Musical Instruments (Crash Course Series) - Softcover

Rademacher, Johannes; Blum, Bessie; Jeffers-Brown, Ann; Schreiber, Sally

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0764100521 ISBN 13: 9780764100529

Publisher: Barrons Educational Series Inc, 1997

Synopsis

Looks at the history of musical instruments around the world, examining their social and cultural development, construction, techniques by which they are played, and repertoires composed or collected for them

About this title

Review

Johannes Rademacher's illustrated historical overview of musical instruments is a fine music reference. You can use it as a reliable resource, looking up musical terms and instruments and finding pictures and text that readily make clear what a notched flute looks like, how it's played, and how it's different from the recorder, say, as well as the Japanese shakuhachi and the standard western Boehm flute. But Rademacher's Musical Instruments, part of Barron's Crash Course series, can also function as an instructional text. Lightweight, unintimidating, attractively illustrated, and a mere 171 pages long, this slim volume invites perusal. Read it through from start to finish to gain a thorough overview of keyboard instruments, strings, wind instruments, drums, and self-sounding devices, or choose one section (drums, for instance) and learn all the distinctions between Arabic, Indian, African, and Western types, plus notes on playing techniques, drum construction, drums for incantation, and the social and cultural contexts of the instrument. Clearly explained and attractively packaged, a lot of information is packed into this little book. Inexpensive and not requiring a great deal of shelf space, it's a great deal. --Stephanie Gold

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Edition details

• Publisher: Barrons Educational Series Inc
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0764100521
• ISBN 13: 9780764100529
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184