A 6 CD Set to Accompany Listen: Brief [Audiobook, CD] [Audio CD]

Joseph Kerman (Author), Gary Tomlinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 2000 | ISBN-10: 1572597968 | ISBN-13: 978-1572597969 | Edition: Fourth Edition

With its superb recording package and innovative listening charts, this landmark text teaches students how to listen to music better than any other. Listen makes music approachable by placing it in its cultural context with lavish illustrations, timelines, and maps. Equipped with a free Study Guide CD-ROM, the new edition is more accessible than ever, offering additional help in focused listening and in music fundamentals.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"With Kerman's new listening packages, we are treated to the most up-to-date, acclaimed performances of music from all periods." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's; Fourth Edition edition (January 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572597968
• ISBN-13: 978-1572597969
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 5.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,251,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good introductory text, July 19, 2002

By 

Christo "montxsuz" (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Listen-- Brief Fourth Edition (Paperback)

I have had this book prescribed as a textbook for a music history and theory course. This is a good book for such a purpose, it covers much. (This review is on the third edition).

Unit I has 5 chapters covering the fundamentals of musical theory. Sound, time, pitch, structure, form and style. Unit II is a 4-chapter overview of early music, starting with the Middle Ages. Unit III covers the 18th century in 6 chapters, starting with Late Baroque. Unit IV focuses on the 19th century, starting with Beethoven and finishing with the Late Romantics in 5 chapters.

Unit V: The Twentieth Century, was my favourite section. The prelude chapter discusses the concepts of music and modernism. The next chapter covers the early 20th century, then there is a chapter on alternatives to modernism, and the fourth chapter covers the late 20the century. Chapter 24 focuses on music in America: Jazz.

The book is organised around listening samples. These are available on a set of a 6 accompanying CDs. I liked the samples chosen. The late 20th century chapter, for example, discussed works by Ligeti, Berio, Varese, Cage, Crumb, Leon, Gubaidulina and Reich.

An alternative to "Listen" is Music: An appreciation" by Roger Kamien. It seems to me to have a bit more on artistic context, whilst at the same time covering more topics at slightly more depth.

However, "Listen" is well organised (always a good sign), and richly illustrated. Historical events are touched upon, and there is some reference to other art forms in context with the music of the time. I would recommend it as an introductory text even if you don't need to read it for school. Of course a book like this can cover topics only to a limited depth.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You Will Find It More and More Interesting, August 28, 2000

By 

Matthew M. Yau "Voracious reader" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Listen (Paperback)

With the accompanied 6 CDs, Joseph Kerman has written one of the most interesting and comprehensive introductory music text. Not so much a memory-and-fact type of textbook, Kerman's uncanny ability to describe music experience has made this a success. Students do not need musicianship prerequisite to read this book. From ancient to modern, the book gives a broad overview of some of the masterpieces with insights and explanations. Excellent reading. <i>(Note: The 6 CD set mentioned in this review is sold separately, and is not included in the price of the book. -Ed.)</i>

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars comprehensive history of Western music, May 28, 2000

By 

Jody Paulson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Listen-- Brief Fourth Edition (Paperback)

This book makes learning about music interesting and fun. It begins talking about basic structures of music (rhythm, harmony, tonality, etc.) but mostly follows the history of recorded music starting from the Middle Ages through Baroque to Jazz. It does a good job relating the development of music to other artistic developments of the time, like painting and architecture. With the CD you can listen right along and learn a lot of interesting things about music a novice like me had never thought about before.