Book picks similar to
Music: An Appreciation by Roger Kamien
music
art
non-fiction
history
Young People's Concerts
Leonard Bernstein - 1970
So successful were these performance lessons that they ran for over a decade on television. This book brings back into print a classic collection of the best of the best of these Emmy and Peabody Award-winning lectures. A total of 15 lectures are presented here in full. Here is the century's most unique musician and teacher, explaining beautifully and clearly the joy of music in a way that grasps the attention of all. Every aspect of music is so cleverly presented that everyone, regardless of age, culture, or educational background, will enjoy and understand it.
The Enjoyment of Music: An Introduction to Perceptive Listening
Joseph Machlis - 1955
Spanning the Middle Ages through the twenty-first century, the text offers a thorough introduction to the elements of music, a broad overview of the history of musical styles, and fascinating cultural contexts and perspectives. The Ninth Edition of this classic text features a stunning new design, exciting new repertory, and an unmatched ancillary and media package.
The Norton Anthology Of American Literature
Nina Baym - 1979
This modern section has been overhauled to reflect the diversity of American writing since 1945. A section on 19th-century women's writing is included.
The History of Jazz
Ted Gioia - 1997
From the seed first planted by slave dances held in Congo Square and nurtured by early ensembles led by Buddy Belden and Joe King Oliver, jazz began its long winding odyssey across America and around the world, giving flower to a thousand different forms--swing, bebop, cool jazz, jazz-rock fusion--and a thousand great musicians. Now, in The History of Jazz, Ted Gioia tells the story of this music as it has never been told before, in a book that brilliantly portrays the legendary jazz players, the breakthrough styles, and the world in which it evolved. Here are the giants of jazz and the great moments of jazz history--Jelly Roll Morton (the world's greatest hot tune writer), Louis Armstrong (whose O-keh recordings of the mid-1920s still stand as the most significant body of work that jazz has produced), Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club, cool jazz greats such as Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz, and Lester Young, Charlie Parker's surgical precision of attack, Miles Davis's 1955 performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, Ornette Coleman's experiments with atonality, Pat Metheny's visionary extension of jazz-rock fusion, the contemporary sounds of Wynton Marsalis, and the post-modernists of the Knitting Factory. Gioia provides the reader with lively portraits of these and many other great musicians, intertwined with vibrant commentary on the music they created. Gioia also evokes the many worlds of jazz, taking the reader to the swamp lands of the Mississippi Delta, the bawdy houses of New Orleans, the rent parties of Harlem, the speakeasies of Chicago during the Jazz Age, the after hours spots of corrupt Kansas city, the Cotton Club, the Savoy, and the other locales where the history of jazz was made. And as he traces the spread of this protean form, Gioia provides much insight into the social context in which the music was born. He shows for instance how the development of technology helped promote the growth of jazz--how ragtime blossomed hand-in-hand with the spread of parlor and player pianos, and how jazz rode the growing popularity of the record industry in the 1920s. We also discover how bebop grew out of the racial unrest of the 1940s and '50s, when black players, no longer content with being entertainers, wanted to be recognized as practitioners of a serious musical form. Jazz is a chameleon art, delighting us with the ease and rapidity with which it changes colors. Now, in Ted Gioia's The History of Jazz, we have at last a book that captures all these colors on one glorious palate. Knowledgeable, vibrant, and comprehensive, it is among the small group of books that can truly be called classics of jazz literature.
The Elements of Style
William Strunk Jr. - 1918
Throughout, the emphasis is on promoting a plain English style. This little book can help you communicate more effectively by showing you how to enliven your sentences.
Rights of Man
Thomas Paine - 1791
One of Paine's greatest and most widely read works, considered a classic statement of faith in democracy and egalitarianism, defends the early events of the French Revolution, supports social security for workers, public employment for those in need of work, abolition of laws limiting wages, and other social reforms.
The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events
Bernard Grun - 1946
Provides a chronology of seven thousand years of significant moments in history, religion, science, and the arts in an accessible format designed for quick reference.
The Elements of Moral Philosophy
James Rachels - 2003
To illustrate the various theories, and to reveal their implications, important current issues such as abortion, euthanasia, the treatment of nonhuman animals, racial discrimination, and nuclear weapons are discussed in depth.
Robert Frost's Poems
Robert Frost - 2002
Here are "Birches," "Mending Wall," "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," "Two Tramps at Mudtime," "Choose Something Like a Star," and "The Gift Outright," which Frost read at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy." An essential addition to every home library, Robert Frost's Poems is a celebration of the New England countryside, Frost's appreciation of common folk, and his wonderful understanding of the human condition. These classic verses touch our hearts and leave behind a lasting impression.* Over 100 poems* All Frost's best known verses from throughout his life
A History of Western Music
J. Peter Burkholder - 1960
Peter Burkholder has meticulously revised and restructured the text to make it more accessible for today's students. This revision places a stronger emphasis on social and historical context and adds substantially expanded pedagogy and striking four-color design.
My Last Sigh
Luis Buñuel - 1982
This long out-of-paint autobiography provides insight into the genesis of Bunuel's films and conveys his frank opinions on dwarves, Catholicism, the Marquis de Sade, food, and smoking, not to mention his recipe for a good dry martini!
The Study of Orchestration
Samuel Adler - 1982
The Third Edition retains the elements that have made the book a classic while embracing new technology and responding to the needs of today's students and teachers.
Understanding Movies
Louis D. Giannetti - 1972
Its focus is on formalism - how the forms of the film create meaning. It is updated with recent films and personalities for students.
The Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader: Histories and Debates
David Brackett - 2004
In this richly textured anthology, well-known scholar David Brackett brings together more than 100 readings from a wide range of sources and by writers who have played an integral part in the development of popular music criticism. Brackett includes articles from mainstream and specialized magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals, as well as interviews and autobiographies of musicians and other music industry insiders. Organized into broad time periods, the chapters are divided into sections by genre, and these sections are organized chronologically. The chapter divisions parallel those found most frequently in textbooks on popular music. Representing a wide variety of time periods, styles, and genres--and including groundbreaking criticism on disco, hip-hop, rap, and techno--the selections introduce students to important social and cultural issues raised by the study of popular music. Topics covered include the role of race, class conflict, gender roles, regional differences in the reception of popular music, and the relative value of artistry versus commerce. Extensive editorial introductions and headnotes supply context for the selections, provide links between different eras and genres, clarify the issues raised by the documents, and explain their historical significance. The second edition of this captivating anthology features eleven new source readings and introductions, further reading and discography selections for each chapter, and a companion website containing student and instructor resources.