Classical Music for Dummies
by David Pogue, Scott Speck
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Book Summary Information
Author: David Pogue, Scott SpeckForeword: Glenn Dicterow
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1997-08-21
ISBN: 0764550098
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: For Dummies
Book Reviews of Classical Music for Dummies
Book Review: Pogue and Classical Music FTW
Summary: 5 Stars
This and a math textbook are the only paper-based books (happily) that I'm dealing with. I've delightfully and joyfully fully switched, practically all to ebooks, which I love for mobility, plus it's just much more rewarding reading ebooks, but bloody heck this review is about Classical Music For Dummies. While I'd like it to be in ebook, it doesn't matter (which is saying a lot because it normally does matter; I have zero tolerance fo non ebooks) because Pogue and his co-author are splendid. I read Pogues (and anothe co-authors) Secrets book cover to cover practically in 1996. It was over 2000 pages and while I dislike mac products, I loved pogue's intelligent, goofy, but always informative writing style.
BASICALLY THE START OF THE REVIEW:
This book demystified the confusing "Which era was when?" When did the romantic era stat? What are modernists? What about naming? What's a concern or concerto? All this confusing jargon and different world of classical music. This book joyfully demystified and clarified with ease and it's VERY VERY complete.
I put my learning which I mind-mapped to the test by going to a piano recital. Joyfully, I quickly wowed people by identifying which era each of the composers was from and providing a brief bio on 4 out of the 5 composers.
It's not guaranteed you'll learn as completely as I did from this book (I put in a LOT of extra hours mind-mapping and thoroughly learning the composer's biographical material), but for a reference of practically everything one would need to know about classial music, it's incredibly incredibly complete. It's also a delightfully light read (light funny prose at times) and it's explanations are very well-thought out. I believe Pogue majored in opera or something at yale. You can tell when an author(s) really understands a concept. The author doesn't try to impress readers and merely tries to get the info in their mind on a page in such a way that the reader can then effectively get it in their mind.
Anyways, for classical music, this seems much easier and less unnecesssary complex and discombobulatd than even NPR "tomes" of classical music. This answered practically every classical music question. I've read the major parts and am still finishing (note-taking mindmapping heavily). I could easily teach a class on biogaphies of composers after reading (and studying and learning the mateial in this book, which I have).
Highly recommended.
Summary of Classical Music for Dummies
The more you know about classical music, the more you love it. Now, thanks to Classical Music For Dummies, you can achieve a whole new level of insight into both the composers and the compositions that have made classical music one of the great accomplishments of humankind.Classical Music For Dummies doesn't assume that you have a degree in musicology -- or even that you took a course in music appreciation. Rather, the multimedially gifted David Pogue and renowned conductor Scott Speck explain classical music in terms you can understand, and they describe musical elements so that you can hear them for yourself.
A reference you can dip into at any point, Classical Music For Dummies covers such topics as
- The various forms that classical music takes -- from symphonies to string quartets
- What goes on behind the scenes and on stage to fill a concert hall with great classical music
- How to recognize, by sight and by sound, the many instruments that make up an orchestra
- The nuts and bolts of classical music -- from rhythm to harmonic progression
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.
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