Customer Reviews

HarperCollins College Outline History of Western Music

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is written in a consise easy-to-follow format and went along perfectly with a music history college class I was taking. I found it half way through the course and used it to review and consolidate information I was confused about and then aced the final! Topics are addressed clearly and musicians and their countries are linked for easy reference and understanding. Fun to read and the lay out makes sense. Good reading.

Do you know when the music's Baroque Period begins? And when does it finish? And the Romantic Period? And which are the most important composers in these and other Periods? Is J.S. Bach a Baroque composer, or a Classic composer? Which are the styles and techniques in the different Musical Periods? These and other informations you will find them in this well structured book that covers from the music of the old western cultures, until our days. Recommended for all those that want to have a concrete chronology of the events and features in the Music's History.

Otherwise, if you've got anything approaching a working knowledge of history and the West in particular

you're read will only add isolated facts here and there on music. There is just not enough theory to justify the

paltry historical offerings. There has got to be something with more depth out there.

He who cannot give account
Of the last three thousand years
Rests in darkness inexperienced
though he lives from day to day. -Goethe

*Unless, of course, he has music, spirit, and a good heart and head to play it with!

I was required to purchase this out-of-print book for a class. I thought I had found the most recent version on Amazon, but, unfortunately, Amazon did not reveal that this edition was published in 1981. I paid for expedited shipping only to be extremely disappointed. I had to wait an additional week or so to get the most current version from another source. Much wasted time and expense. Incidentally, the most recent version has one of the most poorly compiled indexes I have ever encountered, and this makes finding information unnecessarily difficult.