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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An atypical introduction, April 30, 2001
This review is from: Music: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (Paperback)
This Very Short Introduction is notable as much for what it isn't as for what it is: it is not an introduction to any repertoire, Western classical or otherwise; it will not tell you about scales, chords, instruments, or sonata forms; it is not a buyer's guide or a "rough guide to..."; it is not a music appreciation textbook along the lines of (say) Copeland's "What to Listen for in Music." And this is a very good thing. Instead Cook presents a thought- and self-examination-provoking discussion of music as part of culture, daily life, and human experience. This extremely readable book is a valuable introduction to these issues that reach beyond the more familiar territories of the program note, album review, or newspaper diatribe about the corrupting influence of popular music.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thought-provoking, September 13, 2001
This review is from: Music: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (Paperback)
As a musician (and the book may cause you to rethink what that word actually means), this book revealed many ideas which had been festering in my subconscious without my ever really taking the time to think them through fully. This is not so much a history or introduction to music as it is a presentation of both recent thought in musicology and a framework in which to conceive and comprehend music as a human process in general and its relation to all of culture. Naturally the last several pages focus on particular "gender-related" issues because that is the recent thought in musicology, but the book does a good job of not presenting this recent view as definitive and of placing this view within a large historical context of thinking about music. The entire book is sharp, well-written, and articulate. It touches on the must fundamental questions of musical meaning in all its forms, yet it requires virtually no formal knowledge of music or an acquaintance with any particular body of music, classic, popular, or otherwise. Of course, the author assumes a general knowledge (you have heard of Beethoven, the Beatles, and so on...) and of course the more you know of music, the more you will take away from the book, but nothing in particular is assumed. The author does a good job of explaining the working myths most people have about music, without technical jargon. For instance, what does it really mean to say, "I just heard 'Beethoven's 9th?'"? Is Beethoven's 9th the sound waves I heard, (whether live or recorded), or is it the body of all past performances of the symphony, or is it the jumble of symbols and notation which Beethoven wrote down 200 years ago? Why does popular music often lack such a specific reference to "musical works" such as "Beethoven's 9th"? Why is popular music freer to deviate from notation, as opposed to classical music, which always insists on "adherence to the composer's original score"? Why is "authorship" and "authenticity" valued in both classical and popular music, although in different ways? Does music exist independently of humans and express eternal truths and beauties, or is music inextricably bound up with culture, commerce, society, and the world? How are the three commonly used categories of "composition, performance, and criticism" related, and are the boundaries between them really so clear? How do notation and symbolism affect the way music is constructed and experienced? How do we give meaning to music? Why is it that the "purest" of "pure music", is often surrounded by the most commentary, criticism, and words, those things whose very absense are said to give it its very "purity"? Why does music matter to us? Why do we care? If these questions sound interesting to you, you will like this book.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mis-titled but interesting, September 10, 2006
This review is from: Music: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (Paperback)
This book is not what you think it is. It does not cover the rudiments of music or the history of Western music (or any other music). It is not about composers or any specific musical works. It is, instead, a look at the concept of music in Western society. It attempts to show that the standard idea of "serious" Western music is based on "ideology" and a certain amount of mythology. Cook argues against the general notion that composers (as typified by Beethoven) represent the height of musical expression and that performers are the next level down with listeners at the bottom of the artistic pecking order. There is a certain amount of fashionable academic blather and deconstructionism present here, but, overall, the book is thought provoking and well worth reading.
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