understand guide gives you the score on composers, instruments, orchestras, concerts, recordings, and more – and shows you just how enjoyable and rewarding classical music can be. More than 60 minutes of music, including excerpts from Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier • Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 • Brahms’s Symphony No. 4 • Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 • Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, and more from recordings by Ian Hobson, pianist and conductor, Sinfonia da Camera and Sinfonia Varsovia Plus MP3 versions of the excerpts you can play on your PC, Mac, or portable player Discover how to: Distinguish the different styles of classical music Attend a live concert in style Know the instruments in an orchestra Understand rhythm, intervals, and other fundamentals Build a fabulous classical music library Read more About the Author David Pogue studied music at Yale and has been a conductor on Broadway. He is a bestselling author and New York Times columnist. Scott Speck, an award-winning music director and conductor, has led symphony orchestras from coast to coast and around the world. Read more
Reviews
I love whatever David Pogue writes. From all the computer stuff I used to read in the 1990's to this great marvel of a book, very nicely informative and smooth to the... ear! (only now you have to download the music and there is no CD accompanying it. Then again, who drives a car with an actual CD player anymore...) This is a sequel - so to speak - to the Opera for Dummies, published in the late 1990's/early 2000's, which, as a computer nerd knowing David Pogue from his computer nerdish writing, I thought it was a manual for the browser Opera, new on the scene in 1998! Boy! Was I in for a treat! Opera amateur (amatrice?) myself, that book turned me into a passionate aficionado. And this one now, helps me be a better listener of the KDFC Classical San Fran whose app is always running on my phone or computer. Thanks David Pogue for endless hours of informed entertainment both for your computer nerd self and your music scholar persona!
