The Concept of Music [Hardcover]

Robin Maconie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 17, 1991 | ISBN-10: 0198162154 | ISBN-13: 978-0198162155

What is music for? How does it work? What can it teach us? Intuitively, we feel there must be answers to such questions, but they tend to be scattered throughout a wide range of different areas of study, from acoustics to music history, from psychology to composition. In this brilliant and thought-provoking book Maconie seeks the answers to these and other fundamental questions about music, integrating music and appropriate scientific research in a new evaluation of his topic. In so doing, he argues passionately for a reappraisal of music, not as mere entertainment, but as something basic to our experience of listening and communicating in sound, and an art which has exerted a profound influence on society.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"By explaining music both through its physical components as well as in its relation to other arts, Maconie attempts to restore his field to the eminence it held in the waning Middle Ages. His appeals are eloquent, his arguments largely persuasive."--Virginia Quarterly Review

"The author has presented his ideas in a most readable and interesting form. The text should be most helpful to students in music literature classes."--Iris Scarborough, Campbell University

"Wonderful book!"--Janet Heukeshoven, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota

"A wonderful, straightforward text suitable for an aesthetics class or a graduate-level music education seminar. Easily readable and approachable."--Eugenie I. Burkett, Pembroke State University

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Composer and writer on music. Author of The Works of Karlheinz Stockhausen (OUP, 1990) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (January 17, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198162154
• ISBN-13: 978-0198162155
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,036,825 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yikes, June 25, 2001

By 

Kevin - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Concept of Music (Clarendon Paperbacks) (Paperback)

It's quite scary, you know, that there are so many things that we don't understand that happen when we pop that cd in player. Fortunately, through the words of Robin MacOnie, there is hope in educating the populace of the subliminal happenings of the music industry today. Anybody who reads this book will be infinitely more educated about a seemingly simple past-time. Definitely worth the time to read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Concept of Music ????????????, January 11, 2007

By 

Johnny Gonzalez "jester" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Concept of Music (Clarendon Paperbacks) (Paperback)

If you can get past the literary labyrinthine this guy has weaved, the there is some good and interesting information to be had, hence the two stars. His constant use of elaborate words comes off indulgent, pretentious, and sonorous.

If you don't know what the previous words mean, then you better buy a dictionary or thesaurus with this book, because it is cluttered with needless jargon* (* he would have used-colloquialism). Even for someone who knows these words off-hand, it can be exhausting to read this book.... It's a regular "dog and pony show' (elaborate presentation meant to impress)...