Understanding Music (4th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Very approachable
Review: This book is a nicely done introduction to music appreciation for Western audiences. It includes an overview of musical genres and traditions from the Gregorian chants through Hip Hop rap. The book is organized into chapters according to musical era with chapters for the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque era, the Classic era, Nineteenth Century, and Twentieth Century. Beethoven receives a chapter of his own. There are also chapters on World Music, music theory, listening techniques, jazz, and popular music. Within each era, there is a general description of musical development of the times, and then several well-known representative composers are profiled. Yudkin goes out of his way to include information about the contributions of women and minorities to music. Interspersed with the text are listening guides with notes for active listening for specific pieces of music to exemplify the prose. The listening guides include such information as instrumentation, lyrics and translations, short segments of notation, as well as comments keyed to specific time spots for the selection on the student or faculty CDs (sold separately). The book is amply illustrated with black-and-white reproductions of paintings and photographs. Each chapter also includes a section of colored plates with artwork or scenery typical of the era and location. At the end of the book are a glossary and index.

One aspect of the book that I particularly liked was the fact that it began with World Music, describing aspects of music that are found the world over. Instead of approaching the topic as if all classical music is from the Western tradition, Yudkin explains that Western classical music is simply one kind of music found in the world, and there are other classical music traditions that are quite different. Only after he has established this point does he turn to an in-depth description of the classical tradition most familiar to his audience, the Western tradition. Throughout the book, I was quite impressed with Yudkin's global rather than ethnocentric approach to Western classical music.

The layout of the book is exceptionally well done. Although there numerous short articles for special topics inserted in the text, as well as the listening guides, and images with captions, the text is neatly cut so that sentences are rarely left hanging or continued across page turns when such items are included. My only complaint is that quotations about composers are printed in the margins in light yellow ink, which can be extremely hard to read. Also, a few of the listening guides in the popular music section contain nothing besides lyrics; they could benefit from a few additional words of analysis as found in the listening guides earlier in the book.

Overall, the book is quite accessible and interesting to students of with varying musical backgrounds. Although I've been exposed to classical music all of my life, there was much about the tradition that I remained completely unaware of. After reading Yudkin's explanations, I find that there is a lot more to listen to than I had noticed before.


Rating:
Summary: A Great Collection
Review: What a great collection of music - from classical to international to opera to jazz. There's something for everyone, but I personally enjoyed all the genres. The selections were representative of the styles of music, and were enjoyed by all.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Collection
Review: What a great collection of music - from classical to international to opera to jazz. There's something for everyone, but I personally enjoyed all the genres. The selections were representative of the styles of music, and were enjoyed by all.