General Studies in Music: Find Books & Films

A substantial cultural achievement, "this definitive history of music in the U.S. is sure to delight music aficionados and history buffs alike, and is a must for anyone interested in what music has meant to America and what America has meant to music" (Publishers Weekly).

Through the experiences of performers, composers, and ethnomusicologists working in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North America, Music and Gender explores how the uses and descriptions of music shift in response to rapid political, economic, or technological change.

Jeremy Yudkin' s book is a rich music appreciation program that supports the ultimate goal of teaching active listening.

This text is designed to help music students become familiar with and use the many research tools available to them. The content is arranged by type of research tool (e.g., encyclopedias, periodical indexes, discographies) and includes a general statement about the uses of each tool and anannotated bibliography that points out their purpose, scope, strengths, and weaknesses. Covering both print and electronic resources, the text does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather guides students to the major research tools in music. A companion Web site maintained by the author helps keepthe material up to date.Intended primarily for music bibliography classes taken by almost all students entering graduate music programs, the text is also a useful supplement for any undergraduate or graduate class in music that requires students to do library research or write a research paper.

Do you need to know the Italian musical term for dying away? This new conspectus lists Estinguendo, Deficiendo, Diluendo, Mancando, Morendo, Perdendosi, Smorzando, Sperdendosi, and Spirante. This collection of terms most frequently found in music, with counterparts in four languages, derived its definitions and equivalents using The Harvard Dictionary of Music, Baker's Dictionary of Musical Terms, Elson's Dictionary of Musical Terms, The Oxford Companion to Music, and Grove's Dictonary of Music and Musicians. The languages dictionaries used for verification were Cassel's, Garzanti, Langenscheidt, and Palazzi. The terms were selected as being not only the most important to today's musicians, but those that appear most frequently and are most commonly used. The format consists of four columns with the term in its original language followed by the three other equivalents.

The power of music, the way it works on the mind and heart, remains an enticing mystery. Now two noted writers on classical music, Michael Steinberg and Larry Rothe, explore the allure of this melodious art--not in the clinical terms of social scientists--but through stories drawn from theirown experience.In For the Love of Music, Steinberg and Rothe draw on a lifetime of listening to, living with, and writing about music, sharing the delights and revelatory encounters they have had with Mozart, Brahms, Stravinsky, and a host of other great (and almost-great) composers. At once highly personal andimmediately accessible, their writings shed light on those who make music and those who listen to it--drawing readers into the beautiful and dangerous terrain that has meant so much to the authors. In recounting how they themselves came to love music, Steinberg and Rothe offer keys for listening.Here you will find the story of a boy discovering a lifelong passion as he huddled in an alley behind a movie theater in World War II England, listening to the Fantasia soundtrack. You will meet the man who created the sound of Hollywood's Golden Age. You will learn how composers have addressedissues as contemporary as AIDS and the terrorist attacks of September 11. You will sit in on strange and enlightening listening sessions with one of America's quirkiest music critics. And you will enter a world of mind- and soul-nourishing pleasures.

Lawrence Kramer has been a pivotal figure in the development of the controversial new musicology, integrating the study of music with social and cultural issues. This accessible and eloquently written book continues and deepens the trajectory of Kramer's thinking as it boldly argues that humanistic, not just technical, meaning is a basic force in music history and an indispensable factor in how, where, and when music is heard. Kramer draws on a broad range of music and theory to show that the problem of musical meaning is not just an intellectual puzzle, but a musical phenomenon in its own right. How have romantic narratives involving Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata affected how we hear this famous piece, and what do they reveal about its music? How does John Coltrane's African American identity affect the way we hear him perform a relatively "white" pop standard like "My Favorite Things"? Why does music requiring great virtuosity have different cultural meanings than music that is not particularly virtuosic? Focusing on the classical repertoire from Beethoven to Shostakovich and also discussing jazz, popular music, and film and television music, Musical Meaning uncovers the historical importance of asking about meaning in the lived experience of musical works, styles, and performances. Kramer's writing, clear and full of memorable formulations, demonstrates that thinking about music can become a vital means of thinking about general questions of meaning, subjectivity, and value. In addition to providing theoretical advances and insights on particular pieces and repertoires, Musical Meaning will be provocative reading for those interested in issues of identity, gender, and cultural theory. This book includes a CD of Kramer's own composition, Revenants: 32 Variations in C Minor, which he discusses in his final chapter.

The Sourcebook for Research in Music, in this revised and greatly expanded second edition, is an invaluable guide to the researcher in navigating the vast proliferation of materials in music research. The editors emphasize English-language and recent sources, and also include essential materials in other languages. An opening chapter of introductory materials, including a list of common bibliographical terms with definitions, German and French bibliographical terms, and the plan of the Library of Congress and the Dewey Decimal music classification systems, is followed by seven bibliographical chapters, covering lists of sources as well as collective annotations that introduce and identify specific items. A reference tool containing varied information relating to research in music, the Sourcebook will serve as a classroom text and as a resource for individual music researchers, librarians, faculty members, students, performing and teaching musicians, and musical amateurs. Phillip D. Crabtree and Donald H. Foster are both retired from the faculty at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. D. University.