Customer Reviews

The Listening Book: Discovering Your Own Music

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W.A. Mathieu is utterly in love with vibrating air molecules, and this thoughtful, warm, and fun collection of short essays is bound to impart some of that to you. This is not a book about composition, about developing your own personal style or anything of that sort. It is a way of focusing on and developing your relationship with your ears, with sound, with what sounds good to you in music and in nature and in all of the world, both inside and outside of your head. In playful exercises for musicians and non-musicians alike, we examine the nature of a single note played on an instrument, or sung alound, or even just a series of spoken or drawn-out syllables. There are ways to bring music into a group of people; there are ways to draw it out of inanimate objects; there are ways to find it in silence. He's not trying to convince anybody that traffic, barking dogs, and 3 AM garbage trucks are as beautiful as a Bach piece; some things will sound better to you than others. But practice makes perfect: if you practice hearing, you will hear more, and you will hear better, and you will find more things that sound good, and you will get a richer enjoyment of them. This is "Discovering Your Own Music."

I have a degree in music composition plus some graduate hours. Out of all the books I've read on music both in and out of music school, this one out shines them all. Mr Mathieu shows us how to listen to everyday sounds and find the music that is there. He helps us open our ears with simple excersises that are fun and flexible. Its not theory. Its not rules. Mr Mathieu gives us the gift of his own experiences in beautifuly written prose. His serves as a guide that leads us to our own experiences; discovering our own unique music. No one ever taught me how to listen before. Thank you Mr Mathieu.

I have shared this book with friends, students, colleagues, and total strangers over the years. Everyone can find him- or herself in its pages. Mathieu, a fine composer and teacher, wants to help us all tap into music in a more rewarding and spiritually nourishing way. He accomplishes this with little stories about how to listen, how to practice, and how to tune your mind so that it will be ready for the sounds you haven't heard yet. You may not know it yet, but you need this book -- just buy, then read. Then listen.

This inspirational book shares a unique and exciting perspective on the process of music making and the beauty of discovering rhythm and melody in our natural envireonment. If you can get your hands on it, his self-narrated cassette audio book version of this title is even better. He is an enthralling storyteller! Get a few copies - give one to a friend!

I stumbled on this book was intrigued enough to add it to an order of CDs I was buying. I couldn't put it down once I opened it. I even took a "sick day" from work just so I could be alone in the house to do many of the exercises without interruption. Ahh yes, the exercises - those alone make this book worth its weight in diamonds. Music that has been as familiar to me as my own face is suddenly new and alive. Music that I was never interested in or "got" was now open to me. Anything and everything that makes sound can be interesting now that I've learned to quiet my mind and listen...really listen. This book has become as important to my life as the best albums in my music collection.

Everyone can benefit from what is in this book. Master musicians, casual music fans, teenagers with iPods, grandparents with diminished hearing, even audiophiles can learn to open their ears and open their minds to the world of music around them.

I loved this little book. It contains many essays that could easily be read individually and in any order. However, I ended up reading straight through it. It is unlike any other book I have ever read. It will make you think about sound differently. I love this author's playful approach to life. I'm a musician, but I recommend this book to anyone.

If you love the sounds of music or just want to tune in to your aural surroundings, read this book. It will help you feel more centered, self-aware and alive. Chapters are short, maybe 10 or 15 minutes of reading, and can be read in any order. This is a book to contemplate, practice what you learn, and come back to again and again. Highly recommended.

Buy this book. When it is delivered to you, savour each small chapter with curiosity, patience, diligence and a beginner's mind. When you're ready, take it to the piano with you. Sit with Dr. Overtone by your side, or right before you on the sheet music stand, and let him open door after door and guide you to the mysteries of sound and silence. Suddenly, you'll realise the piano is not merely what you have been expecting it to be. Within a few moments, you'll realise music is not what you thought it was. And eventually, you'll learn more about yourself, your community and the meaning of life than you thought your ears could teach you. Music, and music practice, then, will become a spiritual experience.

The way the book was written is lighthearted and really gentle, but the author very accurately tackles core concepts in a very hands-on approach. Expect to spend much more time making sounds than reading, to change a handful of concepts no matter how advanced you think you are in music, and to even perhaps change the way you teach your pupils. One of these gifts to Humankind a genious offers once in a very good while, this book is the philosopher's stone for everybody invested in making sound gold, from the pitch-challenged, wannabe singer to the super-concertist disheartened with their career. Even for those covered-ears souls who think they have not the gift for music. In essence, pretty much the next small step for a global cultural revolution. Do not just buy it, advertise it.

This is a delightful collection of essays on how to sensitize yourself to and appreciate all the sounds around you, from frogs and birds to dinnerware clinks to foreign languages being spoken.

I read the book in Chinese, since that was all our library had. I only give the translation a B, but the meaning mostly came through, and I don't think I missed too much from the original English.

My favorite section was the one on musical composition. It contains several practical suggestions that I haven't seen in other books on how to compose your own tunes. I had discovered the notion of AMAPFALAP ("As much as possible from as little as possible") independently before, but Mathieu's approach provides a concrete and excellent starting point to developing your own musical ideas and stretching and firming up your musical muscles.

Mathieu ends with some thoughts on why his students would always say "thank you" for all they learned in his music workshops, but just "that was interesting" in reaction to his concerts of improvised music. He seems a bit miffed, but ultimately comes up with a rationalization he can live with.

Music is more than just Beethoven and playing the notes on the score; in this book, Mathieu helps you find out just how much more it is.

A friend gave me The Listening Book: Discovering Your Own Music as a gift. This terrific book by W.A. Mathieu is writing to be treasured if you truly love music. Mathieu -- an accomplished musician himself -- presents his thoughts on experiencing music in such spare, yet elegant prose. The Listening Book teaches us about the joys of sound and how just about any ambient sound or noise can be appreciated for its music. Once you realize that, the whole world of music is open and fully available. At 178 pages The Listening Book is not long but it is packed with music wisdom. Mathieu posits that anyone can find their own music, even people who are not considered musical. The book is divided into very short sections by subject including the following: The Sound Horizon, Listening To Animals, Symphonies of Place, Listening to Music, Listening to a String, Listening to People and so on. I found that I devoured the entire book pretty much whole as it was so inspiring, but you can definitely pick it up and read different parts randomly. If you love music you will read and re-read The Listening Book. I will be buying the other books in the series that Mathieu has written. Highly recommended!